The final week of the Unibet Premier League Darts season begins on Monday and our match-by-match guide includes statistics, predictions best bets and an acca.
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Darts returns on Monday night and so do the fans on what is night 13 of the Premier League.
It will be interesting to see what affect the crowd will have on performances after the players have played behind closed doors for so long. It looks fairly likely that MVG will seal a play-off spot this week and that Peter Wright will miss out but apart from that it looks all to play for over the course of the next four nights prior to the climax on Friday night.
Premier League Night 13: May 24
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 BST)
- Format: Maximum of 14 legs
- Suggested Acca: De Sousa v Van den Bergh over 12.5 legs & MVG and Wade to win at 5.56/1 (Sky Bet)
Jonny Clayton (11/10) v Gary Anderson (7/4), draw (3/1)
- Head to Head: 2-8 (TV: 1-1)
- Meetings since start of 2020: 1-1 (TV: 1-0)
- Last Meeting: 7-4 (Premier League Night Five, April 2021)
- Career PDC Titles: 7-46 (TV: 2-15)
- PDC Titles this season: 3-0 (TV: 1-0)
- Premier League Average this season: 99.74 – 97.34
- Premier League 180’s this season: 43-46
- Premier League 100+ checkouts: 8-7 (High Finish: 150 – 156)
- Premier League checkout percentage: 36.32% - 37.73%
- Premier League Position: 5th-6th (14-12)
- Premier League leg difference: +4 / 0
Like all other matches this week this is a crucial game between the current fifth and sixth placed players in the standings and a game that Gary Anderson can ill afford to lose.
When these two met on Night Five it was the Welshman that came out on top virtue of a 7-4 victory and saw ‘The Ferret’ top the table for the only time this year. Since then he’s had double trouble and of the eight remaining players he has the worst doubles percentage (36.32%) in the event. This is backed up by the fact that he’s had darts at the double in the highest percentage of legs during the 2021 Premier League (73.13%) yet he has the lowest leg win percentage on these legs (70.41%). This is arguably the reason he finds himself on the fringe of the top four as opposed to being comfortably in it.
In the last phase of matches he kept himself in the race for the Play-Offs with two wins from three matches defeating James Wade and Nathan Aspinall and only finding Michael Van Gerwen too good on night eleven. The big concern would be that his performance levels in his last two matches seemed to have dropped with averages of just 93.68 and 92.87.
Similarly Gary Anderson having looked doomed after defeat to Jose De Sousa on night 10 has bounced back with two consecutive and emphatic victories over Peter Wright and Dimitri Van Den Bergh with two ton plus averages (104.64 and 107.85) after registering only one ton plus averages in his previous 24 matches in all events.
‘The Flying Scotsman’ knows how important this game is and will want to continue to where he left off following a majestic display in his final outing. If he can reproduce that you would certainly expect him to be in with a shout of making the top four. I’m going to take a chance on him continuing this standard and prevailing here.
One consideration is the match treble, despite him having the lowest seasonal average (95.60) throughout 2021 of the eight players remaining he does boast the best match treble percentage (33.33%) which suggests when he’s good, he’s very good.
- Score Prediction: Jonny Clayton 6-8 Gary Anderson
- Suggested Bet: Gary Anderson to win the match, hit the most 180’s and register the higher checkout at 6/1 (Sky Bet)
Jose De Sousa (6/4) v Dimitri Van Den Bergh (5/4), draw (3/1)
- Head to Head: 3-0 (TV: 1-0)
- Meetings since start of 2020: 2-0 (TV: 1-0)
- Last Meeting: 7-3 (Premier League Night Five, April 2021)
- Career PDC Titles: 4-2 (TV: 1-1)
- PDC Titles this season: 1-1 (TV: 0-0)
- Premier League Average this season: 99.65 – 99.86
- Premier League 180’s this season: 66-52
- Premier League 100+ checkouts: 3-11 (High Finish: 141 – 164)
- Premier League checkout percentage: 42.29% - 40.11%
- Premier League Position: 4th-3rd (14-15)
- Premier League leg difference: +12 / +7
Two Premier League newcomers this year and both currently occupy a top four berth. These pair have met on three occasions previously and it’s the Portuguese star who’s won all three.
