Night 3 Premier League Darts Tips – James Punt
Night 3 Premier League Darts Preview
On Night 2 of the Premier League of Darts James Punt landed another couple of winners at 1.67 and 1.73. We were only a leg away from a 6.50 touch in the Joe Cullen match but at least we didn’t go home empty handed. Hopefully James can steer us in the direction of some more shrewd bets on Thursday, check out his Night 3 Premier League Darts preview and tips below.
Michael Smith vs. Gerwyn Price
Michael Smith is the only player on zero points after two weeks of the PL. Two 3-6 defeats at the hands of Peter Wright and Jonny Clayton, and this week he faces the world number 1, Gerwyn Price. Next week he has to play man of the moment, Joe Cullen. Even at this early stage, the pressure is on.
Smith has played eleven matches since losing the final of the World Championship and won just four. He is still playing to a good standard most of the time, but he has got the losing habit. His confidence is low and away from the PL, he is losing to players who he should be beating. At this weekend’s players championship qualifiers, he played three and won one, a 6-3 win over Greek journeyman John Michael.
Price Off The Mark
Gerwyn Price got a win under his belt last week, beating Gary Anderson 6-3 but it was his performance at the weekend which will have Smith worried. Price played seven matches and won five, but he hit six ton plus averages. It is a sobering thought that this standard still wasn’t enough for him to win either event. He lost in the first round of PC3, 5-6 to Keegan Brown, but averaged 97.7. He then hit six ton plus averages in a row but lost the semi-final of PC4 5-7 to the unstoppable Joe Cullen.
Smith has the game to live with Price, but it seems likely that he will have to be at his best and even that may not be enough. This is not a test he needs when on a poor run of results. It is fair to say that Price hasn’t impressed in the first two nights of this PL. He has won just one match, averaged 93.6 and checked out at just 30%.
Smith has averaged 92.2 and is 75% on his doubles, but he has played just two matches and faced two players averaging a ton against him. It looks likely that he is going to face another strong opponent who hit his A game on Sunday. Both have been hitting the maximums at a very ordinary 0.17 per leg, but on Sunday, Price was hitting them at 0.51 per leg, which is massive.
Tight H2H
Their H2H record is very close, 15-14 to Smith. While Smith won their last match 4-5 in the World Championship quarter final, in 2021 it was 3-0 to Price and in their last ten matches, Smith has won just once.
Price is the 1.67 favourite, Smith 2.30. After the weekend, Price must be dying to get back to the oche and get some more points on the board. Smith on the other hand will be frustrated at his form, lacking confidence and under pressure.
Night 3 Premier League Darts Tip: 2 points Gerwyn Price to win @ 1.67 with Ladbrokes
Night 3 Premier League Darts Tip: 1 point Price to win -1.5 legs @ 2.05 with Star Sports
Premier League Darts Night 3 Tip: 1 point Gerwyn Price to hit the most 180’s @ 2.95 with Unibet
Joe Cullen vs. Michael van Gerwen
The H2H stats show a 18-9 lead for MVG but it is more realistic to look at their more recent form. They have met once already this year and it was Cullen who won that 10-7 at the Masters. In 2021 it was 2-2 and over their last ten, it is 5-5.
MVG has lost the winning habit while Cullen has found it. The Rockstar went back-to-back at the weekend, winning PC3 and PC4. He won PC3 with his C game on Saturday, but he was better on Sunday averaging 96.6. Cullen is on a run of fourteen unbeaten matches and his win rate in 2022 is played 30 and won 26. That won’t last forever, but his confidence is off the scale.
Trebles For Show
Michael van Gerwen is still the heaviest scorer over the last 12 months, but points don’t win prizes in his case. He has won seven of his last ten matches and was hitting some big numbers at the weekend, but that lack of confidence that has gotten into his game means he isn’t winning titles. On Saturday he played well and reached the semi-final of PC3 but found Damon Heta too good for him and lost 4-7. On Sunday he lost 4-6 to Cameron Menzies in the second round.
Last week MVG thumped Peter Wright 6-1 but Wright was very poor and once Van Gerwen realised it was an open goal, he showed no mercy. He was booming and going a bit red in the face. ‘MVG is back’ cried the darting twitterati, but then he lost 4-6 to Jonny Clayton, having been 4-1 up. Back to the drawing board.
Joe Cullen is the 2.30 outsider despite his recent run of good form. Of course, it won’t last, but he has won three titles in the last six weeks, MVG has won two titles in the last 15 months.
Night 3 Premier League Darts Tip: 1 point Joe Cullen to win @ 2.30 with Unibet
Gary Anderson vs. Peter Wright
It is hard to get a grip on Wright’s form. He has an excellent 81% win rate in 2022 but has lost three of his last six. Last Thursday, Wright was very poor against MVG, averaging in the low seventies in the early stage of the match. MVG wasn’t much better at that stage, but he picked his game up and battered Wright to a 1-6 defeat.
At the weekend Wright lost two of his five matches and ended with a 0-6 defeat to Ryan Joyce. Those last six matches have seen two ton plus averages and two sub 90’s. It does seem it is a coin toss as to which Snakebite is going to turn up.
Anderson Edges H2H
Their H2H record is 29-21 to Anderson. In 2022 they have met twice with Wright winning both, including a 6-5 win in the PL two weeks ago.
Gary Anderson has a pretty poor win rate of just 53% in 2022 and he has lost three of his last five matches. It is always expected that Anderson will get better as the PL goes on. He needs matches to get his form going, but his most recent form has been very inconsistent, either hitting a ton plus or 90.5. He didn’t play in Sundays players championship and lost in the second round on Saturday.
Two players who are very inconsistent recently does not make for a great betting opportunity. No bet.
Night 3 Premier League Darts Tip: No Bet
James Wade vs. Jonny Clayton
The H2H record here is 11-6 to Clayton and more telling is that he has won eight of their last ten matches. They met in the PL just two weeks ago and Clayton won that 6-4. They met six times in 2021 and Clayton won five.
Wade has lost half of his eighteen matches played in 2022. At the weekend he played ten and won six and it was the usual mixed bag of scoring, but he was performing a little better. Wade lost 4-6 to Clayton in week one in the PL.
Jonny Clayton won last week’s PL after putting in some outstanding performances. He breezed past Michael Smith 6-3 with a ton average. He was 1-4 down against MVG before he moved up the gears to win five legs on the spin and won 6-4 with a 104 average. The Ferret was 1-3 down in the final against Joe Cullen but turned that match around to win 6-4. It wasn’t vintage Ferret in terms of scoring, but his ability to dig in and win from behind was impressive.
Clayton Off To A Flier
Clayton is the 1.40 favourite with Wade at 3.25. The defending PL Champion has started his campaign well, winning five of his six matches so far and is three points clear of second place man, Peter Wright.
Recent form suggests that Clayton wins. Wade has played 17 best of 11 leg matches so far in 2022, he has lost five 6-3, two 6-3 and one 6-0. Clayton is hitting 180s twice as regularly as Wade, both in the PL and the season overall. Wade has hit either 1 or 0 maximums in seven of his last ten matches and while the risk is higher for these bets in the best of eleven leg format, Clayton looks decent value to hit the most 180s.
