Michael van Gerwen Tops Darts Premier League, Next Stop London

Michael van Gerwen Tops Darts Premier League, Next Stop London

MVG Darts Premier League

After 16 weeks, we now know our four qualifiers for the Darts Premier League 2019 playoffs at London’s O2 Arena. Michael van Gerwen once again topped the table for the seventh time in a row. This year he was made to work for it and victory only came because Rob Cross was unable to beat James Wade and secure the top spot for himself, leading Cross and Wade to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively. They were joined in the last four by Daryl Gurney after claiming a 8-3 victory over Michael Smith.

Now, Gurney must beat MVG in the first semi-final to meet the winner of Rob Cross and James Wade in the final on Thursday night. To be fair, Gurney has beat Mighty Mike twice in the league this season and Wade overcame Cross as recently as seven days ago, so the matches are still up in the air.

A recap of Night 16

MVG, who has never finished lower than first place since making his debut in 2013, banked his win earlier in the night putting the pressure on Voltage as he went in the night’s final match at Leeds. The Dutchman is bidding to win the trophy for the fifth time in his career and the fourth year in a row , quickly went into a 5-0 lead against Mensur Suljovic who needed to win by a margin of 8-3 or more to qualify for the play-offs on leg difference. Despite his challenge faltering, The Gentle dug deep to take five of the next seven legs. The world number one wasn’t to be caught, however, and was soon throwing for the match and an 8-5 victory.

Top spot was secured for Mighty Mike after Rob Cross fell just one match short of becoming only the third player to top the Premier League Darts table after he succumbed to an 8-6 defeat to James Wade. An out-of-sorts Voltage hit three 180s and managed the match-high checkout of 126, but he only averaged 92.39 and wasted 14 of his 20 double attempts. Both players were guaranteed to progress on the night, with only Cross having something to play for. This meant that Wade was the more relaxed of the two but still only managed a 94.4 average himself. The first eight legs went with throw before The Machine, who won this event in 2009, was the first to break throw while up 6-4. Voltage managed to claw back to 7-6 but couldn’t save the game as Wade took the last. Both players meet each other again this week in the second semi-final.

One player who couldn’t afford to be relaxed was Daryl Gurney, who went into his game against Michael Smith knowing he needed a win after Gerwyn Price leapfrogged him earlier in the night after beating Peter Wright. Superchin responded to the challenge superbly, putting in an excellent performance to overcome last year’s runner-up, Bully Boy. Gurney averaged 101.8 and threw five 180s, two more than Bully Boy as he ran out the 8-3 winner. Permutations meant that Gurney could still mathematically be eliminated if results elsewhere went against him, but it wasn’t to be as his victory proved enough.

The night opened with Gerwyn Price booking an 8-3 victory over Peter Wright, but the win proved to be in vain as the other matches didn’t go his way, replaced in the top four by Daryl Gurney. The win meant that The Iceman jumped Gurney and Suljovic in the table, but a win for either would mean elimination for the Welshman and so it proved. Price averaged 98.58 and hit five 180s against Snakebite who averaged 95.61 in an end to a torrid season.

2019 Premier League Darts Table

2019 Premier League Darts Table
PositionPlayerPoints
1Michael van Gerwen23
2Rob Cross22
3James Wade20
4Daryl Gurney19
5Gerwyn Price18
6Mensur Suljovic17
7Michael Smith10
8Peter Wright9
9Raymond van Barneveld4

Darts Premier League London Playoffs Betting Tips

While Michael van Gerwyn is the 1/5 favourite to beat Daryl Gurney, it’s worth remembering that Superchin has beaten the Dutchman twice in this current league season, making Betway’s 7/2 reasonably tempting. However, the Northern Irishman is making his finals night debut whereas MVG is a regular , and his experience, coupled with the superior overall head-to-head record, should see the Dutchman reach his seventh consecutive Premier League final.

Rob Cross and James Wade will face each other for the second time in as many weeks in the night’s other semi-final. This match could go either way, especially given their 6-6 head-to-head record. But Wade may have the advantage after defeating The Machine last week. That match wasn’t played under normal conditions, however, as both players knew that their place in the finals was secured before the first dart was thrown.

