Premier League Darts: Night nine predictions, betting tips, acca, statistics, order of play and TV time

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The PDC jokingly changed the name of 'Judgement Night' to 'Night Nine' on Twitter last night due to both Rob Cross and Glen Durrant being eliminated with a round of fixtures remaining but the race for the play-offs is anything but run.

Premier League Night Nine: April 21

• TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 BST)
• Format: Maximum of 12 legs
• Suggested Acca: Clayton (+1.5 legs), Aspinall & Wade at 12.66/1

Glen Durrant (6/1) v Rob Cross (2/7), Draw (5/1)

• Head to Head: 2-1 (TV: 2-0)
• Meetings since start of 2020: 1-0 (TV: 1-0)
• Last Meeting: 7-4 (Premier League 2020, August)
• Career PDC Titles: 3-9 (TV: 1-4)
• PDC Titles this season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
• Premier League Average this season: 86.55 - 96.52
• Premier League 180’s this season: 6 - 26
• Premier League 100+ checkouts: 3 - 2 (High Finish: 121 – 118)
• Premier League checkout percentage: 27.94% - 45.65%
• Premier League Position: 10th – 9th (0 Pts – 5 Pts)
• Premier League leg difference: -37 / -5

Only one place separates this eliminated duo ahead of their Premier League farewell but there's obviously been a far bigger gap in their performances, with Rob Cross somewhat unfortunate to be heading home so soon.

Voltage began the week hoping to consolidate his play-off chances but three defeats in a row - following on from a loss at the end of the first week - means it's all over. However, in this four-match losing streak, three of them went to the final leg and in two of those he missed darts to guarantee a point.

Statistically he's been averaging as well as post while his doubling has been fourth best with a creditable 46% but ultimately his significant improvement over the past few months hasn't quite been enough to get him through to the second half of the season.

He'll obviously want to sign off with a win and if he maintains his previous performance levels he should do that against Glen Durrant, who is yet to average above 90 in the Premier League this season and posted a mark of 79 against Peter Wright last night.

Even though Cross hasn't been prolific with his high checkouts, I'm still going for the 'match treble' considering he should win the vast majority of legs tonight, while he also bosses those 180 stats.

• Scoreline Prediction: 3-7
• Suggested bet: Cross to win, hit highest checkout and most 180s at 6/4 (Sky Bet)

Jonny Clayton (5/2) v Michael van Gerwen (4/5), Draw (3/1)

• Head to Head: 6-11 (TV: 3-5)
• Meetings since start of 2020: 3-1 (TV: 2-1)
• Last Meeting: 6-1 (Players Championship, February 2021)
• Career PDC Titles: 7-138 (TV: 3-55)
• PDC Titles this season: 3-0 (TV: 1-0)
• Premier League Average this season: 101.08 - 97.5
• Premier League 180’s this season: 29 - 19
• Premier League 100+ checkouts: 4 - 7 (High Finish: 141 – 148)
• Premier League checkout percentage: 36.28% - 35.25%
• Premier League Position: 8th – 2nd (8 Pts – 11 Pts)
• Premier League leg difference: -2 / +12

Jonny Clayton could well be the bet of the night at 5/2 due to the overreaction in the Ferret's 'slump in form' and Michael van Gerwen's brilliance against Jose de Sousa last night.

Clayton has slipped from regular season title contender down to eighth after taking just one point from his three games this week, including two heavy defeats to Dimitri Van den Bergh and James Wade either side of a draw with Nathan Aspinall, but he averaged over 102 in both of those losses and all three opponents are playing very well.

His seasonal Premier League average remains higher than anyone else and has hit the third most 180s so he's certainly not a different player to the one we saw hoovering up all the titles earlier this year.

Van Gerwen is giving his fans a rollercoaster ride as usual - one night he's finished, the next he's back. His averages so far this season read 100, 92, 108, 91, 100, 88, 98 and 105 so you never really know which MVG will turn up.

Last night he was sensational for almost all of his victory over Jose de Sousa and would have averaged around 110 had the wheels not come off slightly towards the finishing line but would you really be surprised to see him go down towards the low 90s tonight?!

Clayton does have a good recent record against van Gerwen, winning three of their last four meetings since the start of 2020 while he's won both clashes in 2021, including the season-opening Masters which he went on to win.

I'm going to keep this simple and go for the Clayton win at 5/2 but Sky Bet's Player Performance targets for him (over 2.5 180s and a checkout over 74.5) will boost the odds to 7/2.

• Scoreline Prediction: 7-5
• Suggested bet: Clayton to win at 5/2 (General)

Nathan Aspinall (11/8) v Gary Anderson (6/4), Draw (11/4)

• Head to Head: 3-2, 1 draw (TV: 2-1)
• Meetings since start of 2020: 1-1, 1 draw (TV: 0-1, 1 draw)
• Last Meeting: 6-8 (Premier League, August 2020)
• Career PDC Titles: 5-46 (TV: 2-15)
• PDC Titles this season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)
• Premier League Average this season: 98.39 - 96.51
• Premier League 180’s this season: 27 - 32
• Premier League 100+ checkouts: 6 - 5 (High Finish: 146 – 156)
• Premier League checkout percentage: 48.57% - 35.66%
• Premier League Position: 3rd – 5th (11 Pts – 8 Pts)
• Premier League leg difference: +11 / +1

Nathan Aspinall is on the crest of a wave right now and has almost silenced all the pre-season doubters having not tasted defeat since the second night of the season against Dimitri Van den Bergh - and even then he missed a dart for a guaranteed point when leading 5-4.

He's not only raised the bar of his performances from a statistical point of view since going back to his old faithful darts in February but his spark and fighting spirit on the oche is back to full strength, as demonstrated by winning three of his other four deciding legs to earn draws or - in last night's case - beating Rob Cross.

