Darts Premier League
Darts Premier League Night Five preview: Darts Premier League returns with an almighty meeting in Exeter
After winning the last Darts Premier League meeting in Dublin, Michael van Gerwen is the favourite to win the prize. Can he make it two on the bounce for the first time this season?
We preview his clash and the other three quarter-final match ups from the Darts Premier League Night Five in Exeter.
Michael van Gerwen v Gerwyn Price
Fresh off the back of his first Darts Premier League victory of the season, Michael van Gerwen will fancy his chances for a second victory on the bounce. The odds are also with the Dutchman as he is priced at 5/2 to be the outright winner in Exeter.
Taking on Gerwyn Price, who he beat 6-5 in the final of Night Four, will be a tough challenge, but extracting revenge once more on the man from Wales for his week one embarrassment will likely give Van Gerwen the push in momentum he will need to go the whole distance once again.
Van Gerwen is the 8/11 favourite to win in this match and looks likely to qualify for the semi-finals, something he has only failed to do once so far this Premier League season. Price certainly has was it takes to beat Van Gerwen at 11/10 but after his loss to the powerhouse in the recent final, we are backing the favourite for victory in this one.
Check out William Hill’s latest Darts betting promotions
Nathan Aspinall v Michael Smith
Yet to take the prize in the Premier League this season, Nathan Aspinall comes up against Night Three winner Michael Smith and will hope to change the fortunes that have seen him lose before the final in his last two outings.
Aspinall is underdog at 6/4 to win here and is 10/1 to win overall. There is no doubting his ability but as the intensity of Premier League highlights, success in competitive darts is all about executing your best performances in every meet.
Michael Smith has won the prize this season once already and will taste blood looking at Aspinall’s two recent showings. He is the second favourite for the prize at 2/7 but will need to be confident if he is to make amends for his poor display in the semi-final that saw him lose 6-1 to Gerwyn Price last time out. We can definitely see it happening though and are backing him at 8/15 for the win here.
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Chris Dobey
Dimitri Van den Bergh is the favourite in this matchup at 4/6 and looks set to get through to the semi-finals for a second time in three appearances. Though he was dumped out in the first round last time out, in Exeter he will be one to consider as it always likely he will find his form again and remind us of his top quality.
He takes on Chris Dobey who was also knocked out at the first time of asking in Dublin. Dobey has been poor since his win on the first night of the season that saw him defeat Michael van Gerwen and claim the prize, losing in the first round of each night in the three meetings that have followed.
Van den Bergh on the other hand has lost the only final appearance he has made so far this term but will look to exploit his opponents weak odds of 6/5. Dobey is the least favourite for the prize in Exeter at 16/1 so we are backing the easy choice of Van den Bergh.
Jonny Clayton v Peter Wright
This is looking like it will be the closest tie of the evening as the odds cannot split either player with both coming in at 10/11 to take the win in the first round. The same goes for the duo as the overall winners as they have matching odds of winning the prize at 7/1, but looking at their recent form it seems the winner could be hiding in plain sight.
Both players lost in the first round on Night One, but Peter Wright was the one that lost first in Dublin the last time out. Losing to Michael Smith who went on to take a 6-1 loss to Gerywn Price in the next round, Wright could be the one in worse recent form and when looking at a tie with such close odds, subtle contrasts make all the difference.
Beating Nathan Aspinall in the quarters in Dublin, Jonny Clayton is our favourite for victory here and looking at how close he was to beating Michel Smith in their 6-5 semi final in Night Three, we wouldn’t put it past him to make his first final of the season.