The scorelines in previous matches read 7-5, 6-4 and 7-3 and they have produced a glut of 180’s. In these 32 legs of darts they have amassed 27 180’s and this should be the same here with these two sitting top of this year's Premier League 180 hitting chart with 66 and 52 respectively.
These two have been absolutely top draw throughout this event. Dimitri currently has the best tournament average 99.86 and Jose sits just behind him and Jonny Clayton in that respect on 99.65.
Van Den Bergh has been in the top four throughout the event but following two defeats in his last three he will be nervously looking over his shoulder as proceedings get back underway. He has faced the toughest standard in the 2021 Premier League with his opponents averaging 100.34 for the event, in fact his last four opponents have averaged 102.93, 109.96, 103.33 and 104.40 where he came up against vintage performances by Michael Van Gerwen and Gary Anderson.
His own performances however have also been excellent. He ranks top in the event for his first nine dart average (110.28), being on a finish after nine darts (50.37% of legs), the most accurate player on treble 20 (44.87%) and percentage of legs won in twelve darts or fewer (25.35%).
He might need to produce those levels again to get his first victory over ‘The Special One’ who’s living up to his name and has steadily cemented his place in the top four of the league after a slow start. I’ve already mentioned his power scoring ability and Jose certainly uses that very well. He’s average winning leg length (14.39) is the lowest and he’s won the highest percentage of legs in fifteen darts or fewer (79.73%).
I’m going to sit on the fence and go for a 7-7 draw but one noticeable difference between the two players is the 100+ finishing. De Sousa has managed to notch up just three 100+ out shots, checking out 4.6% of these opportunities. Van Den Bergh on the other hand has hit eleven, checking out 16.4% of these chances. It’s not during this event either that the difference is clear. During all events of 2021, of these final eight players Dimitri also boasts the highest average high checkout per match at 105.50 and Jose the lowest at 96.09 and that’s an angle to consider from a betting point of view.
- Predicted Scoreline: 7-7
- Suggested Bet: Dimitri Van Den Bergh to hit the highest checkout at 4/5 (Sky Bet)
Nathan Aspinall (9/4) v Michael Van Gerwen (4/5), draw (7/2)
- Head to Head: 4-1-5 (TV: 1-1-3)
- Meetings since start of 2020: 2-1-3 (TV: 1-1-2)
- Last Meeting: 6-6 (Premier League Night Five, April 2021)
- Career PDC Titles: 5-138 (TV: 2-55)
- PDC Titles this season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
- Premier League Average this season: 97.96 – 98.51
- Premier League 180’s this season: 46-30
- Premier League 100+ checkouts: 8-15 (High Finish: 161 – 148)
- Premier League checkout percentage: 45.35% - 40.00%
- Premier League Position: 2nd-1st (15-17)
- Premier League leg difference: +21 / +15
For all the talk of Van Gerwen’s inconsistency in the event so far he currently sits top of the pile following three wins form three in the most recent phase of action where he defeated Dimitri Van Den Bergh, Jonny Clayton and James Wade – all of whom were in relatively good form.
He doesn’t boast the stats of previous years and his tournament average of 98.51 is only fourth best currently. He does however excel on his combination finishing in this event. So far in the Premier League he’s hit the most 100+ checkouts (15) and is checking 19% of these opportunities, once again the best of the current players. Similar remarks also apply in reference to this statistic throughout 2021 where once again of these eight players, he’s checking out the highest percentage of these opportunities at 16.12%.
Two consecutive defeats over the last two nights have resulted in ‘The Asp’ relinquishing top spot to tonight’s opponents but more importantly has him looking over his shoulder and at other results in his quest for a Play-Off place.
When he’s lost he hasn’t been hammered either. His three defeats have been 5-7, 6-8 and 6-8 and this could prove crucial in the end as his leg difference (+15) is only bettered by table topper MVG at present.
There are two reasons for this. The first is his performance on his own throw. He currently boasts the best tournament average on throw at 98.12, winning 69% of his legs with the darts. The other is his opponents have been profligate in the doubles department against him during the Premier League with just a 35% success rate, the lowest any of the remaining eight players have faced.
