Premier League Darts Tips: Smith to bring Pro Tour form to big stage

Abigail Davies
11 May 2022
3 min read

Michael Smith will be encouraged after Players Championship performances

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The Premier League heads to Sheffield this week and Abigail Davies doesn't think standout performer Jonny Clayton will have it all his own way...

"Can The Ferret retain his title? He’ll certainly have the opportunity to as he last week secured his spot in the Berlin play-offs on June 13th and is joint favourite with Michael van Gerwen at 2/1 to be crowned champion."

Can The Ferret retain his title? He'll certainly have the opportunity to as he last week secured his spot in the Berlin play-offs on June 13th and is joint favourite along with Michael van Gerwen at 2/1 to be crowned overall champion.

With James Wade currently recovering from an illness that forced him to withdraw from his semi-final match in Leverkusen at the weekend, Joe Cullen has received a bye through to the last four where he will face either Gary Anderson or Gerwyn Price.

Bully Boy benefiting from Pro Tour

With such a hectic schedule, six of the eight Premier League players elected to miss both Players Championship events in Wigan this week, Michael Smith and Joe Cullen the two to feature.

It certainly won't have done Bully Boy's confidence any harm at all, he produced his best darts of the season as everything clicked into place for the St Helens man and he won back-to-back titles in Wigan.

With an average just shy of a ton on day one, noticeably keeping still on his last dart, his finishing was sublime and he performed consistently over the course of his seven matches.

There was not a single weak display from the 31-year-old en route to his first title of 2022.

He followed that up by producing a nine dart leg, a 115 match average and a second victory of the week in Players Championship 15 with 32 180s along the way.

You can back over 6.5 match 180s between Smith and Clayton at 11/10.

It was the most clinical we've seen him at the back end of legs for a while and he is 5/6 to average +97.5 in his opening match on Thursday against Jonny Clayton.

His opponent has been the player of the campaign so far and last week again showed why he is the man to beat in this competition, brushing aside James Wade in the quarter-final, remarkably the Welshman has lost his first round match just three times in 13 weeks.

The Ferret is of course favourite but if Smith can reproduce this week's floor form in Sheffield, he has every chance of winning this one. Bully Boy is 5/4 to beat the Welshman and book his place in the semi-final.

MvG inconsistent but still achieving

MvG Getty 6.jpg

Michael van Gerwen is consistently inconsistent at the moment. His finishing left a lot to be desired in his opening match in Glasgow, snatching at quite a few darts at the outer ring, he finished the match with an astonishing 23 missed at double but eventually he managed to get over the line.

It's a regular occurrence for MvG these days who was, at times, at his sublime best en route to back-to-back Euro Tour titles, but also looked incredibly vulnerable and unsettled in-between.

I expect him to score more heavily and get the better of his struggling opponent Peter Wright this week and am backing MvG most 180s and win at 17/10.