Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright

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

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Thu March 03, 2022 · 4y ago

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

The eight Premier League stars return to action in Exeter on the eve of this weekend's UK Open but will we see a fourth different nightly winner to join the club that currently features Peter Wright, Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price?

Darts betting tips: Premier League night four

1pt Smith to hit more 180s than Cullen 'draw no bet' at evens (Coral, Ladbrokes)

1pt Price v Wright to have over 8.5 legs, a high checkout of over 101.5 and more than 4.5 total 180s at 5/4 (Sky Bet)

1pt Wade and Anderson to both have 1+ 100+ checkout at 9/4 (Sky Bet)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

SL Acca: Van Gerwen and Smith to win & Wright +1.5 legs with Sky Bet

Open a Sky Bet account for £30 in free bets

Thursday March 3: Night four quarter-finals

TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
Format: Best of 11 legs

Jonny Clayton (4/5) v Michael van Gerwen (19/20)

Head to Head: 10-12 (TV: 7-6)
Meetings since start of 2021: 6-1 (TV: 5-1)
Tournament Average
Clayton: 96.95 (9 games)
MVG: 100.10 (5 games)
Tournament 180s (180s per leg)
Clayton: 20 (63 legs, 0.32 per leg)
MVG: 15 (47 legs, 0.32 per leg)
Tournament Checkout %: 34/79 (43%) - 25/55 (45%)
Tournament 100+ Checkouts: 3 - 5
% legs won with a 100+ checkout: 8.82% - 20%

Jonny Clayton has won six of the last seven meetings with Michael van Gerwen since the start of last season - including five of the six televised battles - yet there's very little between them in the betting ahead of Thursday night's opening Premier League fixture.

MVG did very little wrong when they last met in the night two semi-final, averaging 105 compared to Clayton's 107 in a narrow 6-4 defeat, so he'll be hungry to get revenge in Exeter and give himself the best possible chance of reaching his first nightly final of the season.

As well as Clayton performed en route to the 'title' in Liverpool last month, his levels have dropped since then could be vulnerable. He scrapped past Lewy Williams and Dimitri Van den Bergh en route to the International Darts Open semi-finals on Sunday before being swotted side 7-3 by Peter Wright while his ProTour average this season of 96 puts him 15th overall.

Van Gerwen's 98.75 puts him fourth and although he's not picked up any titles, he has got closer than Clayton.

The Dutchman's poor finishing cost him dearly against Danny Noppert in the third round of the International Darts Open on Sunday but I do fancy him to battle through what could be a close affair.

Scoreline prediction: 4-6

Michael Smith (8/11) v Joe Cullen (11/10)

Head to Head: 10-7 (TV: 2-1)
Meetings since start of 2021: 2-0 (TV: 2-0)
Tournament Average
Smith: 95.90 (3 games)
Cullen: 95.25 (5 games)
Tournament 180s (180s per leg)
Smith: 4 (27 legs, 0.15 per leg)
Cullen: 20 (47 legs, 0.43 per leg)
Tournament Checkout %: 9/14 (64%) - 34/79 (43%)
Tournament 100+ Checkouts: 3 - 3
% legs won with a 100+ checkout: 33.33% - 14.29%

Michael Smith is the only player without a single win to his name but he's starting to trend in the right direction this season and finds himself as favourite to finally break his Premier League duck against Joe Cullen.

Bully Boy's first two performances were extremely disappointing by his own high standards, suffering a pair of 6-3 defeats to Peter Wright and Jonny Clayton before upping his game considerably to average 103.55 in vain against a relentless Gerwyn Price.

He then reached the quarter-finals of the International Darts Open to build some kind of momentum ahead of a key weekend in the season.

It's certainly a statistical anomaly that he's only hit four 180s in the Premier League so far this season (0.15 per leg) compared to Joe Cullen's 20 (0.43 per leg) but on the Pro Tour they are pretty much level for maximums per leg at around 0.32.

