The Premier League darts season comes to an end at the o2 Arena in London on Thursday evening when the semi-finals and final are played out in one exciting night in the capital.
The four men battling for the title are the four best players in the world in the order of merit – Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson, Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis so we are set for a thrilling conclusion to what has been an excellent season.
Outright preview
Michael van Gerwen is the 4/6 favourite for the tournament now and it is hard to see past that but he has gone two years without winning this event so he is plenty short enough having lost in the last two finals. I’m not sure I can be taking that but it is hard to see him not making the final so you could argue the price is justified.
Taylor and Anderson are next in the betting at 9/2 and 11/2 respectively and if you are confident about who will win that semi-final it might be worth chancing them in the hope they beat van Gerwen in the final. I would have looked harder at Anderson had his semi-final been the first one but I expect that game to be tight so that is a negative.
Adrian Lewis is perfectly good enough to win this tournament but he is going to have to play some of the best darts we have seen him play in a while. Over this distance I’m not so sure he’s quite at it but it can be argued he is big at 12/1 if he has his very best with him.
Michael van Gerwen vs Adrian Lewis
The evening begins with a potential cracker between Michael van Gerwen and Adrian Lewis. These two have built up quite a rivalry in the past and this will be their 42nd meeting in all competitions.
Van Gerwen comes into this semi off the back of topping the table while Lewis only secured his place at the o2 in the final week of the regular season. Both men had disappointing campaigns in the European Tour in Germany over the weekend but I don’t think that will have much of an impact.
Van Gerwen has won six of the last seven meetings between these two including three over a similar distance to this best of 19 leg format so he looks to be a worthy favourite. If Lewis is at his best he might cause van Gerwen a few issues but I expect the Dutchman to come through. This isn’t a match which interests me from a betting point of view though.
Phil Taylor vs Gary Anderson
This could well be the match of the night as the greatest ever takes on the defending Premier League champion and current world champion. Gary Anderson isn’t going to give up his title easily while Taylor wants to show he still has big tournaments left in him so there is everything on the line here.
These two have met on 50 previous occasions with their biggest battle probably the world final in 2015 when Anderson edged Taylor out in a deciding set. Taylor has won five of the last six meetings between the two including both battles in the regular season this year.
Both have shown upturns and downgrades in form in recent weeks, maybe not in their results but certainly in their averages and you get the feeling this has been a long hard slog for both of them but Anderson showed 12 months ago that he can peak on the big night and I think he can do that again here.
Taylor has looked really good against the lesser players in the league but when he’s played in the big matches against van Gerwen he hasn’t looked as good and if Anderson can get him under pressure then I think he can have some joy over this length of match. Anderson’s scoring is relentless and under pressure he is probably the most likely to nail a pressure double.
I think this match will be close and will go most of the way but Taylor has produced crucial missed doubles in close matches more and more recently and if he does it again here it could be very costly.
Tips
Back G.Anderson to beat P.Taylor for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Unibet
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