WEEK three of the Premier League is upon us and as weeks four and five approaches we will begin to get a picture of the race to avoid elimination at the first hurdle.
Gerwyn Price with a single point is the 8/11 front runner with Paddy Power for the bottom two after week nine. Mensur Suljovic is 5/4 generally with Gurney 5/2, Whitlock and the rest 11/2 upwards.
Raymond Van Barneveld in the race for the top four is 11/8 with Boylesports but after two games there is still a long way to go.
Week three *Player named on the left will throw first.
Mensur Suljovic Vs Michael Smith
- (7/5 – 6/4) Tie: 17/5
- Head to head – Suljovic leads 8-5
Mensur Suljovic enters the arena off the back of two losses albeit narrow ones still has the Austrian yet to get off the mark and faces Bullyboy Michael Smith with two wins from two under his belt.
Interestingly layers make Suljovic a narrow favourite on the margin of him throwing first, which actually suggests this could go the distance in legs as both are relatively militant in protecting their throw.
Mensur has not participated in any of the six UK Open qualifiers which may have some influence on the pricing as Smith should be more match sharp in comparison. Having won a qualifier also, Smith is ready to take that next step!
One market which could be a minefield is the maximum market as Suljovic hit three last week with his line firmly on 2.5 and potentially ruining backers on the under market last week. Smith is no bigger than 1/2 (66.67%) to land the most maximums on the night with Sportingbet, which may still appeal to some shorter price backers.
Suljovic has managed to pass the 100 average on both weeks, with Smith not passing more than 99 and with BetVictor 5/6 on Mensur hitting the higher average is certainly worth consideration.
Daryl Gurney Vs Gerwyn Price
- (10/11 – 12/5) Tie: 7/2
- Head to head – Price leads 6-1
This is a must win for both as a slow start has led to both players being within the top three pricing to be eliminated.
Gurney should have renewed confidence after a UK Open qualifier final last weekend as Gerwyn Price did struggle in the qualifiers over the two weekends.
Price has beaten Gurney on all but one occasion and all have been relatively tight seeing either 6-4 or 6-5 results on the floor and TV as well as a 10-7 win at the masters a few weeks ago.
Maximums have been a slow start for Price, not known for scores of 180’s but has hit no more than two per game in the Premier League. Gurney’s free flowing maximums have seen eight in total with three landing last week.
I am expecting the game to remain fairly tight and potentially edgy at times and with the maximum line set at 6.5 I would be willing to back under in this one.
Peter Wright Vs Rob Cross
- (11/8 – 8/5) Tie: 100/30
- Head to head – players tied 3-3
Voltage Rob Cross will need to up the ante after a dismal start to his maiden campaign. The reigning World Champion made some amends with qualifying for the UK Open making a final last weekend.
Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright added to his week one draw with an invaluable win over Mighty Michael van Gerwen last week and looked confident in the process.
Wright is 11/8 to put further misery to Cross’s campaign and is achievable. Voltage is pretty thin price wise to win the game and will look out for any special markets in the bookmaker specials on the day, so head back to the blog for any bet on this game.
Gary Anderson Vs Michael van Gerwen
- (11/2 – 8/13) Tie: 4/1
- Head to head – Gerwen leads 30-15
Anderson is BIG at 11/2 and throwing first to inflict a back to back defeat on the green machine this week. Gerwen at just 8/13 for the game is not a price to back with any confidence although the expectation remains.
Anderson made relatively light work last week albeit with recent back issues.
MVG has not lost to Anderson since the 2015 league phase and in the last 11 dating back to the 2017 World Championships Michael has won eight of the contests with a draw.
This game is capable of going either way and markets in the bookmaker specials on the day are possible, so head back to the blog for any bet on this game.
Simon Whitlock Vs Raymond van Barneveld
- (11/4 – 17/20) Tie: 7/2
- Head to head – Barneveld leads 17-13
Whitlock is generous on price and could have the essence to upset Barney in a layer backed Barney. Both are unbeaten heading into match day three with the competitors playing well in the last two weeks.
The bet for this is Barney to nail the higher average. His darts are smoother than Whitlock, who has a tendency to use cover shots where Barney is accomplished on his 20’s and 18’s.
Sportingbet have Barney at 5/11 to nail the highest average with BetVictor 8/11 where Whitlock can tend to struggle at closing some matches out on missing doubles.
Recommendations
- Suljovic- Higher average than Smith – 5/6 BetVictor 2pts
- Gurney/Price – U6.5 180’s – 10/11 Stan James 1pt
- Barney – Higher average than Whitlock- 8/11 BetVictor 1pt