The Rockstar, who averaged 87 in a 6-3 defeat to Nathan Aspinall in round three of the International Darts Open on Sunday, is enjoying a career-changing campaign and although he has shown some signs of weakness, many punters will want to snap up those odds-against prices.

Who hits the most maximums is also an intriguing battle, with Cullen the marginal favourite based on the fireworks he's been producing on the Premier League even though it's not been too long since Smith was smashing 180 records at the World Championship.

Bully Boy shouldn't be underestimated in this market at 11/8 in places but Coral and Ladbrokes will give you evens with the 'draw no bet' option, which might be wiser given how close it could be.

Scoreline prediction: 6-4

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

Gerwyn Price (8/11) v Peter Wright (11/10)

Head-to-Head: 9-19, 1 draw (TV: 7-7, 1 draw)
Meetings since start of 2021: 2-2 (TV: 1-0)
Tournament Average
Price: 100.36 (6 games)
Wright: 100.24 (6 games)
Tournament 180s (180s per leg)
Price: 17 (59 legs, 0.29 per leg)
Wright: 16 (54 legs, 0.30 per leg)
Tournament Checkout %: 32/80 (40%) - 29/69 (42%)
Tournament 100+ Checkouts: 6 - 2
% legs won with a 100+ checkout: 18.75% - 6.9%

Gerwyn Price fended off Peter Wright's latest attempts to become world number one with a blockbusting victory over Snakebite in Sunday's International Darts Open final and now we can relish what promises to be another gripping instalment.

If the duo can both average 106 with the pressure of a title and top spot on the line, then we shouldn't feel too greedy to expect nothing less than repeat performances in Exeter on Thursday night.

The Iceman is a worthy favourite given how he's producing those sky high averages on a more consistent basis than Wright over the past few weeks but overall their stats have been very similar apart from Price's rate of 100+ checkouts.

He's hit six in his last five Premier League matches and managed another four on the final day of the International Darts Open, including two against Wright, so another should be on the cards especially if this duel is as close and as classy as I anticipate.

Price's maximum hitting has also been impressive and on Sunday he unleashed another 13 across 40 legs while Wright, whose 180s per leg has been marginally higher in the Premier League, fired 14 in 41.

Together they should comfortably achieve Sky Bet's Match Action market of over 8.5 legs, a high checkout of over 101.5 and more than 4.5 total 180s at 5/4.

Scoreline prediction: 5-6

CLICK HERE to back over 8.5 legs, a high checkout of 101.5+ and more than 4.5 180s with Sky Bet

James Wade (19/20) v Gary Anderson (4/5)

Head to Head: 16-30, 5 draws (TV: 11-16, 5 draws)
Meetings since start of 2021: 1-0, 1 draw (TV: 1-0, 1 draw)
Tournament Average
Wade: 94.01 (6 games)
Anderson: 94.82 (4 games)
Tournament 180s (180s per leg)
Wade: 9 (57 legs, 0.16 per leg)
Anderson: 9 (40 legs, 0.23 per leg)
Tournament Checkout %: 29/82 (35%) - 18/34 (53%)
Tournament 100+ Checkouts: 7 - 3
% legs won with a 100+ checkout: 24.14% - 16.67%

James Wade almost made a complete mockery of his nightly winner odds of 20/1 a fortnight ago by reaching the final so it's no surprise to see the bookies wise up a little and cut his price for the Exeter edition to around 11/1.

The Machine would probably still feel disrespected by that, especially in such short format matches, but ultimately this is pretty fair considering he'll meet either Price or Wright in the semi-finals.

Gary Anderson is the same price at the bottom of the list and on current form I don't think many people would be too shocked if either player failed to win any of these nights in the first half of the season.

Their mediocre averages are the lowest of the eight while they've both been pretty toothless on the 180s front compared to the rest - but one area they've impressed is the finishing. Whereas Anderson's doubling of 53% is second only to Michael Smith, Wade has plundered no fewer than seven 100+ checkouts so far.

It's very hard to pick a winner in what could be a tight lengthy contest but both players to have one or more 100+ checkout is tempting at 9/4.

Scoreline prediction: 6-5