The Premier League Darts season resumes on Monday night so check out Chris Hammer's match-by-match predictions, best bets and a suggested acca.
After a week of rest, the Premier League's 10 players return for another four rounds of fixtures from Monday until Thursday's Judgement Night, when only eight will proceed for the second phrase of the tournament.
Last time out our tipster Chris Hammer gave you 5/2, 11/8, 11/10 and 7/2 winners as well as a 4/1 treble so let's hope he can pick up where he left off.
Premier League Night Six: April 19
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 BST)
- Format: Maximum of 12 legs
- Suggested Acca: Cross (+1.5), De Sousa & Clayton at 7/1 (Sky Bet)
Rob Cross (2/1) v Gary Anderson (1/1), draw (11/4)
- Head-to-Head: 2-10 (TV: 1-5)
- Meetings since start of 2020: 1-3 (TV: 0-2)
- Last Meeting: 6-2 (Players Championship, February 2021)
- Career PDC Titles: 9-46 (TV: 4-15)
- PDC Titles this season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
- Premier League average this season: 96.24 - 97.97
- Premier League 180s this season: 16-22
- Premier League 100+ checkouts: 2 - 3 (Highest: 118 - 156)
- Premier League checkout percentage: 45.16% - 40%
- Premier League position & points: 6th - 8th (5-5)
- Premier League legs difference: +2 / +1
It was great to see Rob Cross look much more like his old self during the first week of the Premier League and his confidence will no doubt have grown further after picking up a highly creditable haul of five points from a tough run of fixtures.
He agonisingly missed a dart to guarantee himself a sixth point when level at 5-5 with Peter Wright during a 7-5 defeat last time out but that should long be out of his system as he prepares to face Gary Anderson, who is also in midtable on five points.
Voltage had already shown some signs of promise - albeit subtle - earlier in the season which prompted me to take a small punt at 40/1 each-way in the outright markets so it's relatively encouraging to see him chop those odds in half, even though he's yet to register a 100 average.
Nevertheless he's managed to get in the 96-98 range on three occasions and that would be more than enough to trouble a lacklustre Anderson based on what we've seen from him so far this season.
The Flying Scotsman almost managed three figures in his 7-5 win over Jose de Sousa but apart from that he's been pretty much in Cross' ballpark from a statistical point of view and we can probably expect a lengthy battle that goes the distance.
Cross doesn't have a great record against Anderson by any means but he did win their last encounter earlier this season and I think he's a decent price at 2/1 to keep it simple rather than throw in any extras considering neither have been firing on all cylinders when it comes to 180s and high outs.
- Predicted Scoreline: 7-5
- Suggested Bet: Cross to win at 11/5 (Boylsports)
Jose de Sousa (11/10) v James Wade (7/4), draw (3/1)
- Head-to-Head: 1-2 (TV: 1-0)
- Meetings since start of 2020: 1-0 (TV: 1-0)
- Last Meeting: 16-12 (Grand Slam of Darts Final, November 2020)
- Career PDC Titles: 4-38 (TV: 1-11)
- PDC Titles this season: 0-1 (TV: 0-1)
- Premier League average this season: 100.49 - 92.23
- Premier League 180s this season: 26 - 10
- Premier League 100+ checkouts: 6-2 (Highest: 152-141)
- Premier League checkout percentage: 38.46% - 45%
- Premier League position & points: 9th - 7th (5-4)
- Premier League legs difference: -2 / +1
It's hard to believe Jose de Sousa is ninth in the table considering his overall average of 100.49 is second only to table-topper and fellow nine-dart hero Jonny Clayton and thrown more 180s than anyone with 26 but having ended his opening week with his first victory over second-placed Dimitri Van den Bergh, I'm expecting him to get more of what he deserves this week.
After averaging 108.48 in a 7-3 defeat to Clayton, he achieved perfection in a 6-6 draw against Nathan Aspinall before a highly-impressive 7-3 win over the Belgian got his debut season up and running.
