Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright (Picture: Mikal Schlosser/PDC)

Premier League Darts 2023: Night six predictions, betting tips, acca, order of play and Sky Sports TV time

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Thu March 09, 2023 · 3y ago

The Cazoo Premier League Darts season continues in Liverpool on Thursday so check out Chris Hammer's match-by-match guide to the action.

Darts betting tips: Premier League night six

1pt Wright v Price to have 6+ 180s and two or more 100+ checkouts at 7/2 (Sky Bet)

1pt Clayton (+1.5 legs) to beat MVG at 11/10 (General)

1pt over 5.5 180s in Dobey v Aspinall at evens (General)

1pt Dimitri Van den Bergh to beat Michael Smith at 7/5 (General)

SL Acca: Wright, Clayton (+1.5), Dobey & Van den Bergh (+1.5) legs at 16/1 with Sky Bet

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

Thursday March 9: Night six

TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
Format: Quarter-Finals, best of 11 legs
Venue: Liverpool

Gerwyn Price (4/6) v Peter Wright (6/5)

Head to Head: 11-21, 1 draw (TV: 9-9, 1 draw)
2022/2023 Head to Head: 2-2 (TV: 1-2)
PL Average: 94.81 - 95.99
PL 180s per leg: 0.26 - 0.22
PL checkout percentage: 36.58% - 40%
Legs won with 100+ checkout: 6.66% - 30%

Peter Wright's winless streak start to the Premier League season continued last week and just when it looked like he was starting to build some much needed momentum at the UK Open, his title hopes were ended by Richie Burnett in round six.

Snakebite may have been all smiles with the Welsh legend, who he first met at the Lakeside way back in the 1990s, but deep down he knows it was a missed opportunity to add to his major collection, especially because he averaged almost 10 points higher in a best-of-19 leg match.

Nevertheless, he can take some positives from the two wins he did pick up to arrest a slump in form and it's not as if he's been producing a string of poor performances in the Premier League - that win will surely just be around the corner.

Gerwyn Price has actually lost more of his first round matches than he's won - but on the two occasions he did get up and running, he went on to reach the nightly finals - triumphing in one of them and missing seven match darts in the other against Michael van Gerwen.

The Iceman's UK Open hopes were ended by Jeffrey de Zwaan in the fifth round as his inspired Dutch opponent averaged 105 in a shock 10-8 victory although Price did manage three figures himself and landed nine of the 19 maximums in just 18 legs.

He also fired in seven in a 10-3 victory over Thomas Banks in the previous round taking his total to 16 at an astronomical 0.51 per leg while Wright managed 14 in the tournament at a healthy 0.25.

They only managed one between them in their respective Premier League defeats last Thursday night but I'd expect them to combine for plenty in an entertaining and close affair. As for the high checkouts, Wright has managed six 100+ finishes despite winning just 20 legs so far while Price is always dangerous from that range.

Scoreline prediction: 4-6

CLICK HERE to back over 6+ 180s and 2+ 100+ checkouts with Sky Bet

Michael van Gerwen (2/5) v Jonny Clayton (7/4)

Head to Head: 18-15 (TV: 10-12)
2022/2023 Head to Head: 6-6 (TV: 4-6)
PL Average: 99.03 - 94.72
PL 180s per leg: 0.28 - 0.22
PL checkout percentage: 42.33% - 38.83%
Legs won with 100+ checkout: 10.14% - 7.5%

Michael van Gerwen is chasing a third successive nightly victory in the Premier League but Sunday's shock UK Open final defeat to Andrew Gilding has reminded his rivals of his vulnerability that can appear at any moment without warning.

MVG was hot favourite for glory after brushing aside his bunny Dimitri Van den Bergh yet again to set up a final with the quiet 52-year-old, who had never won a title of any kind in his PDC career, but despite opening up an 8-5 lead, he was reeled in and was eventually punished for missing a match dart in the deciding leg.

Gilding had such a cold finger and a Midas touch under all that pressure to produce a wonderful darting fairytale that would have no doubt hurt MVG's pride. His intimidation factor and wealth of experience couldn't rattle such a massive underdog so it'll be interesting to see how he responds against Jonny Clayton.

Despite winning the lion's share of his matches in recent weeks, van Gerwen's averages haven't been astronomical and has only twice gone above 100 in his last 13 in all competitions.

Clayton has lost both his Premier League matches with MVG this season by 6-3 scorelines, including last week's final in Exeter, but overall he holds one of the better head-to-head records against the Dutchman on the circuit.

In fact he even leads MVG 12-10 in televised meetings and has won six of their last 10 on TV since the start of 2022, so there's certainly no fear factor.

He's over 2/1 to win with some bookies which I feel is far too big in this short format but I'll play a little safer by backing the Ferret on the handicap.

Scoreline prediction: 5-6

CLICK HERE to back Clayton (+1.5 legs) to beat MVG with Sky Bet

Chris Dobey (6/5) v Nathan Aspinall (4/6)

Head to Head: 3-4 (TV: 1-1)
2022/2023 Head to Head: 1-0 (TV: 1-0)
PL Average: 96.71 - 95.55
PL 180s per leg: 0.29 - 0.35
PL checkout percentage: 38.46% - 33.82%
Legs won with 100+ checkout: 13.33% - 10.86%

One of the criticisms levelled at the Premier League is the same old matches week in week out. But at least this fixture has only been seen on TV once before that was a few weeks ago.

