Peter Wright and Gary Anderson (Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

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

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Thu March 31, 2022 · 4y ago

Our guide for night eight of the Cazoo Premier League Darts season includes match-by-match statistics, predictions, best bets and an acca.

We're back on UK soil in Birmingham seven days after Joe Cullen beat Michael van Gerwen - and angered Gary Anderson - to win the Rotterdam round of action, leaving just Michael Smith and James Wade as the players without a nightly victory.

You can find stats for all four quarter-finals below, with match previews and tips to follow.

Darts betting tips: Premier League night eight

1pt two or more 100+ checkouts in MVG v Wade at 6/4 (Sky Bet)

1pt Joe Cullen to hit over 3.5 180s at 6/5 (Ladbrokes, Sky Bet)

1pt Smith to win and hit most 180s at 2/1 (Paddy Power, Sky Bet)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

SL Acca: MVG, Price and Smith all to win at 7/2 with Sky Bet - last week's won at 11/2

Open a Sky Bet account for £30 in free bets

Thursday March 31: Night eight quarter-finals

Venue: Utilita Arena Birmingham
TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
Format: Best of 11 legs

Michael van Gerwen (1/3) v James Wade (9/4)

Head to Head: 41-16, 1 draw (TV: 27-9, 1 draw)
Meetings since start of 2021: 3-1 (TV: 3-1)
Tournament Average
Van Gerwen: 99.26 (15 games)
Wade: 93.73 (11 games)
Tournament 180s (180s per leg)
Van Gerwen: 42 (137 legs, 0.31 per leg)
Wade: 25 (104 legs, 0.24 per leg)
Tournament Checkout %:
Van Gerwen: 82/189 (43.39%)
Wade: 48/129 (37.21%)
100+ Checkouts and % legs won with a 100+ checkout:
Van Gerwen: 13 (15.85%)
Wade: 11 (22.92%)

Michael van Gerwen's big night in Rotterdam last week summed up the highs and lows of the new format when it comes to trying to please the home crowds. On one hand he thrilled the orange army with two victories instead of a maximum of one in previous campaigns but his defeat in the final to Joe Cullen left them feeling a little deflated.

Indeed, this new format puts virtually all of the emphasis on who wins the night and any memorably matches we get in previous rounds run the risk of getting glossed over or even forgotten - despite how important the two points are in the grand scheme of the table.

The new format hasn't been too favourable to James Wade either when it comes to the far more important issue of points.

The Machine has won three of his quarter-final matches so far and if this was any other previous season he probably wouldn't be bottom after seven weeks. He's only managed to follow up those three wins with just one semi-final victory and because they are only rewarded with one point - a decision which could possibly cause some 'unfair' positions later down the line - he finds himself propping up the pack.

All that said, it's still early days and if he can go all the way and win a weekly title in the next fortnight then he'll levitate himself significantly up the standings. And although he won't want to be cut too far adrift behind the top four, there's obviously no pressure of relegation like in previous years.

MVG, who has won two ranking titles this season as well as his two nightly Premier League triumphs, is quite clearly playing the more formidable darts right now with increasing consistency but that's not to say he's not throwing in the odd blip that would give Wade plenty of chances to exploit. After all, he averaged under 90 in a scrappy 6-5 victory over Michael Smith last week.

Both players have been prolific on their 100+ checkout shooting this season, with Wade managing to win a mammoth 23% of his 48 legs that way while MVG has hit the most with 13 from 82 winning legs (15.85%).

I've found the best of 11 format is making the most 180s market quite dicey - even Wade once beat Smith 6-4 on that metric despite losing 6-1 (!) - so I'll focus on the 100+ checkouts in this clash, which could well see two or more at 6/4.

Scoreline prediction: 6-4

CLICK HERE to back two or more 100+ checkouts with Sky Bet

Joe Cullen (5/4) v Gerwyn Price (8/13)

Head to Head: 8-6 (TV: 2-3)
Meetings since start of 2021: 3-1 (TV: 1-1)
Tournament Average
Cullen: 92.37 (11 game)
Price: 97.93 (10 games)
Tournament 180s (180s per leg)
Cullen: 44 (107 legs, 0.41 per leg)
Price: 23 (98 legs, 0.23 per leg)
Tournament Checkout %:
Cullen: 49/147 (33.33%)
Price: 49/124 (40.50%)
100+ Checkouts and % legs won with a 100+ checkout:
Cullen: 7 (14.29%)
Price: 10 (20.41%)

Joe Cullen proved last week that you can be well below your best in all three games and still walk away with five points and a £10,000 bonus.

The Rockstar averaged 93 in his heated victory over an angry Gary Anderson and despite the shock of being branded a cheat, he still managed to scrape past Peter Wright 6-4 with an average of just 88.

Cullen then defied a raucous Rotterdam crowd pip Michael van Gerwen in a last-leg decider of a strange final, in which he fired in seven maximums, hit 50% of his doubles yet somehow only managed to average 90.64 compared to MVG's 97.5. Just another example of why not to get too hung up on averages.

Although the Bradford ace has the lowest tournament average of 92.37 and is also the least clinical finisher, he's comfortably bossing the 180s stats with 44 from just 107 legs played (0.41 per leg) whereas Gerwyn Price is at the bottom of that particular table with just 23 from 98 (0.23 per leg).

Price hasn't enjoyed the amount of success many would have expected by this stage of the season and missing one night through injury obviously compounded his stuttering start.

The Iceman heads to Birmingham on the back of winning Saturday's Players Championship event in Germany and five 100+ averages across his eight weekend matches overall whereas Cullen opted for a well-earned rest.

