After an exciting opening week to the 2017 Premier League Darts season in Newcastle the 10 stars head down the M1 to Nottingham for the second week of the campaign on Thursday night as five more matches will take centre stage.
Some players will be looking to bounce back from an opening match defeat last week while others will be looking to stamp home their early advantage so this should be a really intriguing week.
Adrian Lewis vs Dave Chisnall
Two men who lost last week get the action underway in Nottingham. Adrian Lewis surrendered a strong position against Raymond Barneveld while Dave Chisnall was beaten by Phil Taylor. Both had good UK Open weekends though.
Chisnall has a really good recent record against Adrian Lewis and I suspect that could be in the heads of both men heading into the match. Chisnall has actually won five of their last six including the last four and he hasn’t really been pushed by Lewis in that time either. I think he will win this too. I don’t see Lewis on top of his game and he has flattered to deceive in this tournament for too long for that to change.
James Wade vs Phil Taylor
After two opening week losers get us going two men who won on the opening week pick up the baton when James Wade takes on Phil Taylor. Wade was a 7-5 winner over Kim Huybrechts while Taylor beat Chisnall 7-3.
I’m not completely convinced Michael van Gerwen has done Wade any favours in this match opening his trap about how Taylor is too old and should have retired a couple of years ago. That said Wade has a half decent record against Taylor in recent times and given that I’m not convinced how this whole retirement thing is going to play out I’ll choose to sit this one out.
Jelle Klaasen vs Gary Anderson
For the second time in the space of a week these two stars meet after Gary Anderson beat Jelle Klaasen 6-3 in the semi-final of a UK Open qualifier at the weekend. That win was one of eight in a row that Anderson has had over Klaasen.
Klaasen will be looking to make up for a defeat to Peter Wright last week while Gary Anderson will be looking to build on a draw with Michael van Gerwen and I expect the Scot to win this. He just goes up another level against Klaasen and while I like Jelle I just don’t see him living with Anderson unless this is a rare off night for Gary against him.
In their last three TV meetings Anderson has hit the highest checkout in beating Klaasen too and it makes sense that if he wins he will do that again given that Klaasen will have fewer checkouts. Anderson banged out a couple of ton plus shots last week whereas Klaasen’s best was a 76. Anderson to win with the highest checkout appeals to me.
Peter Wright vs Michael van Gerwen
Two men unbeaten from the opening week do battle in the penultimate match of the night as Peter Wright, fresh from two tournament wins over the weekend, takes on his nemesis Michael van Gerwen who suffered three defeats in Wigan, one of which being to Wright.
Wright opened his campaign with a comfortable win against Jelle Klaasen last week while Michael van Gerwen took on Gary Anderson and came out with a 6-6 draw. I wouldn’t be surprised if Wright wins this but MVG is likely to be out to prove a point after the weekend. If the Dutchman threw first I might have chanced a handicap but he doesn’t so I’m happy to sit this one out too.
Kim Huybrechts vs Raymond Barneveld
The final match of the night sees two men who went the distance last week going up against each other. Kim Huybrechts suffered disappointment as James Wade beat him 7-5 last week while Raymond Barneveld came from the clouds to see off Adrian Lewis by the same scoreline.
Going into the season I thought Huybrechts would struggle and while he played well last week he still lost and that isn’t good. He does have a 9-2 lead in the head to head record with Barneveld though but I like Barneveld in this one. The Dutchman is playing so well at the minute.
He banged in four 180s and averaged all but a ton and that was despite a raft of unusual missed doubles. If he performs like that here I expect him to win with plenty in hand and with that in mind Skybet’s performance market for Barneveld to win, hit over 3.5 180s and checkout over 104.5 in the match looks appealing especially at 11/2.
Tips
Back D.Chisnall to beat A.Lewis (DNB) for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back G.Anderson to beat J.Klaasen and hit highest checkout for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Skybet
Back R.Barneveld to beat K.Huybrechts, hit over 3.5 180s and over 104.5 checkout for a 2/10 stake at 6.50 with Skybet
Back them here:
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