The Asp did miss three clear match darts in a decider to beat Clayton on Tuesday night so he showed great character to put that behind him and take both points against Voltage and keep himself in the play-off places.

Gary Anderson has been nothing other. than steady so far this season and is yet to post a 100+ average, but he's still managed to keep himself well in the hunt for a top-four place. However he could only manage a 91 average last night and missed four darts in a deciding leg to earn a draw with Dimitri Van den Bergh so I just feel this is a great time for Aspinall to take down the Flying Scotsman.

If you look at the 180 and 100+ checkout stats, it would be a very risky game trying to predict who'll come out on top in those particular areas so I'm just going to stick with the Aspinall win.

• Scoreline Prediction: 7-4
• Suggested bet: Aspinall to win at 11/8 (General)

Jose de Sousa (6/4) v Peter Wright (5/4), Draw (3/1)

• Head to Head: 3-3 (TV: 0-1)
• Meetings since start of 2020: 1-3 (TV: 0-1)
• Last Meeting: 7-8 (Players Championship, November 2020)
• Career PDC Titles: 3-35 (TV: 1-8)
• PDC Titles this season: 0-1 (TV: 0-0)
• Premier League Average this season: 99.49 - 97.67
• Premier League 180’s this season: 43 - 18
• Premier League 100+ checkouts: 3 - 6 (High Finish: 141 – 156)
• Premier League checkout percentage: 39.47% - 50.60%
• Premier League Position: 6th – 7th (8 Pts – 8 Pts)
• Premier League leg difference: 0 / -1

Jose de Sousa and Peter Wright have had statistically contrasting seasons so far but they head into this clash level on points and separated by just one leg.

Whereas the Grand Slam of Darts champion has largely let his astronomical scoring down by his sloppy finishing, Snakebite's ruthless doubling has lifted his mediocre averages no end.

Last night was a prime example as Wright hit almost 50% of his doubles and averaged 94.75 in victory over Glen Durrant while De Sousa posted 98.69 despite missing 10 of his 14 attempts.

Snakebite is currently top of the overall checkout percentage table with 50% and has hit twice as many 100+ checkouts than De Sousa, who is running away with the '180's title' on 43.

It's a tough one to call so I'm heading for Sky Bet's Match Action market where you can get 5/4 on there being over 10.5 legs, a high checkout of over 101.5 and more than 6.5 180s combined.

• Prediction: 7-5
• Suggested bet: Match to have over 10.5 legs, highest checkout to be over 101.5 and over 6.5 total 180s at 5/4 (Sky Bet)

Dimitri Van den Bergh (1/1) v James Wade (15/8), Draw (3/1)

• Head to Head: 2-2, 1 draw (TV: 0-2, 1 draw)
• Meetings since start of 2020: 0-1 (TV: 0-1)
• Last Meeting: 15-16 (Grand Slam of Darts, November 2020)
• Career PDC Titles: 1-38 (TV: 1-11)
• PDC Titles this season: 0-1 (TV: 0-1)
• Premier League Average this season: 98.29 - 97.41
• Premier League 180’s this season: 37 - 18
• Premier League 100+ checkouts: 7 - 8 (High Finish: 164 – 152)
• Premier League checkout percentage: 45.68% - 47.31%
• Premier League Position: 1st – 4th (12 Pts – 9 Pts)
• Premier League leg difference: +12 / +7

It was perhaps understandable that James Wade made a slow start to the Premier League season considering he was thrown in at the 11th hour and picked up just one point from his opening three games - but since then he's proved exactly why many felt he should have been picked in the first place.

Two wins followed over Glen Durrant and Michael van Gerwen before the break and this week's he's averaged over 104 in all three of his matches, including two of 105 in victories over Peter Wright (7-3) and Jonny Clayton (7-2). His 104 came in a narrow 7-5 defeat to Jose de Sousa at the start of the week so I find it staggering why he's almost 2/1 to make it three wins in a row.

Sure, Dimitri Van den Bergh is top of the pile after a brilliant start to his debut season and is currently on a winning streak of three games but his averages of 102 and 101 at the start of the week were followed by one of 87 last night and you just have to wonder if Wade has slightly more momentum.

Although Wade's averages have been higher this week, that's largely been down to consistent scoring rather than many 180s and while he's hit six of those in the last three days to take his tally to 18, the Belgian has added 14 of those to take his tally to 37, which is second only to Jose de Sousa.

Therefore my bet for this is for Wade to win with Van den Bergh hitting most 180s at 3/1.

• Prediction: 4-7
• Suggested bet: James Wade to win and VDB to hit most 180s at 3/1 (Sky Bet),

2021 Premier League Darts Table

1. Dimitri Van den Bergh P 8 W 5 D 2 L 1 LegD +14 Pts 12
2. Michael van Gerwen P 8 W 4 D 3 L 1 LegD +12 Pts 11
3. Nathan Aspinall P 8 W 4 D 3 L 1 LegD +11 Pts 11
4. James Wade P 8 W 4 D 1 L 3 LegD +7 Pts 9
5. Gary Anderson P 8 W 3 D 2 L 3 LegD +1 Pts 8
6. Jose de Sousa P 8 W 3 D 2 L 3 LegD 0 Pts 8
7. Peter Wright P 8 W 3 D 2 L 3 LegD -1 Pts 8
8. Jonny Clayton P 8 W 3 D 2 L 3 LegD -2 Pts 8
9. Rob Cross P 7 W 2 D 1 L 4 LegD -3 Pts 5 (ELIMINATED)
10. Glen Durrant P 7 W 0 D 0 L 7 LegD -31 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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