We rattled the crossbar with a couple of our selections on Night 7. We eventually got off the mark with a lovely winner, James Wade advised to beat Peter Wright at odds of 3.40. The top class darting action continues on Wednesday night. Check out James Punt’s Night 8 Premier League darts tips and preview below…

Night 8 Premier League: Rob Cross vs. Nathan Aspinall

Squeaky bum time for Rob Cross. He sits in ninth place on five points, and he is even money to finish there. However, he is far from down and out. One more win and he might well make the cut, but he will be under pressure to avoid another failure to reach phase 2. Cross’ stock has fallen, and he knows that he needs to start winning not just matches, but titles, if he is to continue to qualify for or be picked for future Premier Leagues.

Cross has lost his last three matches in a row, two in the deciding leg, despite him playing well. He has averaged 98.6 across those three matches and checked out at 56%. That should be good enough to get something out those three matches. There must be some scar tissue from a couple of hard seasons and missing the cut here last year. Daryl Gurney was the odds-on favourite to be relegated, but it was Cross who went out.

Aspinall Hard To Beat

Nathan Aspinall kept his record of just one defeat intact with a draw against Jonny Clayton last night. He will be a little frustrated to have drawn three of his last four matches, but he is in second place and just one point off the lead. He has just been facing opponents who have put in really good performances and he has done well to avoid defeat. The Asp is averaging 97 with 52% across his seven matches so far and he is up for the fight.

It was a tough result for Rob Cross last night. He averaged 99.95 and was 66% on the doubles but still lost 4-7 to Dimitri van den Bergh. Tonight, he faces another in-form player and he has to pick himself up and do it again, all the while with the memory of last year to deal with. Their H2H record is 5-3 to Cross and he beat Aspinall 7-5 in the first phase of the PL last year, so his memories will not all be negative.

Aspinall is the 2.20 favourite, Cross 3.00 and the draw 4.50.

A close match should be expected, very possibly requiring a deciding leg. Cross last lost two of his last three matches 5-7, Aspinall on the other hand has avoided defeat in close matches.

Night 8 Premier League Tip: 0.5 point Nathan Aspinall to win 7-5 @ 5.50 generally available

Gary Anderson vs. Dimitri van den Bergh

Only two ‘real world’ meetings between these two players is a surprise. Both went the way of Nathan Aspinall and both in big matches, the World Series of Darts semi-final in 2018 (8-7) and the final of the 2020 World Matchplay (18-10).

Dimitri van den Bergh sits on top of the league on ten points, but only two points ahead of Gary Anderson in sixth place. There is little between them scoring wise, but Anderson is cutting a frustrated figure. He is not quite there yet.

Van den Bergh is playing very well and very consistently. His only average below 98 was a 93.9 in his 7-0 win over Glen Durrant. He has hit ton plus averages in three of his last four matches and he means business.

Anderson is up against it here, and indeed tomorrow night, and he is the player under more pressure. He has already lost two big matches to the young Belgian, who may not play the game at quite the pace that Gary likes.

Van den Bergh is the 2.10 favourite, Anderson 3.00 and the draw at 4.50. Van den Bergh is playing better, has a winning record over Anderson and can inflict Anderson’s third 4-7 defeat of the tournament.

Night 8 Premier League Tip: 0.5 point Dimitri van den Bergh to win 7-4 @ 9.50 with Unibet, Betfred

Michael van Gerwen vs. Jose De Sousa

Annoyingly, De Sousa was a bit half hearted against his friend, Glen Durrant last night. He won 7-4 and had two 11 dart legs but he wasn’t at his best. In his four previous matches he had averaged 103.8, and I expect to see a return to that sort of form tonight. He faces MVG, a player with whom he has a 2-3 H2H record. His biggest win was beating Van Gerwen in a Euro Tour final last year, and he took MVG to a deciding leg in this years UK Open.

So far Jose is averaging 100, checking out at 44% and has hit 36 maximums. Michael van Gerwen is averaging 96.5, checking out at 38% and has hit just 11 maximum’s. The Special one is playing the better darts.

MVG has been very inconsistent in his performances but what will worry him is that in three of his last four, he has checked out at less than 29%. Amazingly he still got three points out of those matches, but against a heavy scoring De Sousa, he cannot afford to be so poor on the doubles.

MVG is the 2.00 favourite, De Sousa 3.25 and the draw 4.60.

I really don’t get why Van Gerwen is so short a favourite.  He does not have the kind of H2H record which suggests his opponent is in any great fear of him. He is not playing as well as De Sousa and his doubling has become a worry.

Night 8 Premier League Tip: 1 point Jose de Sousa to win @ 3.25 with BetFred

Night 8 Premier League: James Wade vs. Jonny Clayton

There was less hobbling from Wade last night, but the standard of his play remained at the high level we saw on night 6. He has averaged 104.85 over the last two nights but only got two points from them.

Jonny Clayton remains in good form. He is averaging 100.9 for the tournament hit 28 maximums and has checked out at 39%. It is his doubling which is the weakest link. That area of his game had been poor in his previous three matches before his match with Nathan Aspinall last night and he started that match with double trouble, losing two legs due to misses on the outer ring. It was a bullseye finish in leg five for a 121 out which got him back hitting doubles with more confidence but he missed three doubles in his last two winning legs, but he just about did enough to get a draw.

Clayton Edges H2H

Their H2H record is 8-5 to Clayton, but more importantly he has won the last five in a row, two this year and by 34-21 legs in total.

Clearly Wade has been in top form for the last two nights and while Jonny Clayton continues to score very well, his doubling has been hard to watch.

Jonny Clayton is the 2.15 favourite, James Wade 2.80 and a draw at 4.50. Clayton looks a little short given his double worries while Wade is not a player renowned for the kind of ton plus averages he has put in for the last two nights. What he is renowned for his finishing. His tournament checkout rate is 51% but he has checked out at 71% and 64% for the last two nights.

Jonny Clayton is the player who needs to improve tonight or hope that Wade puts in one of his off nights. It is hard to see any great value in a tricky looking match.

Peter Wright vs. Glen Durrant

The bank of Duzza finally didn’t pay out last night as he managed to win four legs against his friend, Jose de Sousa. Did he play better or did De Sousa take it easy on him? A bit of both, but it was another sub 90 average. He did have a 105 checkout, was 50% on the doubles and hit two maximums, but in the end, it was an 89 average. That actually is his best performance in this year’s league but it was still a long way from being enough.

Peter Wright changed his darts again last night which wrecked the board, but he lost 4-7 to a very impressive James Wade. Wright averaged 98 but Wade simply out played him. That is two defeats in a row for Wright, who has done very little wrong, but just come up against two outstanding performances.

Duzza In Terrible Form

Their H2H record is 8-4 to Wright with one draw. They have met once this year and it was Glen Durrant who won. That was one of his few post Covid19 wins (he has won just 13 matches since contracting the virus last October). The problem is that Duzza’s PL form is worse than his overall 2021 form. He was eliminated last night but he knew he was going home way before that.

Playing Duzza has been a two point pick up for every other player in the league and it should be for Snakebite. He is averaging 97.8 and checking out at 54%. Durrant is yet to average over 90 and remains devoid of confidence. Wright is in the danger zone, 8^th place, six points with a -3 leg difference. He needs two points and needs to improve that leg difference. Wright has been here often enough to know the importance of this match. He cannot afford to be charitable and while it is not nice to kick a man when he is down, Wright’s place in the second phase may require him to do just that.

Night 8 Premier League Tip: 2 points Peter Wright to win -3.50 legs @ 2.00 with Ladbrokes

-JamesPunt