James Wade, by contrast, is second bottom on averages with just 92.23 after being called into the event at the 11th hour while his two victories were pretty much gifts when you consider that Michael van Gerwen and Glen Durrant averaged 91 and 88 respectively.
However, the UK Open champion should be much better prepared this week and should push the Special One in a repeat of last year's Grand Slam of Darts final. If we see plenty of legs then there should be no difficulty in De Sousa hitting his match targets below and the toughest part of his treble will be the win.
- Predicted Scoreline: 7-4
- Suggested Bet: Jose De Sousa to win the match, score over 3.5 180s and checkout over 80.5 at 3/1 (Sky Bet)
Jonny Clayton (11/10) v Dimitri Van den Bergh (13/8), draw (3/1)
- Head-to-Head: 1-3 (TV: 1-2)
- Meetings since start of 2020: 0-1 (TV: 0-1)
- Last Meeting: 3-10 (Grand Slam of Darts, November 2020)
- Career PDC Titles: 7-1 (TV: 2-1)
- PDC Titles this season: 3-0 (TV: 1-0)
- Premier League average this season: 100.9 - 99.33
- Premier League 180s this season: 21-23
- Premier League 100+ checkouts: 2-4 (Highest: 141-164)
- Premier League checkout percentage: 38.46% - 36.71%
- Premier League position & points: 1st - 2nd (7-6)
- Premier League legs difference: +7 / +5
Two of this year's three debutants face off in a top-of-the-table clash after superb opening weeks but unless it's a draw, the loser could suddenly find themselves on the brink of falling outside the play-off positions given how congested the standings are at this stage of the season.
Jonny Clayton tops the averages with 100.90 while Dimitri Van den Bergh is third on 99.33 so they're both riding high on statistical merit and will hopefully deliver the goods once again to provide us with potentially the tie of the night.
They've fired in 44 maximums between them almost equally (Clayton 21, VDV 23) while they've weighed in with plenty of high checkouts as well so immediately I'm drawn to Sky Bet's 'match action' markets where it's 6/4 for there to be over 10.5 legs, a checkout of over 101.5 and more than 6.5 180s.
However, I'm going to play a little safer here and take 5/4 on there being over 7.5 180s in the match which should still be more than doable even if there's 10 or fewer legs played.
As for the winner, it is hard to call but Clayton has been the most consistent performer out of everyone all season overall and is more likely to maintain his momentum than Van den Bergh.
- Predicted Scoreline: 7-4
- Suggested Bet: Over 7.5 180s in the match at 6/4 (William Hill)
Glen Durrant (10/1) v Michael van Gerwen (1/6), draw (6/1)
- Head-to-Head: 4-1, 1 draw (TV: 3-0, 1 draw)
- Meetings since start of 2020: 2-1, 1 draw (TV: 2-0, 1 draw)
- Last Meeting: 6-4 (World Series of Darts Finals, September 2020)
- Career PDC Titles: 3-138 (TV: 1-55)
- PDC Titles this season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
- Premier League average this season: 87.36 - 99.08
- Premier League 180s this season: 3-9
- Premier League 100+ checkouts: 1-6 (Highest: 108 - 148)
- Premier League checkout percentage: 23.91% - 43.28%
- Premier League position & points: 10th - 4th (0-6)
- Premier League legs difference: +5 / -24
Glen Durrant's first week as defending champion couldn't have been much worse and the closest he got to avoiding defeat in any of his matches were a trio of 7-3 losses to Nathan Aspinall, Jonny Clayton and James Wade.
He averaged in the 80s on all five occasions, with the lowest being 84.42 in a 7-0 whitewash against Dimitri Van den Bergh and you have to fear for his chances tonight despite his fantastic head-to-head record against Michael van Gerwen.
Duzza has won four of their six meetings, including a draw, and is yet to lose to the Dutchman on TV.
