Darts Premier League
Premier League Darts Night 10 preview: Van Gerwen back where he belongs
Night Nine produced plenty of fireworks with Michael van Gerwen claiming his third Night win in Leeds, and there are sure to be more this week as the Premier League Darts circus heads to the AO Arena in Manchester.
We look ahead to the opening ties of Night 10 on Thursday and at the likely overall winner.
Table-toppers clash in opening round
There’s no doubt Michael van Gerwen has been through a tough time and after his win in the final last time out he said he has been “battling hard”, but the Dutchman’s graft looks as though it is beginning to pay off.
After being handed a bye in his opening quarter-final after Gary Anderson withdrew, MVG faced up to Peter Wright for the third time in the Premier League this season. In a surprisingly below par match Mighty Mike took the contest 6-3, setting up a final against James Wade. A third Night win never looked in doubt as MVG steamrollered his way to a 6-1 victory, showing flashes of his brilliant best.
He posted an impressive average of nearly 104 during that match and with Van Gerwen now finding his best form again it will take some pin-point darting to stop him following up this success in Manchester. Current table-topper MVG is the 10/3 favourite to take Night 10.
He faces stiff competition in the opening round, however, in the form of second-placed Jonny Clayton. The two-time Night winner has been in good form recently, winning Night Eight before going down 4-6 to James Wade in last week’s semi-final. The Ferret has met MVG three times in the Premier League this season, winning on the first occasion, but losing out 1-6 and 3-6 most recently.
With MVG back to form, Clayton will have to pull out all the stops for victory at 13/10, while Van Gerwen comes in as a strong 8/13 favourite.
The Iceman searching for form
Gerwyn Price came into this Premier League season after losing his world number one spot to Peter Wright and he hasn’t looked like threatening to reclaim top spot just yet.
The Iceman has failed to get beyond the quarter-final stage in the Premier League since Night Six, losing three straight opening rounds to Jonny Clayton, Joe Cullen and James Wade. He pulled out of Night Five with a hand injury and that might still be causing him some grief.
He’s a 9/2 joint third-favourite to bounce back and win his second Night, but faces his world number one successor Wright in the first round and ‘Gezzy’ is the 11/10 underdog heading into the match.
That is due to the solid form Wright has been showing in recent weeks, making the semi-finals of the last four Premier League Nights. However, Snakebite hasn’t reached the final since Night Four and his single win still remains Night One. He needs to show a bit more if he is to win in Manchester but he is 8/11 to get past round one and 4/1 to win outright.
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Wade to make final breakthrough?
James Wade has been in fine form recently and has reached the last two Premier League finals, only to run into the top two players in the league.
On Night Eight he ran into an inspired Clayton, losing 1-6, then last week it was Van Gerwen who defeated him by the same scoreline.
Wade continued his accurate darting in last weekend’s Players Championship 11, making the last 16 where he went down 4-6 to Joe Cullen. If The Machine keeps making the latter rounds in the Premier League it’s only a matter of time before he secures his first Night win (11/1).
Anderson was forced to withdraw from last week’s event in Leeds. The Flying Scotsman remains bottom of the league despite winning Night Six and is 10/1 to win a second in Manchester.
This looks a tight match with Anderson shading favouritism at 4/5, while Wade can be supported at Evens.
Can weekend run give Cullen confidence?
This season’s newcomer to the Premier League, Joe Cullen, currently lies in a respectable fifth position in the table.
While he has one Night win to his name, the 2022 Masters winner is still yet to find the form that spurred him to that title. The RockStar will take confidence from a good run to the Players Championship quarter-finals most recently, where he narrowly went down to Rob Cross. He is 9/1 to record a second Premier League success this week.
The wait for a win goes on for Michael Smith, who has struggled to make much impact in the tournament since reaching the Night Six final. Smith is the underdog to progress here at Evens, while Cullen can be backed at 4/5.
