Premier League Darts Betting Tips & Preview

Dave Chisnall was poor once again in his defeat to Jelle Klaasen, hitting zero 180s and only 27% of his doubles, culminating in an average of just 93.28. In the Players Championships over the weekend it was more woe for Chizzy, losing in the 4th round 6-1 to Steve West and being knocked out in the opening round of the other to Antonio Alcinas. Raymond van Barneveld deservedly picked up a point against Peter Wright, averaging 103.4 including four 180s. Barney was beaten in round one in Barnsley on Saturday, although no disgrace to number two seed Mensur Suljovic, then made the quarters before losing a tight game to Jelle Klaasen. RVB leads the H2H 11-5 (one draw) including winning five of the last six and the way the two players are performing at the moment, Barney looks the bet at odds against.

Jelle Klaasen was superb in his defeat of Chisnall to pick up his first Premier League win of the campaign. It was the usual tale for the Corba in Barnsley, a 2nd round exit to David Pallet, followed up by making the semi-finals and defeat to eventual champion Gary Anderson. There won't be many opportunities on a plate for Kim Huybrechts to beat Phil Taylor but he contrived to miss three match darts. His finishing had been good up to that point, indeed it is the 4th best overall, but clearly the pressure got to him. It didn't get much better over the weekend with 3rd and 2nd round defeats to Keegan Brown and Simon Stevenson respectively. Klaasen leads the H2H 4-1 and again is clearly in better form, whilst we can still keep the draw onside at a decent price. Huybrechts has won just one of his 13 Premier League matches.

Gary Anderson battled back from 5-1 down to pick up a point against James Wade last week. He followed that up by being beaten by postman in runner-up Peter Jacques in the 4th round in Barnsley before winning the other Players Championship defeating Peter Wright in the final. Phil Taylor did well to rescue a point against Huybrechts as well after the Belgian's struggle to close it out. The raw statistics say Taylor isn't playing great - he has the lowest average in the competition and has thrown the fewest 180s - yet he is still unbeaten! Which is stark contrast to Anderson who is in the top three for averages, 180s and checkout %, but he's won just once! It just goes to show how any result is possible over a short format of 12 legs. And despite posting the better numbers, Anderson's record against The Power, even recently, isn't great. Taylor leads the head-to-head 38-15 (two draws) and has won six of their last eight since the beginning of last year. Obviously Phil is using new darts but it was a narrow 11-9 defeat to Gary in the semi's of the Masters, and with the 16-time World Champion as big as 3.75, a 2.5 handicap is a favourable start where even a 7-5 defeat would be good enough.

Michael van Gerwen is once again a 1.25 chance having only drew against Adrian Lewis. In truth MVG was his usual impressive self and Lewis happened to play well above his level of the last couple of years, and the Dutchman still had a dart at the bull to snatch it. James Wade may well be kicking himself after being 5-1 up against Anderson, but overall he has to be happy having only averaged 89.61 with no 180s, giving him an average of less than 90. However, he's still taking out the ton+ finishes regularly, nailing 110 and 100 last week against a similar type and ability of player. This week his line is at 80.5 and that simply has to be taken advantage of. This bet has won in 25 of his last 29 TV matches (86%) and of the data available, 7 of their 8 meetings last year.

As mentioned above, Adrian Lewis over achieved last week and still had to survive a match dart to claim a point. He averaged 101.2 but that's a far cry from the 95.27 he's been throwing since the beginning of 2016. Over the weekend he lost in the 3rd round to Michael Smith before throwing a nine darter the next day only to lose the match to John Henderson in round one! That's Adie in a nutshell. Peter Wright continued his good start to the year claiming a point off RVB despite the Dutchman being the better player. It was a 4th round and yet another final in Barnsley for Snakebite at the weekend. Lewis leads their head-to-head 17-11 (two draws) but that's going back to 2009 and Wright is now World Number three backed up by winning four of their last six (one draw). The Scot is averaging 98.49 in the same timeframe as Lewis, is throwing 3.64 180s per-match in-comparison to 2.88 and his checkout rate is 41.88% as opposed to 36.63%. Wright is 2.25 but based on their performance statistics he should be a firmer favourite, yet we can still take advantage of the 1.8 on offer whilst keeping the draw onside. He's winning 73% of his matches since 2016, the 3rd best on tour. Lewis is 15th with 65%.