Premier League Darts Tips: Back Ferret to pounce on MvG slow start

Abigail Davies
13 April 2022
2:30 mins read min read

Finger pointing Ferret to fire into the semi-finals

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The Premier League Darts heads to Manchester for week 10 and Abigail Davies is backing Jonny Clayton to catch Michael van Gerwen cold in the quarter-final...

"Michael van Gerwen is the only player to have been victorious on three Thursday evenings this year but the Dutchman has also recorded three of his lowest ever Premier League averages this season."

Back Clayton to beat MvG @ 2.255/4

Michael van Gerwen is 3/1 favourite to go back-to-back for a second time in this campaign and win a fourth Premier League night, Peter Wright is 7/2 and Gerwyn Price is 9/2 to win the £10,000 prize for a second time.

While Michael Smith and James Wade remain the only two players yet to clinch a title, it's Gary Anderson who is currently rooted to the foot of the table, he's 6/5 to finish the league phase in eighth position.

Slow start could cost van Gerwen

Van Gerwen is the only player to have been victorious on three Thursday evenings this year but, as well as producing sublime displays, the Dutchman has also recorded three of his lowest ever Premier League averages this season.

The three-time World Champion was far from at his best in his semi-final against Peter Wright last week. At times, Van Gerwen looked perplexed at how he was making so many mistakes on the outer ring. But he dug deep to make it to a fourth final where he produced a scintillating, vintage MvG display to take a third title in this newly formatted league phase with an average just shy of 104.

Whilst we've seen recently that the vulnerabilities are still there, it's been the theme of his game lately that only when he gets past the first obstacle does he come good. He averaged below 90 in his last two quarter-final matches.

If he performs like that against Jonny Clayton, who so often produces his best against The Green Machine, I'd back the Welshman to come out on top at 5/4.

The Ferret is also available at a boosted price to win and hit the most 180s, that's 7/2.

Valuable points at stake for Bully Boy

Too many missed darts at double cost Michael Smith against a relentless Peter Wright last week. There were signs of encouragement for the St Helens man, though, who averaged 102 in defeat and will take confidence from his run to the semi-final of Players Championship 12 before recording two ton plus averages in PC13.

Michael smith getty 3.jpg

He takes on the winner of night seven Joe Cullen in Manchester. When they faced each other in Exeter, Smith came out the 6-5 winner. I'm expecting the 31-year-old to triumph again on Thursday night and record a fifth successive win over The Rockstar.

Cullen has hit an impressive 117 180s in 39 Pro Tour matches this season and we all know how prolific a scorer Smith can be when he gets in, therefore I also fancy total 180s in this match to be over 6.5 at 2.01/1. One or more 180s in each of the first two legs is also a tempting 7/4.