A week of rest and practice can only help Durrant work his way back towards the standards he's capable of but MVG will also have been preparing hard to avoid being dragged into another dogfight to qualify for the play-offs later down the line.
This is the perfect opportunity to finally get one over on Duzza and it is hard to see anything other than a comfortable victory for the world number two.
He's not been prolific on the 180s of late but neither has Durrant, obviously, and if he wins the vast majority of the legs played then he should also end up with the highest checkout.
- Predicted Scoreline: 3-7
- Suggested Bet: MVG to win, hit the highest checkout and hit most 180s at 6/4 (Sky Bet)
Nathan Aspinall (3/1) v Peter Wright (4/6), draw (3/1)
- Head-to-Head: 5-4 (TV: 2-2)
- Meetings since start of 2020: 3-3 (TV: 1-2)
- Last Meeting: 10-7 (Premier League semi-finals, October 2020)
- Career PDC Titles: 5-35 (TV: 2-8)
- PDC Titles this season: 0-1 (TV: 0-0)
- Premier League average this season: 98.73 - 97.61
- Premier League 180s this season: 17 - 13
- Premier League 100+ checkouts: 4-4 (Highest: 144-140)
- Premier League checkout percentage: 46.97% - 49.12%
- Premier League position & points: 3rd - 5th (6-6)
- Premier League legs difference: +5 / 0
Nathan Aspinall defied the pre-season doubters to build himself a solid foundation in the opening week of the season but the way he ended it suggests he could be about to take his game to a new level.
Those who read my pre-season preview will know I backed him at big odds despite a sluggish few months of form since reaching last year's Premier League final because in more recent weeks he'd changed his darts back to his 'old faithful' and that helped him rediscover some of his lost confidence.
His positivity in pre-tournament interviews was soon backed up on the oche with that familiar exuberance and spring in his step during a couple of wins over Glen Durrant and James Wade either side of a narrow defeat to Dimitri Van den Bergh before battling hard for a 6-6 draw against Jose de Sousa, who threw a record-equalling 10 180s and a nine-darter!
His averages all week were in the mid to high 90s but saved his best statistical display for Michael van Gerwen as he averaged a fantastic 105.38 and held his nerve in the deciding leg to snatch another huge point.
The Stockport man will be raring to go again and looks a very big price to beat Peter Wright, who has shown us his Jekyll and Hyde so far this season.
Snakebite has managed three 100+ averages but also one of 88 in a 7-2 drubbing at the hands of MVG so there's always that worry regarding his consistency and never really knowing which version will turn up.
Aspinall to win in the draw no bet market at 9/4 is appealing, as is Sky Bet's Match Action market of there being over 10.5 legs, a high checkout of over 101.5 and more than 5.5 total 180s.
- Predicted Scoreline: 7-5
- Suggested Bet: Aspinall to win (draw no bet) at 9/4 (Betway) and match to have over 10.5 legs, highest checkout to be over 101.5 and over 5.5 total 180s at 6/4 (Sky Bet)
2021 Premier League Darts Table
- Jonny Clayton P 5 W 3 D 1 L 1 LegD +7 Pts 7
- Dimitri Van den Bergh P 5 W 2 D 2 L 1 LegD +5 Pts 6
- Nathan Aspinall P 5 W 2 D 2 L 1 LegD +5 Pts 6
- Michael van Gerwen P 5 W 2 D 2 L 1 LegD +5 Pts 6
- Peter Wright P 5 W 2 D 2 L 1 LegD 0 Pts 6
- Rob Cross P 5 W 2 D 1 L 2 LegD +2 Pts 5
- James Wade P 5 W 2 D 1 L 2 LegD +1 Pts 5
- Gary Anderson P 5 W 2 D 1 L 2 LegD +1 Pts 5
- Jose de Sousa P 5 W 1 D 2 L 2 LegD -2 Pts 4
- Glen Durrant P 5 W 0 D 0 L 5 LegD -24 Pts 0
- 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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