The First Direct Arena in Leeds is the venue for the opening night of this season’s Premier League Darts event with all 10 players in action in front of a sold out crowd.
Although everyone plays nine matches before Judgement Night a fast start is never a bad thing in this competition as it takes the pressure off. That first win is all important and we’ve seen some big names struggle in this tournament while they go on a lengthy search for it.
The night begins with a clash between Peter Wright and Michael Smith, a match which should be very entertaining. Smith makes his debut in this event in this match so he’s bound to be a little bit nervous which might play into the hands of Wright a little. He’s used to the big stage now and what’s more he craves it and thrives on it.
Wright will be confident of success here. He has won six of their last seven meetings and in truth few of those wins have been close. I’m not sure why Wright has such a good record over Smith because they look evenly matched but maybe Smith has paid the price for missed doubles against Snakebite.
That head to head record has to have something in it but even if it didn’t Smith’s potential nerves and Wright’s confidence from running Taylor so close at the weekend leaves me on the side of the colourful one in the season opener.
Michael van Gerwen is up after that when he faces James Wade and if the weekend is anything to go by this could be a long night for The Machine.
Van Gerwen looked in unstoppable form as he cleaned up at The Masters and if he is anything like that form it is hard to see how Wade keeps close. Wade either has to put plenty on his scoring or he needs van Gerwen to miss plenty of doubles. I’m not sure either will happen.
Wade has only won two of their last 16 meetings and it is hard to see that changing here but the bookmakers are taking no chances on MVG. He’s got to cover a 3.5 leg handicap and while recent history shows he can this is the opening night so that isn’t really for me even though I’d fancy him to cover it more than not.
I guess the match of the night is the Phil Taylor vs Raymond Barneveld match. There is still a buzz in the air when these two meet and the juices still flow even now despite neither being at their absolute best anymore.
The last time the pair met was in the Grand Slam of Darts where Taylor won 16-12 in the semi-final but prior to that Barneveld had won three of their previous four meetings including a double over the multi-time champion of everything in the Premier League last season.
Taylor looked awesome again at the weekend until the pressure really came on him against an opponent who is in his head now. I’m not sure if Barneveld is in Taylor’s head but he could be.
This is almost a freeroll for Barneveld and if he treats it like one and lets the arrers flow he’s a dangerous proposition for Taylor with his game in fairly good touch but there’s too many ifs and buts to be getting too involved here for me.
The penultimate match of the night is a repeat of the World Championship final as Gary Anderson begins his title defence against the man he beat in the Alexandra Palace finale in Adrian Lewis.
Initially I couldn’t really call the winner of this match but I noticed on twitter that Gary Anderson pulled out of a scheduled promo filming slot on the eve of the tournament because of illness and while he is expected to feature here you would think he may not be 100% which is far from ideal.
If Anderson is under the weather then Lewis is just the man to take advantage. He wasn’t far away in that world final but if anything it will have given him that extra fire in his belly to come through this one I am sure.
Including that world final Anderson has won 14 of their last 18 meetings but Lewis appears to be in the better shape going into this one so I’ll have a small punt that he comes through here and gets a bit of revenge for that defeat last month.
Robert Thornton is back in the Premier League this season and his return begins with probably the one match he didn’t want as he faces Dave Chisnall for the second time in the space of a week.
Their first meeting in The Masters on Saturday was quite extraordinary. Thornton led 8-0 and 9-6 but fell to a 10-9 defeat which is sure to have left a sour taste in the mouth of the Scot. Salt was rubbed into the wound as Thornton had to sit back and watch Chisnall cruise all the way to the final of the tournament after dodging that bullet.
You would think that win would have done wonders for Chisnall’s confidence and not much for Thornton’s and in what originally on paper looked an evenish contest that confidence and mentality divide could just sway this firmly in Chisnall’s favour.
WIN – Back P.Wright to beat M.Smith for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
WIN – Back A.Lewis to beat G.Anderson for a 3/10 stake at 3.30 with Unibet
WIN – Back D.Chisnall to beat R.Thornton for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with Bet365