These pair drew 6-6 earlier in the first phase of fixtures but it’s not surprising to read that MVG slightly edges the previous head to head meetings. I think a confident and ruthless ‘Green Machine’ will do enough to pinch this courtesy of a big out shot against the throw.
- Predicted Scoreline: 6-8
- Suggested Bet: Van Gerwen to win the match and hit the highest checkout at 13/8 (Sky Bet)
James Wade (11/8) v Peter Wright (11/8), draw (3/1)
- Head to Head: 21-1-19 (TV: 11-1-10)
- Meetings since start of 2020: 1-1 (TV: 1-1)
- Last Meeting: 7-4 (Premier League Night Seven, April 2021)
- Career PDC Titles: 38-35 (TV: 11-8)
- PDC Titles this season: 1-1 (TV: 1-0)
- Premier League Average this season: 98.35 – 95.32
- Premier League 180’s this season: 28-33
- Premier League 100+ checkouts: 11-7 (High Finish: 152 – 156)
- Premier League checkout percentage: 50.77% - 39.86%
- Premier League Position: 7th-8th (11-9)
- Premier League leg difference: -1/-16
The final match of the evening sees the seventh and eighth placed players face each other. Even with a win here it seems very unlikely that Peter Wright will feature on Play-Offs night, for Wade however this is probably last chance saloon and nothing less than a victory will suffice to keep his hopes alive.
When they met on night seven it was ‘The Machine’ who prevailed 7-4 but the previous Head to Heads suggest it is very tight to call. On current form however you would have to be concerned about ‘Snakebites’ performances.
Languishing in eight place, he has the worst tournament average of the eight at 95.32, he has the worst leg difference by some margin at -16, the worst winning leg length average (15.12), lowest first nine darts average (103.23) and has had darts at the double in the lowest percentage of legs (57.89%). All this has been exacerbated by him facing the highest doubles percentage by his opponents at 49.66%.
On top of the aforementioned he seemed to nurse a shoulder injury in his most recent matches and he’s had the added of pressure of his wife undergoing surgery recently.
Wade comes into this match on the back of a most recent match average of 110.28 but somehow lost 3-8 against an inspired Michael Van Gerwen. Having sat in fourth just three nights ago he now is just about in touch following four nights of action without a victory and he knows the importance of getting a result here.
He currently boasts the best tournament checkout percentage of 50.77%. He also has a 50.92% record on his doubles on stage during 2021, once again the best of these players. This is nothing new with Wade as we all know how good he is on combination checkouts. Another remarkable stat in his favour is the fact he’s checked out 75% (24/32) of his combination outshouts 80 or below.
This makes him an ultra-consistent thrower and he also boasts the highest percentage of winning legs in 18 darts or fewer (98.51%). What’s noticeable though is his tournament average of 98.35 puts him right in the mix, currently fifth best at present.
Right now, it’s impossible to tip up Wright with any confidence and the 11/8 available for Wade to come out on top represents good value.
- Predicted Scoreline: 8-5
- Suggested Bet: James Wade to win the match at 11/8 (Sky Bet)
2021 Premier League Darts Table
- Michael van Gerwen P 12 W 7 D 3 L 2 LegD +21 Pts 17
- Nathan Aspinall P 12 W 6 D 3 L 3 LegD +15 Pts 15
- Dimitri Van den Bergh P 12 W 6 D 3 L 3 LegD +7 Pts 15
- Jose de Sousa P 12 W 5 D 4 L 3 LegD +12 Pts 14
- Jonny Clayton P 12 W 6 D 2 L 4 LegD +4 Pts 14
- Gary Anderson P 12 W 5 D 2 L 5 LegD 0 Pts 12
- James Wade P 12 W 4 D 3 L 5 LegD -1 Pts 11
- Peter Wright P 12 W 3 D 3 L 6 LegD -16 Pts 9
- Rob Cross P 9 W 3 D 1 L 5 LegD -3 Pts 7 (ELIMINATED)
- Glen Durrant P 9 W 0 D 0 L 9 LegD -39 Pts 0 (ELIMINATED)
- The top four after 16 games qualify for the end of season play-offs, where the title will be decided
- Players earn two points for a win, and one for a draw.
- When players are tied on points, leg difference is used first as a tie-breaker, after that legs won against throw and then tournament average.
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