Premier League Darts: Night 12 predictions, betting tips, acca, statistics, order of play and TV time
The latest batch of Unibet Premier League Darts fixtures ends on Friday night and our match-by-match guide includes statistics, predictions best bets and an acca.
- Follow @ChrisHammer180 on Twitter
It couldn't be much tighter at the top with Nathan Aspinall, Michael van Gerwen and Dimitri Van den Bergh level on points but below them is a frantic race to stay in the Play-Offs hunt.
Thankfully this is the last night of Premier League action without fans this season so prepare to bid the piped-in crowd noise farewell...
Premier League Night 12: May 7
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 BST)
- Format: Maximum of 14 legs
- Suggested Acca: De Sousa, MVG & Aspinall at 7.31/1 (Paddy Power)
Peter Wright (5/2) v Jose de Sousa (5/6), Draw (17/4)
- Head to Head: 3-3, 1 draw (TV: 1-0, 1 draw)
- Meetings since start of 2020: 3-1, 1 draw (TV: 1-0, 1 draw)
- Last Meeting: 5-7 (Premier League 2021, April)
- PDC Titles this season: 0-1 (TV: 0-0)
- Premier League Average this season: 96.14 - 99.41
- Premier League 180’s this season: 31 - 64
- Premier League 100+ checkouts: 7 - 3 (High Finish: 156 – 141)
- Premier League checkout percentage: 41.18% - 40.74%
- Premier League Position: 8th – 4th (9 Pts – 12 Pts)
- Premier League leg difference: -9 / +5
To say Peter Wright's season is on the brink of disaster is perhaps a little premature but dismal back-to-back defeats in this latest batch of fixtures leaves him propping up the post-Judgement Night table.
He averaged just 88.52 against Nathan Aspinall, who only managed 93.81 himself in an 8-5 win and although he raised it to 92.70 last night, he was no match for Gary Anderson and his 104.63 average.
That heavy 8-3 loss also means his legs difference has taken a severe battering and that could be crucial come the end of the season if he hauls himself back into play-off contention.
Nevertheless, he is still only three points behind fourth-placed Jose de Sousa so if he can win tonight then all of a sudden his chances won't look so bad - but that's a big 'if' on this immediate current form.
The Special One plundered another 10 maximums against James Wade to take his astonishing tally to 64 and he's now just 15 behind Gary Anderson's record for a season which stands at 79 in 2011.
While that seems a shoe in, his main priority is qualifying for the Play-Offs on debut so he'll be bitterly disappointed to have squandered a 6-2 lead last night and also spurn a match dart in the deciding leg of a 7-7 draw. It doesn't take much away from his momentum, however, having eased past Anderson 8-3 with an average of 99.28 the previous night so I'd expect him to rub more salt into Wright's wounds tonight.
- Predicted Scoreline: 4-8
- Suggested Bet: De Sousa to win and hit most 180s at 11/10 (Sky Bet)
Michael van Gerwen (10/11) v James Wade (12/5), Draw (4/1)
- Head to Head: 40-17, 1 draw (TV: 25-10, 1 draw)
- Meetings since start of 2020: 4-1 (TV: 2-1)
- Last Meeting: 3-7 (Premier League 2021, April)
- PDC Titles this season: 0-1 (TV: 0-1)
- Premier League Average this season: 97.76 - 97.44
- Premier League 180’s this season: 27 - 25
- Premier League 100+ checkouts: 12 - 10 (High Finish: 148 – 152)
- Premier League checkout percentage: 38.42% - 51.61%
- Premier League Position: 2nd – 6th (15 Pts – 11 Pts)
- Premier League leg difference: +16 / +4
Michael van Gerwen's inconsistency this year is actually forming quite a reliable pattern in terms of predicting what type of performance is coming next.
Here are his match averages so far: 100.16, 92.16, 107.58, 90.91, 99.71, 87.63, 98.25, 104.72, 91.01, 110 and 95.83.
Apart from the time when he leapt from an improved 98.25 to a 104.72, he's pretty much been yo-yoing between his Jekyll and Hyde more frequently than the fictional doctor himself and tonight we're probably due one of his better displays. No, it isn't sound logic but what else can we rely on when he's playing so unpredictably?
Even on some of his poor or very mediocre days, he's still picked up enough points to keep him right in the hunt for the league leader's honour and last night he battled past fellow contender Jonny Clayton 8-5 with an average just short of 96 to move level on points at the top.
He'll be out for revenge against James Wade, who only needed a 96 average to pummel him 7-3 earlier in the season, but the Machine demonstrate superb fighting spirit to earn a 7-7 draw with Jose de Sousa last night despite finding himself 6-2 down at one point.
Wade later admitted that he'd been struggling with some personal problems this week and that a fixture against MVG is probably want he needs to spark him back into the kind of form we saw during the last batch of fixtures when he was phenomenally averaging well over 100 on a consistent basis.
Both players have excelled on 100+ checkouts this season, combining for 22 of them almost equally (MVG with 12) so my bet is that we'll see three or more of them in this clash at 5/2.
