After an unpredictable first week of action in the Premier League Darts season the 10 men head to Newcastle on Thursday night for the second round of matches either looking to kick start their season or consolidate their fine start.
Week one saw surprising wins for James Wade and Raymond Barneveld against Michael van Gerwen and Phil Taylor respectively while Peter Wright, Adrian Lewis and Dave Chisnall all notched up opening wins to set their campaigns up nicely.
Thursday’s action kicks off with the two favourites for relegation scheduled to meet. I say scheduled to meet as there are rumours that Robert Thornton is ill and isn’t guaranteed to play but if he is fit he will play Michael Smith.
Smith had to play twice last week due to Gary Anderson’s illness in what was something of a baptism of fire. He lost both of those matches and is under real pressure to win here to get his season back on track. Three defeats to start would be very tough to recover from. Smith made a couple of quarter finals over the weekend so he at least restored some confidence.
Thornton was woeful against Dave Chisnall last week and he wasn’t a lot better at the weekend in all honesty so he also has to buck his game up to get competitive this season but if he has been ill then I suspect practice would have gone out of the window so if he is fit to play this is still going to be a tough ask.
All the evidence suggests Smith will win this match but the match might not go ahead and even if it does odds on just seems too short so I’ll leave this match well alone.
Two men who both won last week meet in the second game as Peter Wright battles Raymond Barneveld with the winner spending at least half an hour on top of the table.
Barneveld actually leads the head to head record between these two 7-3 which is quite remarkable when you consider he has lost their last two meetings, the latest of which came last weekend in a UK Open qualifier.
They look pretty evenly matched to me and I wouldn’t rule out another draw here. All three of their Premier League battles have gone the distance with two of them finishing all square. If I had to bet I’d probably go that way but it feels like a game to leave alone.
I will get involved in the third match though which also sees two winners going up against each other when Adrian Lewis meets Dave Chisnall.
Lewis eased past Michael Smith last week and then backed that up by winning one of the UK Open qualifiers at the weekend so he’s in decent nick right now which could be a concern for Dave Chisnall.
On the bright side for Chisnall he goes to Newcastle on top of the table after thrashing Robert Thornton 7-0 last week so if he isn’t full of confidence now he never will be. He kept his form up with runs to the Last 16 in all three UK Open qualifiers at the weekend so he’s pretty sharp right now.
I don’t normally take 180s in this tournament but I like them in this match. Both men hit three 180s in comfortable wins last week but there is enough to suggest this one will be closer than their games last week were and I think they’ll inspire each other to deliver so I’m happy to take over 7.5 180s as there won’t be many weeks these two sustained scorers don’t register four 180s each.
The penultimate match of the night sees the return of the world champion. Gary Anderson missed last week because of illness so he begins his Premier League title defence here against Michael van Gerwen in a mouth-watering match.
Both men will be up for this. Anderson is always up for it when he plays van Gerwen while the world number one needs to get back to winning ways after a surprising defeat to James Wade last week so we’re set up for a classic.
Prior to his last leg defeat in the European Championship final last year Anderson had won their last three meetings and of course famously the Scot beat his Dutch rival on his way to his first world title. You could say this is darts’ biggest current rivalry now.
Assuming he is fully over his illness I don’t think Anderson is getting the respect he deserves here. He almost has nothing to lose anyway because if he’s crap he can hide behind not being fully fit should he choose to and also everyone expects MVG to win every game he plays.
I’m not so sure MVG will win this. These missed doubles that dogged him last week are becoming more and more frequent. They cost him in the World Grand Prix final and in the World Championship and he just can’t afford them here. At odds against I think Anderson is a great bet to avoid defeat here.
Finally James Wade will be looking to pile more misery on Phil Taylor when they close out the show. Taylor ‘bounced back’ to form by winning a UK Open qualifying event at the weekend. I’ve quoted that comment because he didn’t really bounce back. His floor record has never been an issue it is the doubles he is missing on the big stage that is hurting him.
Wade’s win over van Gerwen last week was largely down to the Dutchman missing doubles but Wade wasn’t perfect on them himself which is what is putting me off taking Wade in this match.
I’ve got to say I wouldn’t be in the least bit surprised if Wade does win this match but there will be a time when everything clicks for Taylor on the big stage and if it is going to happen it will probably be after he has played on a weekend to keep himself in groove so I’ll sit this last match out and ride the two bets for night two of the event.
WON – Back A.Lewis vs D.Chisnall – Over 7.5 180s for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with Betfair
Back G.Anderson/Draw Double Chance vs M.van Gerwen for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Ladbrokes
