Another non-judgemental Judgement Night. The two ante-post favourites to be relegated have been and they are first on tonight while the rest start phase two a night early. We landed a couple of lovely winning bets on Night 8, including Aspinall to win 7-5 at odds of 5.50. Check out James Punt’s Judgement Night Premier League tips below…

Glen Durrant vs. Rob Cross

Glen Durrant has the prospect of being the first player in PL history not to have scored a point. Kim Huybrechts failed to win a match in 2017 but he did get three draws.

Duzza still hasn’t averaged over 90 and last nights 1-7 loss to Peter Wright saw him average 79.5. There is no reason to think he will be much better tonight. The bags are packed, and the Taxi is waiting.

Rob Cross is eliminated but while Duzza has been dire, Cross has played some good stuff but ran into too many players who were on top form against him. He was poor against Aspinall last night and possibly he had checked out mentally. He has averaged 96.4 overall, checked out at 40% but crucially, he lost three of his last four matches in the deciding leg.

Dead Rubber

This match is a very dead rubber. The result means absolutely nothing. Durrant will be last and Cross nineth whatever the result. They are not even playing for the difference in prizemoney for finishing tenth or nineth. There is no motivation beyond not being the first man to lose every match in a Premier League for Duzza, and not being the only player not to get two points against Duzza, for Rob Cross.

It is all a bit humiliating for Glen Durrant. A three-time World Champion and the defending Premier League champion. He is at absolute rock bottom.

Rob Cross won’t be feeling much better even if his game looks in better shape than it has for quite some time. The losing habit is still there. He is the 1.30 favourite to win this for obvious reasons.

Do we have one more go at the Bank of Duzza? Can he win 4 or more legs for only the second time? Probably not, but what is Rob Cross’ motivation? We have seen most of Glen’s opponents taking it easy against him. They can feel sympathy for him and there must be a chance that Cross throws the match. He certainly will not be going for a 7-0 win. It seems best to let this match pass unbacked.

Judgement Night Premier League: Jonny Clayton vs. Michael Van Gerwen

It has all gone tits up for our ante post selection, Jonny Clayton. He has got just one point from his last four matches and from being top of the table at the end of night five, he is now eighth. The good news is that he has made the cut and is only one point off fourth place. The bad news is that he now faces an energised MVG.

Van Gerwen was in full beast mode last night vs. Jose De Sousa. He won 7-4, averaging 104 but he was giving De Sousa the full treatment. He recognises that De Sousa is a threat, another threat, and he wanted to stamp on him. His bellowing would have got Gerwyn Price a fine, but it is MVG so he can do as he pleases. The chances are, he will be doing the same tonight.

Jonny Clayton lost 3-7 to the very much in-form James Wade last night. The Machine is playing as well as he has for a long time, probably since just after the birth of his son, when he won back-to-back majors. He has averaged 104.96 over the last three nights and Jonny was just another victim.

A big part of the PL is being lucky, or unlucky, in terms of whether you can meet opponents when they are not playing their best or facing an opponent who is on a hot streak. Those players that played Wade in the first five nights were lucky. Clayton wasn’t and he now faces a rampant MVG who has played some pretty poor stuff and gotten away with it. Unlucky timing.

Solid h2h Record for MVG

Their H2H head record is 11-6 to MVG but Clayton has won four of their last six and both their matches played this year. That is not a surprise as Clayton has been the best player of 2021 and he was losing very few matches. He had only lost seven matches from fifty-five played in 2021 coming into this tournament. Now he has lost three of his last five and won just one.

A collapse in form? No. He averaged 103 in defeat last night and his overall PL average is 101.18. There is very little wrong with his game. His doubling has let him down in his defeats by Van den Bergh and Rob Cross, but he hasn’t done much wrong.

Van Gerwen has not been a model of consistency performance wise, but he has only lost one match and he now looks to have the bit between his teeth as he aims to win top the league once again.

MVG is the 1.91 favourite, Clayton 3.60 with the draw at 4.60.

The Ferret has won just 11 legs in these second group of matches and lost 20. Yes, he is scoring well but so are his opponents and this is going to be another tough match. He can and has beaten MVG but tonight he faces an MVG who is feeling confident again. He is back to being the bully rather than lacking confidence in his game.

Judgement Night Premier League Tip: 1 point MVG to win -1.5 legs at 1.90 with SpreadEx

Nathan Aspinall vs. Gary Anderson

These two have only met five times in ‘real world’ darts and the H2H record is 2-2 with a draw in one of their PL matches last year. Both are averaging 95 for the last 12 months but Aspinall is returning to his best form while Anderson is not playing his best.