- Predicted Scoreline: 8-5
- Suggested Bet: Three or more 100+ checkouts in the match at 5/2 (Sky Bet)
Jonny Clayton (7/5) v Nathan Aspinall (6/4), Draw (15/4)
- Head to Head: 2-4, 1 draw (TV: 0-1, 1 draw)
- Meetings since start of 2020: 0-3, 1 draw (TV: 0-1, 1 draw)
- Last Meeting: 6-6 (Premier League 2021, April)
- PDC Titles this season: 3-0 (TV: 1-0)
- Premier League Average this season: 100.62 - 99.70
- Premier League 180’s this season: 40 - 41
- Premier League 100+ checkouts: 7 - 7 (High Finish: 150 – 161)
- Premier League checkout percentage: 38.12% - 50.35%
- Premier League Position: 5th – 1st (15 Pts – 13 Pts)
- Premier League leg difference: +2 / +17
Nathan Aspinall's charge to seal a play-off spot before the end of the regular season hit a block in the road last night in the form of Dimitri Van den Bergh - but the performance of both players firmly suggested they'll be able to remain in the top four.
The Asp averaged 103.33, hit six 180s and pinned 50% of his doubles in a high-quality top-of-the-table affair only for his opponent to pip him 8-6 largely thanks to his astonishing finishing of 61.54%.
You don't need much character to bounce back from defeat when you've played that well - especially a player with as much natural guts and determination as Aspinall - and he may need to match those kind of stats when he faces Jonny Clayton.
The Ferret was well below his best during a disappointing clash with Michael van Gerwen as he lost 8-5 with an average of 93.68 and didn't hit a single maximum - but let's not forget he managed 105.33 the previous night in beating James Wade by the same scoreline.
It's very hard to predict a winner and their previous meeting ended in a 6-6 draw, so I'm heading for the Match Action market where you can get 13/8 on there being over 12.5 legs, a high checkout to be over 105.5 and more than 7.5 total 180s.
- Predicted Scoreline: 6-8
- Suggested Bet: Match to have over 12.5 legs, highest checkout to be over 105.5 and over 7.5 total 180s at 13/8 (Sky Bet)
Dimitri Van den Bergh (5/6) v Gary Anderson (9/4), Draw (4/1)
- Head to Head: 3-1 (TV: 2-0)
- Meetings since start of 2020: 3-1 (TV: 2-0)
- Last Meeting: 7-5 (Premier League 2021, April)
- PDC Titles this season: 1-0 (TV: 0-0)
- Premier League Average this season: 99.45 - 96.39
- Premier League 180’s this season: 49 - 40
- Premier League 100+ checkouts: 10 - 5 (High Finish: 164 – 164)
- Premier League checkout percentage: 39.88% - 36.20%
- Premier League Position: 3rd – 7th (13 Pts – 11 Pts)
- Premier League leg difference: +11 / -4
The real Gary Anderson finally showed his face last night with his first 100+ average of the Premier League season during an easy 8-3 victory over a subdued Peter Wright.
The Flying Scotsman also admitted he'd been motivated by the sight of him being 40/1 to win the title and is now out to make the "old grannies who put 10p" on him very rich indeed and cause the bookies some bother!
If he can reproduce this kind of display - in which he averaged 104.63, hit five 180s and managed a checkout percentage of 57.14 - against Dimitri Van den Bergh then we could really be in for a cracker that goes the distance. And let's hope it does.
The Belgian is not only level on points at the top but he's among the leaders for overall average (99.45), 180s (49) and 100+ checkouts this season and he looked just as sharp against Nathan Aspinall last night as he has all season.
Anderson's price is pretty big to ignore in light of last night's show but if it does go long then I'm prepared to take a chance on the Player Performance markets where you can get 4/1 on him winning, hitting over 3.5 180s and converting a checkout of over 81.5.
- Predicted Scoreline: 6-8
- Suggested Bet: Gary Anderson to win the match, score over 3.5 180s and checkout over 81.5 at 4/1 (Sky Bet)
2021 Premier League Darts Table
- Nathan Aspinall P 11 W 6 D 3 L 2 LegD +17 Pts 15
- Michael van Gerwen P 11 W 6 D 3 L 2 LegD +16 Pts 15
- Dimitri Van den Bergh P 11 W 6 D 3 L 2 LegD +11 Pts 15
- Jose de Sousa P 11 W 4 D 4 L 3 LegD +5 Pts 12
- Jonny Clayton P 11 W 5 D 2 L 4 LegD +2 Pts 12
- James Wade P 11 W 4 D 3 L 4 LegD +4 Pts 11
- Gary Anderson P 11 W 4 D 2 L 5 LegD -4 Pts 11
- Peter Wright P 11 W 3 D 3 L 5 LegD -9 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.
CLICK HERE FOR OUR FULL TOURNAMENT GUIDE INCLUDING RESULTS, TABLE & HISTORY
More darts content
MOST READ
Next Off
Fixtures & Results
