On the eve of the UK Open not too far up the road at Minehead has another round of Premier League Darts making stop at Exeter this week.
Last week saw four draws successively, never seen on a Premier League meeting, and think this will not be seen again for a while. A mention must go to fellow twitter follower @z_tips who had a speculative lucky 31 on all five bets being draws and from a small fun bet returned in excess of £165 all for less than a price of a pint! Well done to Scott on this!
This weeks fixtures:
- Chisnall Vs Barney – Barney leads 11-5 (Barney won five of last six)
- Klaasen Vs K Huybrechts – Klaasen leads 4-1 (Huybrechts won last game 6-5)
- Anderson Vs Taylor – Taylor leads 38-15 (Taylor won four of last six)
- MVG Vs Wade – MVG leads 24-14 (MVG won last six)
- Lewis Vs Wright – Lewis leads 17-11 (Wright has won last three and lost twice in last six)
The opening game sees Chisnall looking to bounce back after a heavy defeat to former Lakeside champion Jelle Klaasen where the St Helen's chucker failed to register a single maximum in ten legs. A rare sight from Chisnall and only netting five ton-forties in the process sums up he had a bad week.
The loss sees Chisnall rock bottom of the league after four games and one win. Taking on Barney who has tasted one defeat in the league this term sees him the 11/10 favourite with Chisnall at 11/5 throwing first and 7/2 generally for the draw. Chisnall has looked below par for the last few weeks and begun three weeks ago when he forgot his shoes and took a hiding from Adrian Lewis. Dave returned the following week to beat Huybrechts but was easily beaten last week.
Barney has looked focussed with his darts and at 11/10 will tempt some players. I was tempted at the under's on the maximums but bookies have this covered but first leg 180 NO is evens with Paddy Power and Betfair on the basis both players got off to a slow start last week.
Jelle Klaasen takes on Kim Huybrechts in the second game and fancy the Dutch speed maestro to seal a second win in succession seeing the Belgian opponents chances of relegation invariably tough into the last few weeks before judgement night.
Klaasen has the head to head over his European rival and has played some good combinations including a 152 last week especially with his quick throw and occasional snatch. At 17/13 with Marathonbet and 13/10 generally throwing first Jelle can race out the blocks and secure another two points on the night.
Anderson and Taylor square off again in another possible mini classic in respect of their battles over the last couple of years. Taylor has been priced BIG at 5/2 with Anderson 5/6 throwing first with Irish bookie Paddy Power and 4/1 the draw. Looking at the performances of both players versus the markets the only potential that sticks out is fewer than eight maximums in the game with Bet365 at 8/13. From the games both players has played in, just one of Anderson's has seen eight or more maximums in a respective game. I think with Taylor netting just six, yes the Power can turn it on when he needs to, but the line is high and 365 give us some leverage in the line and will oblige if only at 8/13 as the 6/5 on eight or more is too skinny.
The penultimate game sees a potentially gritty game between MVG and Wade. The Aldershot thrower is never an easy opponent with his positioning at crucial times of legs to seize the advantage. The green machine is no bigger than 1/4 with he draw 7/1 and a Wade win 17/2. Gerwen spoiled many bets last week with a 13/2 draw for lucky punters taking the advantage.
Bookies see the machine struggling with the maximums again this week with Skybet no better than 8/15 for fewer than three. Wade is effective with his checkouts and the line is priced based on the expected handicap with Paddy Power betting 10/11 on a 89 or bigger Wade checkout. In each Wade game James has achieved no less than 96 in checkout terms and three high overall checkouts of 100+. With an expected 7-3 or 7-4 MVG win based on the handicap this leaves very little to go with.
In the final game Adrian Lewis hosts Peter Wright where Wright has lost just two of the last six. Jackpot is 15/8 with Coral, with Wright 5/4 and the tie at 7/2. Lewis put in an excellent performance with MVG last week trousering a 170 checkout with confidence despite just the one maximum and thirteen one-forties.
With the lack of maximums from jackpot bookies are covering the 3.5 line at Skybet's 4/6 thus a 60% chance of seeing fewer than four in the game and cannot see Lewis suddenly performing on the eve of the UK Open.
Recommendations
- Anderson/Taylor U7.5 180s & Lewis U 3.5 180s – 8/5 Bet365 1pt
- Chisnall/Barney – 1st leg 180 NO – 1/1 Paddy Power and Betfair 1pt
- Klaasen to beat Huybrechts – 13/10 Paddy Power 1pt