I expect this to be an entertaining affair with at least nine legs, and for that reason I'll go high on the 180s for Cullen even in an expected defeat.

Scoreline prediction: 4-6

CLICK HERE to back Cullen to hit over 3.5 180s with Sky Bet

Peter Wright (1/2) v Gary Anderson (6/4)

Head to Head: 16-30, 3 draws (TV: 9-15)
Meetings since start of 2021: 4-3 (TV: 4-2)
Tournament Average
Wright: 97.10 (14 games)
Anderson: 94.86 (10 games)
Tournament 180s (180s per leg)
Wright: 35 (127 legs, 0.28 per leg)
Anderson: 26 (98 legs, 0.27 per leg)
Tournament Checkout %:
Wright: 65/157 (41.40%)
Anderson: 45/105 (43.81%)
100+ Checkouts and % legs won with a 100+ checkout:
Wright: 5 (7.69%)
Anderson: 4 (8.70%)

These two old rivals are proving to be the hardest players to predict this season.

Peter Wright has averaged over 100 on seven occasions this season - including a sparkling 113 in the night one final - but he's also dished up four in the 80s and three of those have come in the last four editions.

In fact his highest average in his last four Premier League matches has been 95 which isn't too much of a surprise given his recent back problems that prompted him to rest over the weekend instead of travelling to Germany for the two Players Championship events.

Gary Anderson also missed the trip but that was probably to cool down after his bizarre run-in with Joe Cullen of all people in Rotterdam!

The Flying Scotsman has built quite a reputation for being the grumpy old man in darts over the past few seasons and there was very little sympathy for his cause last Thursday and hopefully there will have been some kind of apology behind the scenes unless he truly believes he was wronged.

Performance-wise he wasn't too hot, averaging just 89 in a scrappy match just a week after bouncing back to night-winning form in Nottingham.

As you can see above, both players have very similar stats for 180s, doubling percentage and 100+ checkouts - the latter of which are very low compared to everyone else - so it's not easy to find a tempting angle from a betting perspective.

If pushed, I'd anticipate a lengthy, scrappy match that Wright edges with more moments of class.

Scoreline prediction: 6-4

Jonny Clayton (8/11) v Michael Smith (11/10)

Head to Head: 4-9 (TV: 2-5)
Meetings since start of 2021: 2-2 (TV: 1-2)
Tournament Average
Clayton: 95.80 (15 games)
Smith: 96.00 (12 games)
Tournament 180s (180s per leg)
Clayton: 30 (120 legs, 0.25 per leg)
Smith: 35 (109 legs, 0.32 per leg)
Tournament Checkout %:
Clayton: 57/150 (38.00%)
Smith: 54/120 (45.00%)
100+ Checkouts and % legs won with a 100+ checkout:
Clayton: 11 (19.30%)
Smith: 8 (14.81%)

Michael Smith is one of just two players yet to win a Premier League night but a third final of the season could beckon in a very winnable half of the draw for him.

Jonny Clayton, who is four points and three places higher than Smith in third, may well be the marginal favourite to win this match but Bully Boy has looked more dangerous in recent weeks and will be confident of beating the Ferret for the third time in their last four meetings.

Smith came through that epic at the World Championship before trading Premier League wins with Clayton over the past couple of months, including a 6-2 mauling back in Brighton three weeks ago.

His poor start to the campaign is forgotten now having reached two of the last three finals while he only narrowly lost 6-5 to Michael van Gerwen in the Rotterdam quarter-finals.

Smith's Premier League average of 96 has also surpassed Clayton's 95.80 thanks to this great run of form that occurred after the heartache of his UK Open final defeat while he's rediscovered his maximums prowess having hit 24 in his last 63 legs (0.38 per leg) that has lifted his overall 180s ratio to 0.32.

Clayton's 30 in 120 legs overall translates to 0.25 per leg but more importantly, he hasn't reached a final since winning the second night in Liverpool.

I fancy Smith to win this one and it makes sense to throw in the most 180s as well.

Scoreline prediction: 4-6

CLICK HERE to back Smith to win and hit most 180s with Sky Bet

Weekly winner: Night eight odds

MVG: 5/2
Price: 7/2
Wright: 4/1
Clayton: 11/2
Smith: 7/1
Cullen: 11/1
Anderson: 12/1
Wade: 18/1

Premier League Table & Format

NW = Nights won, RU = Runner-up, SF = Semi-final defeats, MW = Matches won

MVG NW 2 RU 1 SF 2 MW 8 LegD +27 Pts 17
Wright NW 1 RU 1 SF 4 MW 8 LegD +3 Pts 14
Clayton NW 1 RU 1 SF 2 MW 7 LegD -6 Pts 12
Cullen NW 1 RU 1 SF 1 MW 6 LegD -3 Pts 10
Price NW 1 RU 0 SF 2 MW 5 LegD 0 Pts 9
Smith NW 0 RU 2 SF 1 MW 5 LegD -1 Pts 8
Anderson NW 1 RU 0 SF 1 MW 4 LegD -6 Pts 7
Wade NW 0 RU 1 SF 2 MW 4 LegD -8 Pts 7

Each night will see quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final played over the best of 11 legs (first to six). Each player will meet the other seven players twice over the course of the season in a quarter-final game, plus two further nights (Night Eight and Night 16) will feature additional fixtures in the same format. Those fixtures will be a draw bracket based on how the league table looks at the time. So, whoever is top will face the eighth-placed player in the first round.