2023 Night 16 Premier League Darts Tips – JP
2023 Night 16 Premier League Of Darts Preview
Now, it is time for James Punt’s 2023 Night 16 Premier League of Darts preview.
2023 Night 16 Premier League
The final night of the 2023 Premier League before the final four head to the O2 arena for next week’s playoffs. Price, Smith and Van Gerwen have all qualified for the playoffs but they are still to establish who will top the table.
The final qualifying spot is between Jonny Clayton and Nathan Aspinall. The Ferret is on 24 points, Aspinall 22. The very least Aspinall needs is to make the final, but the ball is very much in Clayton’s court.
The format for Night 16 is for the top of the table player, Michael Smith to play bottom of the league Peter Wright, second place to play seventh and son on. This means the BIG match is match 2, Clayton vs. Aspinall.
Still Ahead
Last week we racked up a dizzying 0.20 point profit to take the league tally to +2.45. Two of our ante post bets will be settled tonight. We have 2 points on Dobey to finish ahead of Van den Bergh. He is now three points clear of Van den Bergh and first round defeats for both would do very nicely. Aspinall to reach the final is the other.
Gerwyn Price vs. Peter Wright
A win here and Price tops the league. However, this is not the formality it may have been a week or two ago. Snakebite’s PL form had been picking up, albeit from a very low base, in the last six weeks. He has picked up seven of his nine points in that period.
Those tentative signs of a return to form were confirmed in Prague at the weekend when he won the Czech Darts Open. That will have given his confidence a much needed boost and while he will be glad to see the back of this Premier League, he would like to go out on a winning note.
PL Only For Price
Gerwyn Price has only been playing Premier League matches for the last month and he has won nine of his thirteen. He hit a 111 average when beating Aspinall 6-2 in last week’s opener and 105 when beating Dobey 6-2. He was then a bit flat in the final, losing 3-6 to Michel Smith, averaging just 92.
In those last thirteen matches he hit ten ton plus averages but the other three were a couple of sub 90s and that 91 last week. We should expect a strong performance but beware that he can still throw in a poor performance. That said, he has only lost one quarter final in the last nine weeks.
Interesting H2H
Their H2H record in this year’s PL is interesting. Given that Wright has only won five matches it is a surprise that two came against the league leader. They have played three times and Wright won two, both 6-5 with a 6-3 win for Price in between.
Price is the 1.40 favourite with Wright 3.20. Given Wright’s big win at the weekend and his H2H record against Price (he is 3-1 in 2023), the value looks to be with Wright. Another 6-5?
2023 Night 16 Premier League of Darts Tip: 1 point Peter Wright to win @ 3.20 with BET365, Betvictor
2023 Night 16 Premier League of Darts Tip: 0.5 point Wright to win 6-5 @ 9.50 with Unibet, Paddy Power
Jonny Clayton vs. Nathan Aspinall
Jonny Clayton faced this scenario in 2021 when he was tied with Dimitri van den Bergh going into the final night and it was a case of the winner takes it all. The Ferret won 8-6. Both players have made the playoffs in their previous two Premier Leagues, so someone’s 100% record is going south.
Clayton has won six of his last ten matches and there is a lot to like about his game right now, but he is still losing matches while playing well.
Aspinall looks to have largely gotten over his re-gripping problem. He is playing a bit quicker and more fluently and his scoring has picked up. His last four matches have seen averages of 104.4, 103,6, 105.8 and 98.9.
He still lost two of them, but one was to a 111 average. A run of four matches doesn’t mean that he has hit form, but you can see that there is a reason for the upturn, and it could well continue.
Their H2H record is 6-2 to Clayton and he has won their last four. Aspinall last beat Clayton in February 2020. They have only met twice in this year’s PL with Clayton winning both 6-4.
Jonny Clayton is the 1.75 favourite, Aspinall 2.05. It is a hard call. Clayton’s H2H record is good but Aspinall’s upturn in form is equally impressive. I will go for another close match.
2023 Night 16 Premier League of Darts Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 2.10 with Betfair
Michael Smith vs. Dimitri van den Bergh
Smith is finishing the PL stage like a train, winning the last three weeks, moving from 5th to 2nd place. He withdrew from last weekend’s Czech Darts Open, no doubt with one eye on the next two weeks of PL action. He has won eight of his last ten matches overall. Half have seen sub 95 averages and he is not quite at his best, despite the eight wins.
Van den Bergh is in poor form, losing seven of his last ten matches. He is not playing as badly as that sounds, but his confidence will be that bit lower as a result.
Their H2H record is 9-5 to Smith and he has won their last five matches, all played this year. Smith is the 1.40 favourite, with Van den Bergh 3.20.
Smith is hard to oppose given their relative recent form but there is not a great deal of value in the odds. Their overall score in the PL this year is 18-10 and another 6-3, 6-4 match would seem reasonable.
2023 Night 16 Premier League of Darts Tip: 0.5 point Smith to win 6-3 @ 5.50 generally available
Michael van Gerwen vs. Chris Dobey
Van Gerwen’s form continues to confound. He is playing as well as anyone at the moment, maybe not Price, but he still hits these flat spots.
He was very impressive in Prague at the weekend, averaging 99.5 and 102.9 in tight matches with De Decker and Rock, but then he flopped against Rob Cross, averaging 91.2. MVG has lost three of his last four PL matches and he has slipped down the table to an unaccustomed third.
Dobey has lost six of his last ten matches but he is playing well. Eight matches have seen 96+ plus averages including five ton plus. He seems to have the unfortunate habit of bringing the best out of his opponents.
MVG Dominant H2H
Their H2H record is 14-3 to MVG, but before the start of the PL it was 12-1. Two wins from four is a good return for Dobey compared to his previously poor record, and one of his wins was a 6-0 whitewash.
They have played 14 best of 11 leg matches and nine were over 9.5 legs, seven requiring a deciding leg. MVG is the 1.40 favourite, with Dobey 3.00.
Dobey is under no pressure, especially if Van den Bergh losses to Smith. If that was the case, this is the deadest of dead rubbers. He can’t improve on 6th place so all he would be playing for is pride and a chance to still win the nightly £10k bonus. MVG will be desperate to win the night to get some confidence back before finals night.
