Sports 20/03/2018: Premier League Darts Preview – Week 7, Thursday 22nd March 2018

It’s tight at the top of the Premier League Darts table – will anyone pull away by the end of week 7?

Unsurprisingly Michael van Gerwen – who has won 3 of the last 5 tournaments, including in 2016 and 2017, and is 2nd only to Phil Taylor in terms of total championships – leads the way. Mighty Mike is on 10 points, with 5 wins and a loss (against Peter Wright), and is odds-on to take his 4th title at 8/15.



However, van Gerwen isn’t having it all his own way this season. Wildcard Michael Smith, in only his 2nd ever Premier League Darts appearance, also sits at 10 points, and is only behind van Gerwen on leg difference.

Now, a fixed odds price of 14/1 suggests a fairly large gulf in their season-long chances, but nevertheless, this closeness means their face-off is the pick of the fixtures at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow. The Dutch maestro is the obvious favourite, at a van Gerwen/Smith 10-3 Supremacy spread of 13.5-16.5.

Elsewhere on the card, 3rd place Rob Cross will be keeping an eye on the result of the van German/Smith battle ahead of his tie against Gerwyn Price. Cross, who has 8 points, will likely be confidence of a win against the bottom of the table Price, and sits at a hefty 10-3 Supremacy spread of 12.5-15.5

Gary Anderson is also facing an ostensibly easy fixture, and sits at a 10-3 Supremacy spread of 11-14 against Simon Witlock despite trailing the Australian by 2 points.

There’s then a pair of incredibly hard to call matches, between Daryl Gurney and Mensur Suljovic, and Peter Wright and Raymond van Barneveld. The former has the Austrian with a slight advantage over the Northern Irishman, at a Suljovic/Gurney 10-3 Supremacy spread of 0.5-3.5.

Even closer than that is Wright vs van Barneveld. The Scot finds himself in 9th place, and in danger of exiting the competition at the end of Phase 1, despite being the sole player to beat van Gerwen in the competition so far. However, he still could beat his Dutch opponent, at a choice Wright/van Barneveld 10-3 Supremacy spread of -1.5-1.5.