History will be made in the Premier League Darts event on Thursday night when the tournament heads to Continental Europe for the first time in competition history.
Rotterdam will host the final week of regular matches and a 10,000 sold out crowd will witness the £25k clash between Michael van Gerwen and Phil Taylor as well as the fight for the final playoff spot at the o2 next week.
Robert Thornton vs James Wade
The evening kicks off with the only dead rubber on the card going into the night. Neither James Wade nor Robert Thornton can qualify for the playoffs any longer and in some respects this is a tough match to get a feel for.
The reason I say that is both men were so out of touch last week and didn’t really give much of a care and that would be a concern for betting here. Thornton has been like that for a few weeks while Wade bungled a load of chances against Wright last week.
Wade probably should win this one. Although he lost heavily to Wright had he hit his doubles he would have been right in that match but with Wade having Eric Bristow in his corner at times you would think a winning mentality will have been installed in him and cam come through here.
Peter Wright vs Raymond Barneveld
Peter Wright is probably in the best possible position going into the night in that he knows he has to win to have a realistic chance of making it to the o2 next week. He faces a Raymond Barneveld who will be roared on by a passionate home crowd which should inspire him even though he has nothing to play for.
Wright has to win this but that doesn’t mean that he will do and I wouldn’t think the crowd will do him any favours but I’ve opposed Wright a few times recently and had my fingers burnt so I’m reluctant to do it again. Barneveld could be value based on crowd support but I need more than that to warrant a punt.
Adrian Lewis vs Gary Anderson
We’ve got our second repeat of the World Championship final of the season here. Gary Anderson won the first meeting of these two in the Premier League, as of course he did that world final, but this is a dead rubber for him so how he’ll go remains to be seen.
Adrian Lewis knows unless Wright wins the earlier match 7-2 or better that a draw is enough for him to go through while a win guarantees he progresses. If Wright has done the business against Barneveld it will be interesting to see how ‘Jackpot’ reacts especially as he goes into the match off the back of a bit of a towelling last week.
This isn’t Lewis’ best tournament by a long stretch so I’m expecting Anderson to be too good for him here especially if Lewis has already qualified by then.
Phil Taylor vs Michael van Gerwen
The final match of the league phase will decide the £25,000 table topping bonus and the destiny of it and that is how it should be. The two greatest players of PDC times in terms of tournament wins meet in what should be a belting battle.
MVG has the draw on his side in terms of topping the table but I’m not sure he is going to need that because he looks back to his best again. After a run of draws just around Judgement Night, the Dutchman has come back nicely.
His last seven PL averages have been 105.59, 117.95, 110.55, 103.38, 96.82, 108.33 and 107.93 which is pretty phenomenal and even the 96.82 can be excused as it was his second match that night.
Taylor averaged over a ton last week but he had been in a bit of a rough patch prior to that and even if he is on song he’s not living with those 110+ averages that Michael van Gerwen can seemingly click into whenever he needs.
You’ve got to think van Gerwen will have a passionate crowd on his side. He won a European Tour event over the weekend so he’s absolutely flying right now and I would be surprised if he doesn’t win this one.
Betting
I think this is a tough card to bet on as it goes. There are three odds on shots who all look good things and then a trappy match where Wright has everything to play for but will have the crowd against him and Barneveld has nothing to play for and motivation might be lacking but he’ll have the crowd on his side.
Instincts tell me this might not be the week for going deep into this especially with it being the first set of matches in Holland and a bit of an unknown. I’ll largely keep my powder dry for next week but I can’t resist a small treble on the three odds on shots for interest.
Last week played out to the favourites quite comfortably and I’m expecting this week to do much the same.
Tips
Back J.Wade x G.Anderson x M.van Gerwen Treble for a 3/10 stake at 4.74 with Bwin
Back them here:
