2023 Night 14 Premier League of Darts Tips – JP
2023 Night 14 Premier League Of Darts Preview
Now, it is time for James Punt’s 2023 Night 14 Premier League of Darts preview.
Night 14 comes from Manchester, home turf for Nathan Aspinall, who needs all the help he can get. He sits in 4th place, three places ahead of Jonny Clayton. The Ferret opens proceedings with a match vs. bottom of the table Peter Wright.
If he wins that, and he is the 1.67 favourite, he would be just one point behind and he would be favourite to beat the winner of the Dobey vs. Van den Bergh match. The Asp faces Michael Smith, and the winner of that faces MVG or Gerwyn Price.
Price & MVG Through
Price and MVG are already through and tonight is all about the battle between Smith, Aspinall and Clayton. There are just 4 points between Smith in 3rd place and Clayton in 5th. Van den Bergh, Dobey and Wright need nothing else other than the full five points for winning the night, and then do it again and probably again before the cut off for the playoffs at the end of the month.
Last week was a bit of a disaster for us betting wise. With three eggs in the MVG vs. Wright basket, Wright put in a rare good performance, MVG had one of those nights where he never got going and Wright won 6-3. Only Aspinall and Van den Bergh going over 9.5 legs paid out and it was a -2.59 point loss on the night. That takes the tally into the red and -1.25 points for the league to date.
Peter Wright vs. Jonny Clayton
With Wright dead and buried in reality, he is playing for pride, but we have seen before that players who are out of contention can play a big role in deciding who will get to the playoffs. He got a win over MVG last week so, despite his long ongoing loss of form, Wright cannot be dismissed. He has lost six of his last ten matches but he has hit four averages of 97 or more. There is a game in there, but when it will make an appearance is the mystery.
Jonny Clayton has won six of his last ten matches and picked up the Austrian Darts Open title two weeks ago. He is playing with a good deal of consistency, but not quite at his very best.
Their H2H record is 15-10 to Wright but it is The Ferret who has won both their 2023 PL matches, and both were 6-5. They met four times in last year’s PL and Clayton won all of those aswell, two 6-5 and the others 6-4 and 6-3. A record of very close matches. Will we get another? History suggests so.
Clayton is the 1.67 favourite, Wright 2.30.
2023 Night 14 Premier League of Darts Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 2.00 with Fitzdares
2023 Night 14 Premier League of Darts Tip: 0.5 point Clayton to win 6-5 @ 7.00 with Betfred, Betfair, Fitzdares
Chris Dobey vs. Dimitri van den Bergh
A very big match for our ante post 2 point bet on Dobey to finish ahead of Van den Bergh. At present it is the Belgian who is 1 point ahead.
Dobey is this year’s hard luck story in the PL. He has not got much return on what has been good play on the whole. He has averaged 97.0, the fourth best average in the league, and his checkout rate is bettered only by Clayton and Price.
Dobey is not in good form, losing six of his last ten matches, but seven matches have seen him average 97+. Four matches saw sub 25% on the doubles and that is where he is getting turned over. A better night on the doubles and he has a good chance. He didn’t play on the Euro Tour last weekend so he will be fresher this week.
Dimitri To Take Off?
Van den Bergh has won six of his last ten matches but arguably isn’t playing as well as Dobey. Just four of his matches saw him average 97+, but he had two 105 averages in last weekend’s Belgian Open, so he might be just about to take off.
The market is finding it hard to split them with Van den Bergh available at 1.95, Dobey 2.02, but most firms go 1.91 about each.
We have enough skin in this game and it does look like the proverbial coin toss. Their H2H form is 7-5 to Dimitri and he won their only meeting in the PL 6-3. However, Dobey won their most recent match 6-2 on the Euro Tour. No bet.
2023 Night 14 Premier League of Darts Tip: No Bet
Michael Smith vs. Nathan Aspinall
We have an ante post bet on The Asp to make the playoffs, so a win here would be nice, but Smith isn’t going to be handing out any presents as he fights to secure his own place in the playoffs. It is a big match for both. Aspinall will have the bulk of the crowd on his side but Smith will not be without his own supporters.
Smith has won six of his last ten matches, has hit three ton plus averages and is generally around the 95 mark quite consistently. Aspinall has also won six of his last ten matches but his performances have been less consistent with four sub 91 averages.
They last met in the final of the German Darts Grand Prix, which Smith won 8-5. Their H2H record is 11-8 to Smith and he has won their last three, but in this year’s PL it is 2-1 to Aspinall. Smith is the 1.63 favourite and Aspinall 2.43.
Dartitis?
Aspinall’s re-gripping is getting worse and while he is generally getting away with it, it looks like it is starting to get to him. He is spending longer at the oche and it will be interesting to see how that plays out. It could deny Smith the pace of play he needs to play his best, or it could go full blown dartitis for The Asp.
This is another match which is hard to call. There is some value in Aspinall’s odd, but he lacks the consistency to make him an attractive proposition. We need him to win and that is enough for me. No bet.
2023 Night 14 Premier League of Darts Tip: No Bet
Michael van Gerwen vs. Gerwyn Price
The match we all want to see. Gerwyn Price is four points clear of MVG in the table and he is the Cock ‘o’ the North. He is also enjoying a nice, light schedule by not playing in the Euro Tour events for the last two weeks or this weekend. It is PL only for him.
His last nine matches have all been in the PL and he has won seven, including a 6-5 win against MVG. Seven saw ton+ averages and three 108+. His A game is insane, but there were two sub 90’s so there is a small chance he could choke.
MVG PL Struggles
Van Gerwen has won six of his last ten matches but he is doing his winning on the Euro Tour. In the PL he has lost his last three in a row and five of his last seven. Their H2H record is 29-14 to MVG but that is misleading. Price has won their last five and in this year’s PL it is 3-2 to Price. Three of their PL matches have gone to a deciding leg.
Price is in better form than MVG. The Dutchman is suffering with a confidence problem and he is unravelling quickly at times. Unless Price has a rare off night, it does happen, he is going to give MVG a hard time. Another 6-5? I don’t think MVG is playing well enough and Price is enjoying his good run against his old rival.
Price is the 1.73 favourite and is attracting the money.
