With the darts schedule getting back to something like normality, the flagship invitation event of campaign gets underway on Thursday when eight of the best players in the world begin the 2022 running of the Premier League Darts.
The format of this competition continually changes these days but whatever the format Jonny Clayton knows that he will be defending the title but with just eight in the field this year there is a much more elite look to proceedings this time around.
Recent Winners
2021 – Jonny Clayton
2020 – Glen Durrant
2019 – Michael van Gerwen
2018 – Michael van Gerwen
2017 – Michael van Gerwen
2016 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Gary Anderson
2014 – Raymond van Barneveld
2013 – Michael van Gerwen
2012 – Phil Taylor
The Format
It is all change to the format this season. Two players have been dropped from the field so there are eight men challenging for the title in a much more complicated system. Each of the 16 nights will have its own tournament with quarter finals, semi-finals and a final where league table points will be won and lost. The winner of each night gets five points with the finalist getting three. The two semi-finalists get two points each. Each player will play the other seven in a quarter final twice over the 16 nights with the league table determining the order for the other two evenings. Each night also has £10,000 up for grabs for the winner. At the end of the season the points are added up with the top four heading to Berlin for finals night. The 16 qualifying nights sees all matches over the best of 11 legs while the semi-finals on the final night are the best of 19 legs and the winner crowned over the best of 21.
The Field
As ever in this tournament the top four in the world rankings automatically qualify for the competition. That means we have the world number one Gerwyn Price back in the field after Covid forced him out of the event last season. The world champion Peter Wright will be looking to complete a very lucrative double over the course of the four months while Michael van Gerwen will be looking to use this tournament to remind everyone he still has what it takes to win major events. James Wade is the other automatic qualifier.
Michael Smith is the first wildcard to be selected. The World Championship finalist hasn’t been involved for a couple of years so he’ll be eager to prove his worth now he is back. The defending champion Jonny Clayton has a pick to defend his title this term while the former world champion and winner of this event Gary Anderson is also in the field. There is just the one debutant this season and it comes in the form of the recent winner of The Masters in Joe Cullen.
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Market Leaders
Gerwyn Price won’t lack for motivation in this competition. He isn’t the world champion which will annoy him but perhaps not as much as not being able to compete in this tournament last year when he was the holder of the world title would have done. Price has never won the Premier League and all the greats want to get their hands on all of the big titles in his career so he’ll be extra motivation to justify quotes of 7/2 to win the tournament. You’d think he would make the top four so the 7/2 is all about him peaking on finals night.
Michael van Gerwen might not be the tournament winning machine that he once was but he remains the 4/1 second favourite here. Even though he doesn’t win the volume of events he did a few years ago, he can still play some incredible darts so it is hard to see him not making the top four, although I would be slightly concerned over the amount of doubles he misses and that might hold him back. In races to six every mix is magnified and in this elite company he’ll get found out. If he gets to finals night you’d like to be on at 4/1 but there are question marks for me.
Peter Wright has a bit of an all or nothing outcome to this event. He either goes very deep or he’s out of contention for a semi-final spot a mile out. He will be introduced around the competition as the world champion which will put a pep in his step and I think this format will suit him a little more than previous ones did. There will be nights where he plays crazy good darts but then the evenings he hasn’t got it he only has to win a match to get something out of the night. I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t make the final four so the appeal of him at 9/2 is pretty obvious.
Next in the betting is the defending champion Jonny Clayton and he certainly has claims for successfully defending the title even though the format is different this year. He is arguably the best player in the world right now in terms of the consistent levels he achieves and while he might have a night where doubles cost him you would think he would do more than enough to get into the top four and then from there he will really fancy his chances. As a rule only the true greats defend this title successfully but it wouldn’t be a complete surprise if Clayton manages to do it.
Outright Betting
I’m not massively keen on doing too much with the outright market this season. There are a few reasons for that. This has the potential to get thrown right out of sync with eight players needing to go Covid free for more than four months and the last thing I want is to wade in on someone at short prices and that to strike them. The fact I’m tying money up for four months isn’t a particularly attractive proposition either and while we can guess who the format might and might not suit, we can’t really be sure until we see it in action.
My hunch is that those who are the better finishers will be the ones to benefit from the format. There are a number of players in this field who score for fun but can be very scratchy on the doubles. While James Wade isn’t the heaviest scorer in the world he’s probably among the most reliable on the doubles of anyone here and although a bit more scoring power would be nice, the fact the format in the initial stage is only the first to six levels out the format enough for him to be able to get stuck in I fancy. He only needs to keep picking off quarter final wins and then nail a fair percentage of wins in the semis to be a real contender for the top four. I always say this is an event where you only need to do enough in the first stage to make the final four then have a night out in Berlin and land the title. I don’t think Wade gets disgraced here so I’ll take the chance on him at 25/1.
Tips
Back J.Wade to win Premier League Darts (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Coral (1/3 1-2)
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