You may recall that back at the start of February this year, we took a look ahead at the new look Premier League of Darts tournament that was due to start a couple of days later in Cardiff.
Well, ten weeks into the 16-week season, things have reached a critical stage and while no player is out of the reckoning for the playoffs at the Mercedes Benz Arena in Berlin just yet, some of those with fewer points do need a big improvement in fortunes to get back into contention for a top four spot.
Bet365 Sport have been offering odds on every round of action and this week’s games are no exception with odds already available for the four first round games set to take place this week.
In addition, the site also has its latest Outright Winner odds available and we will take a closer look at that later in the article as things have changed quite considerably since the tournament began back in February.
But first let’s give you a brief recap of some of the changes to the tournament in place for this year.
Premier League of Darts 2022 – Changes
The new Premier League of Darts sees a brand-new format in place, with the scrapping on Judgement Night and now all 8 players competing in the tournament for all 16 weeks.
The top four in the table after 16 weeks then qualify for the playoffs at the Mercedes Benz Arena in Germany in.May.
However, each Premier League week now sees a knockout tournament, rather than league games contested. Players earn points for winning a quarterfinal, semi-final and final match.
Losers at the quarterfinal stage don’t earn any points, while the winner of the tournament picks up 5 points, plus a £10,000 cheque on the night, the runner up wins 3 points, and the semi-final losers earn 2 points each.
We are now 10 weeks into the Premier League campaign and with six more weeks left to go, here’s who has won points at each of the ten events so far.
PDC Premier League Results – Weeks 1-10
- Week 1 – Cardiff – Winner – Peter Wright, Runner Up – Jonny Clayton
- Week 2 – Liverpool – Winner – Jonny Clayton, Runner Up – Joe Cullen
- Week 3 – Belfast – Winner – Gerwyn Price, Runner Up – James Wade
- Week 4 – Exeter – Winner – Michael van Gerwen, Runner Up – Peter Wright
- Week 5 – Brighton – Winner – Michael van Gerwen, Runner Up – Michael Smith
- Week 6 – Nottingham – Winner – Gary Anderson, Runner Up – Michael Smith
- Week 7 – Rotterdam – Winner – Joe Cullen, Runner Up – Michael van Gerwen
- Week 8 – Birmingham – Winner – Jonny Clayton, Runner Up – James Wade
- Week 9 – Leeds – Winner – Michael van Gerwen, Runner Up – James Wade
- Week 10 – Manchester – Winner – James Wade, Runner Up – Joe Cullen
The Current Table For The PDC Premier League
- Michael van Gerwen – 22 pts
- Jonny Clayton – 21 pts
- James Wade – 18 pts
- Peter Wright – 18 pts
- Joe Cullen – 15 pts
- Gerwyn Price – 11 pts
- Michael Smith – 8 pts
- Gary Anderson – 7 pts
Remaining Nights Of Action
- Week 11 – Aberdeen – 21st April
- Week 12 – Dublin – 28th April
- Week 13 – Glasgow – 5th May
- Week 14 – Sheffield – 12th May
- Week 15 – London – 19th May
- Week 16 – Newcastle – 26th May
With a potential 30 points up for grabs across the final six weeks of action, there is still a chance for any player to make significant moves up the league table, but it is reaching the stage where the players near the foot of the table are going to need to win at least one week of the next two in order to improve their chances significantly.
So with that in mind, let’s now preview the action taking place this week in Aberdeen.
Premier League Darts – Week 11 – Opening Matches
- Jonny Clayton v Gary Anderson
Odds to Win – Clayton 4/11 – Anderson 11/5
Gary Anderson is bottom of the table but he won’t find better home support for himself than at Aberdeen. However, he faces a tough test against Jonny Clayton, who has landed two wins in the tournament and lies second in the table behind only Michael van Gerwen.
The Welshman has come to the fore over the last few years winning a number of high-profile events and as such he has rocketed up the rankings to become one of the forces on the PDC tour.
Anderson has been trying to play without pressure so he can enjoy his darts once again and it is fair to say that he has had somewhat mixed results so far, winning one event, but not reaching beyond the quarterfinal stages in eight games.
However, if he is going to win another night and put himself back in with a chance of clinching a spot in the playoffs, then Aberdeen will be the place where he will most likely achieve that success and despite him being the big underdog here, I am backing Anderson to be inspired by the home support and to clinch a place in the semifinals with a 6-5 win here.
- Peter Wright v Joe Cullen
Odds to Win – Wright 8/15 – Cullen 6/4
Another Scotsman who will be hoping to enjoy quality support, Peter Wright has performed solidly in this year’s Premier League and the colourful Scotsman will be second on the oche against Joe Cullen on Thursday night.
This is a crucla game with Wright three points ahead of Cullen in fourth place and he knows that if he loses this game, Cullen will be at worst one point behind him come next week and could be two in front of him and leapfrog him in the table if he wins the event on Thursday.
But a win for Wright on Thursday night in Aberdeen could see him move top of the table, depending on how Michael van Gerwen and Jonny Clayton do in their respective games. However, it will be the opportunity to move clear of the fifth placed players and lower that will be Wright’s big incentive here.
I think this one will be closer than many expect but I am backing Wright to win at 8/15.
- James Wade v Michael Smith
Odds to Win – Wade 4/5 – Smith Evens
James Wade is the form player in this tournament over the last three weeks, finishing runner up twice and following that up with a win last week to see him claim 11 points over the last three weeks to move up to third in the table.
Michael Smith has struggled for form of late and has lost seven quarterfinal games out of the 10 weeks he has played. He has finished runner up twice and reached the semifinal once, but is the only player of the eight not to win a week, meaning he has picked up just 8 points, 10 fewer than Wade.
No player has hit more 100+ scores in the tournament than Wade and his checkout percentage of 44% is the best in the tournament and it is that consistency which has been a key feature of him rising up the table into third.
Smith has the skill to turn it on at any time and blow away an opponent but at the moment, he just doesn’t look comfortable with his game so I am backing Wade to land the win here at 4/5.
- Gerwyn Price v Michael van Gerwen
Odds to Win – Price Evens – Van Gerwen 4/5
This could well be the highest quality game of the evening as two of the top players in the world at the moment go head to head. Van Gerwen’s consistency has seen him take top spot in the table but he faces a player in Gerwyn Price who has no fear playing the Dutchman anymore.
Price badly needs to land some points as he lies sixth in the table and the Welshman’s performance of just one final appearance in this event, which he did win on week 3, hasn’t been good enough, a fact which he acknowledges.
This tournament has very much become Michael van Gerwen’s over the last few years, but I think the Dutchman may struggle here as I think Price is long overdue a good performance in this event and as such I am backing the Welshman to land the win here and claim some much needed points in his quest to reach the playoffs in Munich in May.
Tags: bet365 Sport Darts
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