John Part's Premier League Darts predictions

The 2017 Premier League Darts season continues on Thursday night (February 9) at Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena, featuring Michael van Gerwen's clash with Peter Wright, and here John Part previews the action in his weekly Sporting Life column.

Over the coming months Part, who triumphed in two PDC World Championship finals against Phil Taylor and Kirk Shepherd to add to his BDO crown of 1994, will bring you match-by-match analysis and predictions ahead of every round of the 16-week season, including the finale at London's O2 on May 18.

** Last week John Part nailed winning bets of 5/2 and 7/2 while his treble at just shy of 4/1 also came in**

So here are Darth Maple best bets for Thursday's games in Nottingham, where he'll also be providing commentary on Sky Sports...

Premier League Darts: Week two predictions

JOHN PART'S TREBLE: Wade, Anderson & van Barneveld at 7.24/1

Adrian Lewis (11/10) v Dave Chisnall (7/4) (Draw 7/2) 

Chizzy has won his last four meetings with Adrian Lewis and six of the last eight going back to the start of 2015 and this is a real bright spot to him as they both look to bounce back from opening defeats last week. Lewis did have a decent weekend during the UK Open qualifiers, reaching Friday's final, and he did beat Raymond van Barneveld 6-1 to bounce back from the disappointment of his collapse against Barney in Newcastle. Chisnall was also steady across the three days so there's no alarm bells there and he'll really fancy getting his season up and running here. He's shown good form at times during recent months and a good win is likely against someone he enjoys such a good head-to-head record against whereas last week he struggled against Taylor, who he so often loses to. Even then he managed five 180s in a 7-3 defeat and I'm pretty confident he'll outscore Lewis on this front as well, especially if he wins like I expect. I'm going to back Chisnall to win and hit the most 180s at 3/1 although I'm also liking the look of Sky Bet's Match Action bet of under 7.5 180s, a highest checkout of under 120.5 and total legs under 11.5 at 4/1. I think there could be an air of desperation from both players to get their first win - which can hamper the overall quality - and if Lewis starts badly and the frustration kicks in again then it could be a fairly short match too.

 James Wade (5/2) v Phil Taylor (8/11) (Draw 4/1) 

I actually like James to spring a surprise here and the odds look big to me. He started with a win last week, enjoyed a solid weekend at the UK Open qualifiers but most importantly, as far as this match is concerned, has a pretty respectable recent head-to-head record against Phil. The long domination broke when Wade won that epic World Matchplay semi-final back in 2015 and since then has won three of their eight meetings - so he feels no mental barrier anymore. Taylor will still produce higher averages on a consistent basis but he can become frustrated by Wade's ability to hit high checkouts and, of course, his trademark timing as Kim Huybrechts found out last week. Wade averaged only 96.07 last week compared to Kim's 100.62 but timed his best for the key legs to claim a 7-5 victory and doubters of this bet only need to look at those statistics. I'm still not sure how the whole retirement issue will work for Taylor this season. In his mind he'll want to go full out but it's hard to manufacture the same drive and intensity when you're winding down and ready to call it a day. You could play 'safe' and take the 5/2 on a Wade win but backing him to do so with the most 180s pays 13/2 and that's a great price. We all know Taylor likes to switch and he only hit one maximum in a win last week and although James isn't regarded as prolific on 180s he still hit three and is usually good for that kind of number, especially if he wins.

 Jelle Klaasen (5/1) v Gary Anderson (4/11) (Draw 5/1) 

Now here's a match-up with total domination going on. Gary Anderson has won nine on the trot against Klaasen and there's no doubt in my mind he wins again at 4/11, which is a fair price and one for your accumulators. High rollers will fancy a blue chip bet on Gary but to enhance the price I'd advise throwing in the high finish at 10/11 (he hit checkouts of 130 and 114 last week) but not the 180s as Klaasen can be a threat on those. Klaasen has been playing pretty well but he seems to get psyched out when playing Anderson, who will believe he's going to beat him again.

 Peter Wright (5/1) v Michael van Gerwen (1/3) (Draw 11/2) 

Peter Wright is a fine definition of persistence after finally breaking that long 16-match winning streak Michael van Gerwen had over him on Sunday as he went on to win his second UK Open qualifying event of the weekend. So now you have one guy who suddenly believes in himself a lot more than he did four days ago against the best player in the world who needs to step back up after a disappointing weekend by his standards. General tiredness could have caused his long unbeaten run of 33 games ending on Friday which in turn perhaps led to a loss of focus and then two more defeats happen. Even in your prime you can waver although it takes more than one weekend to say there's a problem. Wright's odds of 5/1 to win this match may have been higher had he not beaten MVG on Sunday but you have to factor in the relative importance of that win. I do like the 6/5 on Wright on the handicap at +2.5 legs although you could play safer by taking 5/6 on over 10.5 legs if you want a 7-4 win in your favour. Van Gerwen will be out to answer his weekend setbacks by obliterating his opponent but Wright is playing well enough to stop that and make it close. MVG would also have tried to do the same on Sunday having not won an event over the two previous days but Wright still earned the win.

 Kim Huybrechts (5/2) v Raymond van Barneveld (8/11) (Draw 4/1) 

A few years ago Huybrechts had a commanding head-to-head record over Barney although the last four meetings have been split 50-50 and these days the Dutchman is in a much better frame of mind. Huybrechts will still be confident with the overall 9-2 record but six of those wins are very old now - going back to 2013 and earlier - and on Thursday he's playing a very different Barney, who I'm having a hard time not liking. Kim found a way to lose against Wade last week despite scoring well while Barney cleaned up Adrian Lewis' mess - albeit upping his game and playing well by the end - and it could be a similar story this week if Barney doesn't make a better start. I like the match treble of Barney to win, hit the highest checkout and score more 180s at 3/1 in this one. He's one of the best high finishers around and while you think he might be susceptible on the 180s compared with high scoring Huybrechts, he managed four last week which was only bettered by Chizzy. I wouldn't read too much into his below-par weekend in Wigan. These kind of long weekend floor events can be a bit of a headache for the older players who have been around a long time and you'll often find it's the younger players who are more enthusiastic and fired up.