Night 4 Premier League Darts Preview and Tips – JP
Night 4 Premier League Darts Preview
On Night 3 of the Premier League James Punt fired in a trio of winners at 1.67, 2.05 and 2.95. After a week off the players are back in action again on Thursday and James Punt is back with another preview. Check out his Night 4 Premier League Darts tips below.
Jonny Clayton vs. Michael van Gerwen
The H2H stats for these two tell a story. MVG holds the lead at 13-10, but they have played eight times since the start of 2021 and Clayton has won six. That encapsulates the rise of The Ferret, and the demise of Mighty Mike.
Jonny Clayton has lost four of his last ten matches, so he is not in the best of form. He reached the semi-final of the International Darts Open at the weekend and it was his B game that got him that far. Eventually, that B game wasn’t good enough and he lost 3-7 to Peter Wright. His doubling has been below its usual level in too many matches, but when he gets it up to his 12 month rate of 42%, he usually wins. However, there have been too many matches where he is only checking out at around 30% or lower.
MVG Lacking Confidence
Michael van Gerwen has also lost four of his last ten matches, but he is losing when playing his A game. The last time he played Clayton, on night two, MVG averaged 105 and lost 4-6. At PC3 he averaged 102 and lost to Damon Heta. He averaged 106 against Gerwyn Price on night three and lost 5-6. Such is his lack of confidence that he is losing despite playing world class darts for most of the match.
His match against Danny Noppert at the weekend was a good example. The match was going with throw, very close, but I was just waiting for the mistake, the missed doubles, and right enough it came. Noppert broke in the ninth leg and held his throw to win 6-4. A year or two ago, Van Gerwen would never have lost that match, it would have been Noppert making the mistake. Nowadays, MVG is doing the wrong things at the wrong time. He hasn’t forgotten how to throw a dart, but he has doubts as to how he is going to win.
Clayton Top Of The Table
Jonny Clayton is still top of the table despite scoring no points on night three. His PL average is 96.9 and checkout rate 43%. MVG is on four points in fifth place, is averaging 100.3 and is checking out at 45%. Good stats, but he has won just two of his five matches. One win was against a Peter Wright who just didn’t turn up, averaging 84.7 on night two, and he beat Joe Cullen on night three when Cullen played poorly.
If MVG is to win, it looks like he needs Clayton to have an off night, and given The Ferret’s most recent form, he might. That said, Clayton’s dips in form rarely last long. He doesn’t dwell on defeats and can just put them behind him and move on to the next match.
Night 4 Premier League Darts tips: 1 point Jonny Clayton to win @ 1.91 with Betvictor
Clayton won their last match 6-4 and there are a couple of bookies offering a standout 9.00 for a repeat of that. In MVG’s last eight defeats in best of 11 matches, five have ended 4-6.
Night 4 Premier League Darts tips: 0.5 point Clayton to win 6-4 @ 9.00 with Hills, Unibet
Michael Smith vs. Joe Cullen
Is this Smith’s first chance to get some points on the board? Maybe. Cullen is the winning most player of 2022, with a win rate of 82%, but he may have lost a bit of form. He has lost two of his last three, which is hardly a collapse in form, but he didn’t play well at the weekend, and he was poor against MVG on night three a couple of weeks ago. His 14 match winning run was bound to end and he may have to manage with a bit of a B game for a bit. That part of his game has improved, and Smith will not be gifted a win.
Michael Smith has lost ten of his eighteen matches in 2022 despite averaging 98.6 across those matches. He is in much the same place as MVG, he can play very well and lose. Ironically, his traditional weakness is his doubling but Smith’s checkout rate of 64% is the highest in the league. However, he remains pointless. He has improved with each PL match played with averages of 88.5, 95.9 and 103.5 but lost each match 6-3. He will be getting frustrated.
Smith Edges The H2H
Their H2H record is 10-9 to Smith and in their last five matches played in 2019 to 2021, Smith is 4-1.
Smith is the 1.80 favourite with Joe Cullen the 2.10 outsider. There is a temptation to back Smith to lose 6-3 again. That is a 10.00 shot, again with Hills, but I suspect that Smith might get his win. He reached the quarter final on the euro tour at the weekend, but it was a mixed bag of two 91 averages and 102. Both players have been a bit unpredictable in recent matches so I will swerve this one.
Night 4 Premier League Darts tips: No Bet
Gerwyn Price vs. Peter Wright
The two best players in the world go head-to-head for the second time in five days. It was Price who was the 8-4 winner in the final of the International Darts Open on Sunday evening. Their overall H2H record is 19-10 to Wright, but in their last ten matches it is 5-5, and in 2022, 1-1.
Price is in irresistible form, winning nine of his last ten matches and in his last thirteen, he has averaged over 102 ten times. His worst performance was a 95.5.
Wright isn’t quite the winning machine that Price is, winning seven of his last ten, and even Wright’s 106.7 average on Sunday evening wasn’t enough to get close to Price. His highs are not as high, his lows are lower, and he is much less consistent.
Their H2H record suggests that this is a toss-up, as it has been over the last two years. However, right now, Price is the better player and that is reflected in the bookmakers making him the 1.73 favourite.
These two have played five PL matches, Price has won four and the other was a draw.
Night 4 Premier League Darts tips: 1 point Gerwyn Price to win @ 1.73 with Betvictor, Betfred, Boylesports
James Wade vs. Gary Anderson
The H2H record shows a 33-18 lead for Anderson, but in the Premier League it is 4-3 to Anderson but also no less than six draws. They drew six of their last eight PL matches. Of course, there is no draw possible this year, but it suggests we may get a close game.
Gary Anderson is not in good form, however, winning just two of his last seven matches. His scoring is generally good, his 2022 average is 97.8, well above his 12 month average. He has just the one win in this year’s PL so far, while Wade has won three and lost three.
Wade has lost four of his last six matches and is as hard as ever to pin down. He has generally been playing well, very well at times, there is the odd duff performance, but he is just losing to better players.
This is a hard match to call. The bookies are struggling to separate them with Wade a best priced 1.95 and Anderson the marginal 1.91 favourite. The trend over their last eight PL matches has been for very close matches and if both play the way they have been recently, another close one is very possible.