In the stats above, you'll notice it's 1-1 on TV but that includes a UK Open meeting way back in 2015 that Nathan Aspinall won 5-1 but it's highly unlikely that featured on our screens, but as it's a major I counted it as a TV clash.

Incidentally - and irrelevantly - that UK Open saw Andrew Gilding average 108 in the semi-finals against Michael van Gerwen only to lose 10-8!

Anyway, Chris Dobey did win this year's clash in the night one semi-finals en route to glory but since then Aspinall has enjoyed a far better season having picked up five match wins overall compared to the debutant's three.

Dobey is on a run of four successive quarter-final defeats but he's actually averaged over 100 in two of them, including 104.45 against Dimitri Van den Bergh last week, so there's no reason for him to be too alarmed whatsoever.

He also managed 102 during a fine 6-2 victory over Ryan Searle at the UK Open only to come unstuck against Brendan Dolan in round five.

Aspinall enjoyed a largely battling run to the quarter-finals, following up narrow wins over Alan Soutar and Dirk van Duijvenbode with a 10-2 blitzing of a below-par Joe Cullen, while his performance against MVG in a 10-6 defeat was pretty solid.

The Asp's 180 hitting has been particularly impressive in the Premier League so far and his maximum per leg of 0.35 is higher than anyone else. He then fired in 24 in just 65 legs in Minehead (0.37) so Dobey can probably expect another onslaught.

Dobey is traditionally more prolific than the 0.29 per leg he's managed in the Premier League so far but over his two matches in Minehead, he fired in 14 at 0.43 per leg.

If this is a tight encounter with plenty of legs, we could be in for a maximum fest.

Scoreline prediction: 6-4

CLICK HERE to back over 5.5 180s in the match with Sky Bet

Michael Smith (8/15) v Dimitri Van den Bergh (11/8)

Head to Head: 5-5 (TV: 1-3)
2022/2023 Head to Head: 1-2 (TV: 1-1)
PL Average: 97.89 - 97.52
PL 180s per leg: 0.24 - 0.32
PL checkout percentage: 37.27% - 47.19%
Legs won with 100+ checkout: 17.07% - 9.52%

Dimitri Van den Bergh finds himself as the slight underdog here but there's more than enough reason to expect a very minor upset in the final quarter-final of the night.

Michael Smith has been pretty inconsistent in the Premier League so far - which is completely understandable considering his hectic 2023 - but he did save one of his best performances of the year for the last time he met Van den Bergh in the Glasgow final last month.

He averaged 109 during that 6-4 success and the Belgian did pretty well to keep the scoreline as close as it was.

Van den Bergh has produced a couple of blockbuster performances himself, including a 105 average against Chris Dobey last week, while his seasonal average is only slightly less than Bully Boy.

He's hitting 180s more frequently at 0.32 per leg and is generally more clinical on his doubles, while he enjoyed a morale-boosting run to the UK Open semi-finals at the weekend as Smith exited in round two - albeit to a player who should be in the Premier League in Luke Humphries.

It's tempting to back VDB to win and hit most 180s but given how Smith can explode into life on the maximums, I'll play a little safer.

Scoreline prediction: 4-6

CLICK HERE to back Van den Bergh to win with Sky Bet

Premier League Darts 2023: Table, Averages, 180s and checkout statistics

The Premier League Darts table

After week five

TOURNAMENT AVERAGE

Michael van Gerwen: 99.03
Michael Smith: 97.89
Dimitri Van den Bergh: 97.52
Chris Dobey: 96.71
Peter Wright: 95.99
Nathan Aspinall: 95.55
Gerwyn Price: 94.81
Jonny Clayton: 94.72

MOST 180s & 180s PER LEG

Michael van Gerwen: 33 (0.28)
Nathan Aspinall: 33 (0.35)
Dimitri Van den Bergh: 26 (0.32)
Gerwyn Price: 23 (0.26)
Michael Smith: 20 (0.24)
Chris Dobey: 19 (0.29)
Jonny Clayton: 18 (0.22)
Peter Wright: 11 (0.22)

DOUBLES AND CHECKOUT PERCENTAGE

Dimitri Van den Bergh: 42/89 (47.19%)
Michael van Gerwen: 69/163 (42.33%)
Peter Wright: 20/50 (40%)
Jonny Clayton: 40/103 (38.83%)
Chris Dobey: 30/78 (38.46%)
Michael Smith: 41/110 (37.27%)
Gerwyn Price: 45/123 (36.58%)
Nathan Aspinall: 46/136 (33.82%)

100+ CHECKOUTS, HIGHEST CHECKOUTS & % LEGS WON WITH 100+ CHECKOUT

Michael Smith: 7 (17.07% legs won with 100+ checkout)
100+ Checkouts: 148, 140, 137, 122, 121x2, 115
Michael van Gerwen: 7 (10.14%)
100+ Checkouts: 170, 142, 114, 112, 106, 106, 105
Peter Wright: 6 (30%)
100+ Checkouts: 156, 133, 122, 121x2, 120
Nathan Aspinall: 5 (10.86%)
100+ Checkouts: 140, 136, 130, 116, 110
Chris Dobey: 4 (13.33%)
100+ Checkouts: 170, 160, 148, 121
Dimitri Van den Bergh: 4 (9.52%)
100+ Checkouts: 140, 127, 121x2
Gerwyn Price: 3 (6.66%)
100+ Checkouts: 116, 106, 100
Jonny Clayton: 3 (7.5%)
100+ Checkouts: 120, 116x2