ROBERT THORNTON escaped relegation last week, with Michael Smith unable to beat Phil Taylor, although this was a closer affair than Phil would have liked. Dave Chisnall then had the chance taking his game to the final leg, but was unable to capture the draw, which in retrospect would have seen Chisnall through on leg difference.
Week ten fixtures
- James Wade v Raymond van Barneveld
- Gary Anderson v Phil Taylor
- Robert Thornton v Michael van Gerwen
- Adrian Lewis v Peter Wright
- Phil Taylor v James Wade
James Wade v Raymond van Barneveld
Raymond leads 23-20 with 4 draws
(PL record – James leads 8-5 with 4 draws)
The Machine’s birthday was on Wednesday, so what better than to extend his Premier League record over Barney to four games with avoiding defeat in Sheffield. Wade is 11/8 with Paddy Power to pocket another win over the five-time World Champion, who is 13/8 with Skybet and the tie at 15/4 with Bet365.
The pair has met 3 times in 2016 with Wade winning twice, including in the Premier League when Wade won 7-5 having led 5-1 at the half way point, before Barney nearly snatched a draw. With Barney winning just one of the last five, and back on 7 points, a win for the Dutch master will get him back into the mix, a defeat with six left to play may be too much even for Barney to make the top 4.
With the leg ratio of legs won to losing the stats gear towards going the distance, and Skybet are best priced 5/4 for either to win 7-5 and of course covers the draw also. The correct score best prices versus the 5/4 does lean a shade of value in percentage comparisons from a mathematical angle.
The previous meeting saw a maximum in the opening leg, and six in the game, three apiece. The maximum tie is 4/1, so may raise an eyebrow? I do think Wade to net a 100 or better checkout 5/6 with Paddy Power is worth a go, as well as Barneveld to hit over 98.50 average. Just one game in the last four had failed, and that was by a single dart, so 5/6 with Paddy Power again is a strong bet. To add confidence, Barney his a 101.67 average in their first meeting in the Premier League.
Gary Anderson v Phil Taylor
Phil leads 34-13 with 2 draws
(PL record – players tied on 4-4 with 2 draws)
The clash of the legends where Taylor won the first meeting in Dublin at Week 3 7-4 and it is time for the World and defending champion Anderson to take back that loss and beat Taylor in Sheffield this week!
Anderson is BIG at 17/10 with Betfair Sportsbook, with Phil 11/8 with the magic sign and 4/1 with Bet365 for the tie. With Anderson as short as 11/8 with 365, that makes the 17/10 HUGE. Anderson will be aware that Taylor has a big lead over Anderson in their overall H2H record (34-2-13). The meetings have been closer than the head to head suggests since 2013.
I find this game hard to call although I do think bookies are putting emphasis on Taylor, but is this an overreaction? I do think Anderson on throw will be difficult to beat and in the event of a draw we will double up Anderson with NO 180 in the Wade game 1st leg pocketing all backers a 8/5 double and I will leave it at that!
Robert Thornton v Michael van Gerwen
Michael leads 14-5 with 2 draws
(PL record – Michael leads 3-0 with 2 draws)
The Scot is a BIG 10/1 to beat Mighty Mike this week, heading the short price of 1/5 with Paddy and a HUGE 10/1 on the draw, which occurred just a fortnight ago!
The pair met in 2 weeks ago, which heralded Thornton’s continued involvement in this completion where Thornton drew 6-6. Thornton’s record in the head to head does not bode well and has won just 1 of their last 10 meetings , which was in the World Grand Prix final which handed Thornton a second major. In their 5 Premier League meetings van Gerwen has won 3 with 2 draws, where 4/5 all went to a decider.
MVG has in punters eyes gone slightly sideways leading to a string of draws. I have said that MVG is tired, possibly not of the game, but in need of a couple of weeks off, just to recharge and find it difficult on punters looking at his match price and considering it for their acca! Remember how many ACCA’s were burnt just 2 weeks ago!
Thornton has a 3 leg handicap and is as big as 13/10 with Betfair sportsbook, meaning 4 legs will win it. The same firm are 8/13 the Scot wins 3 legs on the night and 2/7 to win 2 or more!
I will sit out of this game, in the unknown of what MVG will show up
Adrian Lewis v Peter Wright
Adrian leads 15-8 with 1 draw
Over the time Lewis has been involved in the competition, Adie has found life tough in the Premier League… but not this year! It was interesting that before last week’s game against Thornton, Lewis had a win/lose sequence spanning 7 games.
Lewis won the reverse fixture 7-3 in a high scoring game with both players averaging in excess of 106.50. Jackpot certainly had a head to head edge over Wright and it is the predictable high power scoring from the 2-time World Champion that has led to Lewis retaining a top 6 spot for several years now.
I find that when these players meet there is a certain razzmatazz between the audiences reaction and think both players good scoring will lead to the game being won defending the throw and taking out the checkouts! Paddy Power are 5/6 for an over 97.5 Lewis average, and one can argue, Lewis’s best performance in this year’s competition was against Snakebite!
Phil Taylor v James Wade
Phil leads 47-10 with 5 draws
The pair played earlier in the evening, so putting form together is more unknown giving an earlier result is likely to influence their mind set as this toes the oche. Taylor has had Wade’s number in the head to head, although Wade should try and forget the 7-1 defeat earlier in the campaign. In addition Wade has not beaten Taylor since 2009.
Generally I will not look to get involved in games where players have frequented earlier in the evening, so no bet!
Recommendations
1st leg 180 NO – Wade/Barney & Anderson double chance versus Taylor – 2.60 bet365 1pt
Barney – over 98.50 average – 5/6 Paddy Power 1pt
Lewis – over 97.50 average – 5/6 Paddy Power – 1pt
Wade vs Barneveld – over 5.5 total 180’s 5/6 **NAP** Bet365
Anderson vs Taylor – over 11.5 total legs 11/10 **NB** Skybet
Wade vs Barneveld – highest checkout score over 119.5 5/6 Skybet
Thornton vs Van Gerwen – Van Gerwen over 104.5 average 5/6 Paddy Power
Good luck all