2023 Night 13 Premier League of Darts Tips – JP
2023 Night 13 Premier League Of Darts Preview
Now, it is time for James Punt’s 2023 Night 13 Premier League of Darts preview.
Just four more nights of the Premier League stage to go before the top four head to the O2 Arena for the play offs. There were a few changes in the table last week. Gerwyn Price has overtaken MVG at the top and the night’s overall winner, Nathan Aspinall, moved up to third place but only three points cover Aspinall, Clayton and Michael Smith. Van den Bergh and Dobey really need to win the night to have a realistic chance of the playoffs, while Peter Wright needs a miracle.
We had two winners from three selections last week for a 0.57 point profit, taking the Premier League tally to +1.34. Nosebleed time.
Michael Smith vs. Chris Dobey
Smith won the German Darts Grand Prix a couple of weeks ago, followed that up by reaching the final of Night 11 but he lost that final, and his opening match last week, both to Gerwyn Price. Smith lost to Mensur Suljovic in Austria at the weekend having just scraped past Riccardo Pietreczko in his opening match. His form remains good, despite losing three of his last four.
Chris Dobey continues to play well but isn’t getting the results, except against Michael Smith. He has lost five of his last ten matches but had four ton plus averages and while his consistency is still not that of a Swiss watch, he is playing well. He has only won six matches in the PL but two of them were against Smith, both 6-4 wins. Their overall H2H record is 5-5 with Dobey winning the last three, all this year.
Despite that interesting H2H record, Smith is being made the 1.54 favourite and Dobey 2.63. I can see why Smith is favourite, but Dobey is being underrated. He is not playing badly and with three wins over Smith already in 2023, he will feel a bit more confident.
2023 Night 13 Premier League Darts Tip: 1 point Chris Dobey to win @ 2.63 with BET365
Michael van Gerwen vs. Peter Wright
Van Gerwen is trying to put a brave face on the fact that Price has overtaken him in the league table. Mighty Mike is supposed to win the league, but here comes another Welshman to knock him off his perch. It is also symbolic in MVG’s loss of domination.
He is still a very good player, he will win plenty of titles, but he is not the best player in the world anymore. He knows it and it is screwing with his head. MVG is losing matches he should be winning. He is playing well but still losing and he suffered a humiliating 0-7 defeat on Sunday night when Josh Rock blew him away in Austria.
When I say blew him away, I mean it was a maximum humiliation, but a largely self-inflicted defeat. He didn’t hit a single double and his head was in a spin. No composure and it is something becoming more apparent in his game. He is beating himself at times.
Wright Struggling
However, all things are relative and MVG is in relatively good shape, compared to Peter Wright. Wright’s off oche distractions have seriously derailed his game. Things are supposed to have been sorted out but his game remains AWOL.
A 45% win rate in 2023 is the form of a player struggling to keep a tour card, not an elite level Premier League player. In the PL he has played 16 and won 4 matches. On Night 11 he averaged 100 and beat Aspinall 6-5 and then averaged 99 in a 5-6 defeat to Michael Smith. Two good performances. He then lost 3-6 to Van den Bergh, averaging 87.7. He was worse at the weekend, losing 1-6 to Mensur Suljovic and averaging just 78.0.
MVG Dominant vs Wright
They have met three times in this year’s PL and MVG has won all three, 6-1, 6-1 and 6-5. They last met on the Euro Tour when MVG won 6-0. Van Gerwen has won ten of their last eleven matches and he is the 1.40 favourite to win again. Van Gerwen is not at his best, not close, but if Wright plays like he usually does these days, MVG could win throwing two darts.
In their last ten best of ten leg matches, going back four years, MVG won nine, four of them 6-1, eight required less than 9.5 legs and MVG covered a 2.5 leg handicap eight times.
2023 Night 13 Premier League Darts Tip: 1 point MVG to win -2.5 legs @ 2.15 with Ladbrokes
2023 Night 13 Premier League Darts Tip: 1 point under 9.5 legs @ 1.70 with Fitzdares, Ladbrokes
Night 13 Premier League Darts Tip: 0.5 MVG to win 6-1 @ 10.5 with Unibet
Gerwyn Price vs. Jonny Clayton
Price continues to enjoy playing in the PL for the first time ever. He has finally figured it out. His schedule has been a bit lighter thanks to not playing in the Euro Tour last weekend, so he will be nice and rested for the night.
Jonny Clayton will be glad that he was playing in Europe last weekend as he won his second Euro Tour title and his second Austrian Darts Open title. That will have given him a real boost, ending a Euro Tour title drought going back five years. He has won eight of his last ten matches and will be feeling good, but can he turn the tables against Price?
Both In Form
The Iceman has got the better of The Ferret in seven of their last eight matches, including a 1-6 defeat just last week. Clayton is in great form, but so is Price, who has won seven of his last ten matches, hitting eight ton plus averages and a 99. He did play poorly in his 4-6 defeat to Nathan Aspinall in last week’s final, but that was very much an outlier in his brilliant form of the last month.
Price is the 1.45 favourite, Clayton 2.90. Clayton has shortened after his win on Sunday but Price deserves his short odds quote. It is a no bet for me.
2023 Night 13 Premier League Darts Tip: No Bet
Nathan Aspinall vs. Dimitri van den Bergh
Aspinall was the surprise winner of Night 12. He caught MVG on an off night in the quarter final, had a good win over Van den Bergh in the semi-final before he found Price in unusually poor form in the final. It was his 6-4 win over Van den Bergh which was of most interest when it comes to looking at this match.
Aspinall has won seven of his last ten matches but he isn’t at his best. His scoring has been a bit light but he is winning with his B game and he will be feeling reasonably confident.
Van den Bergh has won seven of his last ten matches, most of them in PC10 where he reached the semi-final. However, in the PL he has lost nine of his last twelve. He did have a very good H2H record against Aspinall, winning ten consecutive matches, but it is the Asp who has won their last two, both in the PL. In three of the four PL matches they have played this year, three have required over 9.5 legs and another close match would not be a surprise.