Anderson lost 5-7 to Van den Bergh last night. It was a poor match, a poor performance by both players. Gary averaged 91.1 and hit just five doubles from twenty seven. Overall, his checkout rate is 38% so last night was particularly bad on the outer ring but it is a sign of his frustration. He is not playing his best, trying too hard, missing and getting more frustrated. Frustrated players do not play well.

Asp Struggles

The Asp struggled to beat Rob Cross last night. He had a good run in the middle of the game, had four legs of 15 of less darts and went 6-2 up, cruising to an easy victory. Cross had a couple 14 dart legs and managed to take it to a deciding leg which Aspinall won with a 16 dart leg. He was good on his doubles with a 58% checkout rate but averaged 94.5 and that isn’t good enough at this level. Night five and six saw him average 105 but in the last two nights has seen him back in the mid 90’s.

Nathan Aspinall is the 2.40 favourite, Gary Anderson 2.60 and the draw 4.33.

Five of Anderson’s matches have gone to a deciding leg, and all three of this weeks matches. Five of Aspinall’s matches have gone to a deciding leg and four of his last five. Total legs over 11.5 can be backed at 2.10 and that looks a sensible choice, with a little on Aspinall to shade it 7-5.

Judgement Night Premier League Tip: 1 point over 11.5 legs @ 2.10 with SpreadEx, Betfair

Judgement Night Premier League Tip: 0.5 point Aspinall to win 7-5 @ 11.00 with Betfair

Jose de Sousa vs. Peter Wright

The H2H record is 3-3 but Snakebite has won three of their last four matches, all last year. Both players average over the last 12 months is 98.5 and there is little to separate them. De Sousa is averaging 99.7 so far, Wright 97.4. Their checkout rates are 42% for De Sousa, 53% for Wright. The Special One heads the 180’s hit table and he is scoring them at 0.477 per leg, compared to Wright at just 0.200. However, looking at the four matches they played last year Wright hit the most 180’s twice, De Sousa once and the other was a 7-7 tie.

Peter Wright has quietly gone about his business, is playing well but has lost three matches. One was on Night 2 when he was very poor against MVG. His other two defeats came against players averaging 105 against him. Unlucky timing. De Sousa has been a bit more eye-catching scoring more heavily but here they are, tied on eight points.

I cannot make my mind up about this match. You can argue a good case for any of the three possible outcomes and this is a no bet match.

Judgement Night Premier League: Dimitri van den Bergh vs. James Wade

Wade was very flat in the first group of five matches. He was a late replacement for Gerwyn Price (remember him?), was not expecting to play and had not expected to be away from his son. That upset him and he played poorly but picked up his free two points vs. Durrant and was lucky to play MVG when the Dutchman averaged 90, gifting another two points to Wade. Lucky timing.

In this second group of matches, when he knew that he was going to be away playing darts for four nights, his head is screwed on the right way and he has hit three consecutive 100+ averages and won two of the three despite his opponents averaging a combined 101.

Dimitri van den Bergh tops the table thanks to being the only payer to win five of his eight matches. He was lucky to win last night however. He averaged 87.2 against Gary Anderson and he was very lucky that Anderson was even worse than he was on the doubles. You can get matches like that, both players drag each other down and you get a poor match, and that was a poor match.

Can Van Den Bergh Rediscover Top Form?

The question is, can Van den Bergh get back to the kind of form he showed on Monday and Tuesday, when he had two ton plus averages and comfortable wins over Clayton and Cross. Was last night just a blip or has he gone off the boil?

Wade cannot be entirely trusted to carry on with his red hot form. You have to go back to last March to find the last time Wade had four ton plus averages in a row. That was a floor event, all matches played on the same day, not a televised tournament. The last time he had back to back ton plus averages in a televised tournament was in the 2018 Grand Slam of Darts and that was not long after the birth of his son when won the European Championship and World Series of Darts, back-to-back.

Right now, Wade is in peak form and he is facing Van den Bergh who was looking in peak form, until last night. The odds have made my mind up. Wade has been beating players throwing big numbers at him for the last three nights and so long as he remains near that form, he will be hard to beat. That he is the 2.85 outsider is a little surprising.

Judgement Night Premier League Tip: 1 point James Wade to win @ 2.85 with Unibet

-JamesPunt