The penultimate night of regular league action takes place in the Premier League Darts season on Thursday evening when a full complement of eight men head to the o2 Arena in London for Night 15 of the competition.
Everyone is fit to compete on Thursday and with the race for the top four really intensifying with just one qualifying night left after this one, there is plenty to play for on what looks like being a competitive night of darts.
Gerwyn Price vs Jonny Clayton
The evening begins with the two Welsh stars battling it out when the former world champion Gerwyn Price, winner in Sheffield last week, takes on the current league leader and defending champion Jonny Clayton.
Clayton has already qualified for the final night of the competition in Berlin and only needs a couple more wins to head to Germany having finished top of the table. Price is battling hard to join him in Berlin next month. His win last week means that he is up to fifth in the table but he will know he needs to at least win this quarter final to remain in touch. Fourth plays fifth in a quarter final next week so if he can win here and stay close to Wright he’ll be in control of his own destiny in Newcastle. The question is what Clayton can offer here. He lost to Michael Smith in the first round last week from 5-2 up and then got shot out early in Prague over the weekend so it might be that motivation is low. Price lost early in Prague but I wonder how motivated he was there given he pulled out of the European Tour the weekend before to focus on the Premier League. He might have been jaded after his efforts last Thursday too. Price looked like the former world champion he is last week and with the throw here I think he’s the one to be on.
Michael Smith vs Michael van Gerwen
The second match of the night sees the two Michael’s in action when Messer’s Smith and van Gerwen battle it out in what is a huge clash for the beaten world finalist than it is for the Dutch star looking to reclaim this title.
Smith goes into the night with the last orders bell ringing inside the last chance saloon for him. Realistically his only chance of progressing through to the top four is to win the night this week and to win next week in Newcastle. That isn’t going to be easy but he is playing well enough to do it, he just needs to find a way to overcome van Gerwen, something he is yet to do in this tournament. He might have MVG at a good time here though. The Dutchman has already sealed his place in the final night and with a European Tour event this weekend his attention might be elsewhere. This should be a great game but it’s one I’m happy to leave alone as I don’t expect much in it when all is said and done.
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James Wade vs Peter Wright
The third match of the evening might well be the biggest one as third placed James Wade returns from the illness which kept him out last week to take on the world champion Peter Wright, the man currently occupying fourth place in the table.
I don’t think it is stretching things too much to suggest that whoever wins this match will pretty much seal the deal in terms of qualifying for the final night, while whoever loses will still have some work to do in order to be able to book their place on the plane to Berlin. This isn’t an easy one to call for the main reason that we don’t really know the fitness of Wade. While he is well enough to compete, there have been no indication that he is 100%. Wright might be 100% in fitness terms but he certainly isn’t in confidence grounds. He has been in rotten form recently and he certainly needed the rest over the weekend. Time will tell if that proves the difference here but I’m in no rush to back either man in this match.
Joe Cullen vs Gary Anderson
We end the quarter finals in London with a potential grudge match as Joe Cullen continues his bid to make it into the semi-finals of the entire competition when he battles a man who had plenty of beef with him in Rotterdam earlier in the campaign in Gary Anderson.
Anderson accused Cullen of cheating on that occasion, something that Cullen vehemently denies and it will be interesting to see how these two are with each other here. In terms of a competitive edge, Anderson can’t qualify for the final night so he is playing free and looking to find some form for the remainder of the year. Cullen definitely can progress but you would imagine in order to do that he is going to need to win one of the last two first phase evenings. A win here would keep him in the hunt heading to Sheffield next week. I fancy Anderson to come out on top here but the fact he isn’t playing for anything and doesn’t have the throw negates my enthusiasm slightly. I’ll leave this one alone too.
Tips
Back G.Price to beat J.Clayton for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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