Night 16 Premier League of Darts Preview – JP
Night 16 Premier League Darts Preview
Now, it’s time for James Punt’s Night 16 Premier League of Darts preview.
It’s nearly over. It is Night 16 tonight and just the play-offs to go next month.
It’s dead rubbers galore for the final league night with just the final play off place up for grabs between Joe Cullen and Peter Wright. Jonny Clayton cannot be caught in first place, ditto MVG in second. Gary Anderson, Michael Smith and Gerwyn Price have all been eliminated.
Jonny Clayton vs. Gary Anderson
What is the point? Clayton comes first, win or lose, Anderson finishes bottom, win or lose. Does either player care?
Anderson has won one of his last eight PL matches and he’d rather be fishing. Clayton has already withdrawn from this weekend’s Euro Tour to have some time off, and he’d rather be at home.
Clayton is the 1.33 favourite, Anderson 3.55. Who knows, maybe they will try some exhibition stuff, blindfold darts, anything to make it less dull.
Night 16 Premier League Darts Tip: No Bet
Joe Cullen vs. Peter Wright
I thought they might have put the only match of relevance on last, but I guess we can switch over to Eastenders or whatever afterwards.
Both players are on 22 points, but Cullen currently sits in 4th place on a substantial leg difference. That has no relevance here and its winner takes all. The winner is guaranteed an extra £10k prizemoney, non-ranking prizemoney, but it’s worth winning and having the chance to potentially win the overall competition.
Wright Back On Form
Peter Wright has been AWOL for a few weeks but if you watched last weekend’s European Darts Grand Prix, you would have seen a very different player. He averaged 101 over his four matches, including a 111. 16 against Danny Noppert in the quarter final. He lost the semi-final to Luke Humphries, but still averaged 99.
Snakebite is talking about winning everything again but take that with a pinch of salt. Still, it was four good performances and more of that and he has an excellent chance of progressing. Joe Cullen on the other hand lost his opening match, a timid performance in a 1-6 thrashing by Rowby-John Rodriguez.
These two have already met four times in this competition and it is 2-2. They met only last weekend when Cullen won 6-1. If Wright can bring his game that was on display in Germany last weekend, he wins. Wrights overall H2H record with Cullen is 23-7 and he is the 1.73 favourite. Cullen is likely to be the more nervous. This is his first PL and he is not guaranteed another chance, I suspect Wright will have many more. To celebrate the fact that it is the final league night, I’ll have a bet to wave it farewell.
Night 16 Premier League Darts Tip: 2 points Peter Wright to win @ 1.73 generally available
Michael van Gerwen vs. Michael Smith
Their H2H record is 37-11 to MVG and in this year’s PL he is 5-1. They have met in the last two weeks, with one win each, both 6-5 score lines. Their last four PL matches have all ended 6-5, three for MVG, one for Smith. MVG missed a dart to make it 6-5 to him and a clean sweep for him against Smith in 2022.
A 6-5 win for MVG makes sense but he is only 6.50 to do so this week and not the 9.00 of a week ago.
Night 16 Premier League Darts Tip: No Bet
James Wade vs. Gerwyn Price
James Wade returned to playing last Thursday after his short stay in a German Hospital. He didn’t play well, averaging just 80.7 and losing 3-6 to Peter Wright. Clearly, he wasn’t firing on all cylinders. He has had another week to recuperate, and we can only guess as to how he might be playing tonight. Wade is 4-1 vs. Price in this year’s PL, with only one of their matches going beyond nine legs.
Gerwyn Price has only played eight matches in May. Given the number of tournaments played this month, it shows that he hasn’t bothered to play in many and when he has, he hasn’t got very far. He is not near his best and this match has absolutely no value to him. He can’t make the play offs even if he wins the evening and he needs to do just that to finish in 5th place.
There is some logic is backing under 9.5 but this just looks like a classic Premier League minefield.