Voltage, who did at least have the motivation of top spot to shoot for, played particularly poorly in Leeds but in truth, The Machine wasn’t much better. Wade does have the big occasion experience of winning this event in 2009 but so too does Cross, who won the World Championships far more recently in 2018. Although this is a tough one, Betway have made Cross the 4/6 favourite and Wade 6/5 for a reason.

On that note, Betway have a boosted bet offer of 9/4 – out from 7/4 – for van Gerwyn and Cross to win their semi-finals and meet in the final where Mighty Mike wins. MVG is the 1/2 odds-on favourite to win a fourth title in a row, which is quite a jump from Rob Cross’ 4/1, especially given Voltage’s performance in the league this season. There are plenty of reasons to keep an eye on James Wade, and Betway’s 15/2 is attractive enough for a punt, as is the 10/1 offered on Daryl Gurney to be the overall winner.

Semi-Finals (Best of 19 legs)

  • (1/5) Michael van Gerwen v Daryl Gurney (7/2)
  • (4/6) Rob Cross v James Wade (6/5)

Finals (Best of 21 legs)

  • Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2

QUICK GLANCE AT THE DARTS PREMIER LEAGUE – WEEK 17: The Playoffs

Venue: The O2 arena, London
: Thursday 23.05.2019
: Best of 19 legs/Best of 21 legs
: Michael van Gerwen
: Sky Sports
: (1900 GMT)

World Cup of Darts 2019 schedule

The draw, schedule and team line-ups for the World Cup of Darts were announced this week. The event will take place at the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany from June 6-9 with 32 nations contesting the trophy.

England’s Rob Cross and Michael Smith will be there, as will Scotland duo Peter Wright and Gary Anderson. Sadly, there will be no Raymond van Barneveld in the Dutch line-up. Instead Jermaine Wattimena will team up with Michael van Gerwen.

World Cup of Darts: Team line-ups

Seeded Teams:

(1) England – Rob Cross & Michael Smith
(2) Scotland – Gary Anderson & Peter Wright
(3) Wales – Gerwyn Price & Jonny Clayton
(4) Netherlands – Michael van Gerwen & Jermaine Wattimena
(5) Australia – Simon Whitlock & Kyle Anderson
(6) Northern Ireland – Daryl Gurney & Brendan Dolan
(7) Belgium – Kim Huybrechts & Dimitri Van den Bergh
(8) Austria – Mensur Suljovic & Zoran Lerchbacher

Unseeded:

Brazil – Diogo Portela & Artur Valle
Canada – Dawson Murschell & Jim Long
China – Xiaochen Zong & Qingyu Zhan
Czech Republic – Pavel Jirkal & Karel Sedlacek
Denmark – Per Laursen & Niels Heinsøe
Finland – Marko Kantele & Kim Viljanen
Germany – Max Hopp & Martin Schindler
Gibraltar – Dyson Parody & Antony Lopez
Greece – John Michael & Veniamin Symeonidis
Hong Kong – Royden Lam & Kai Fan Leung
Hungary – Pal Szekely & Janos Vegso
Italy – Andrea Micheletti & Stefano Tomassetti
Japan – Seigo Asada & Haruki Muramatsu
Lithuania – Darius Labanauskas & Mindauskas Barauskas
New Zealand – Cody Harris & Haupai Puha
Philippines – Lourence Ilagan & Noel Malicdem
Poland – Krzysztof Ratajski & Tytus Kanik
Republic of Ireland – Steve Lennon & William O’Connor
Russia – Boris Koltsov & Aleksei Kadochnikov
Singapore – Paul Lim & Harith Lim
South Africa – Devon Petersen & Vernon Bouwers
Spain – Cristo Reyes & Toni Alcinas
Sweden – Dennis Nilsson & Magnus Caris
United States of America – Darin Young & Chuck Puleo

World Cup of Darts Fixtures

Thursday June 6

  • Gibraltar v Japan
  • Northern Ireland v South Africa
  • New Zealand v Lithuania
  • Belgium v Hong Kong
  • Brazil v Sweden
  • Wales v Singapore
  • Hungary v Germany
  • Scotland v Denmark

Friday June 7

  • China v USA
  • Italy v Canada
  • Poland v Czech Republic
  • Republic of Ireland v Greece
  • England v Philippines
  • Austria v Russia
  • Australia v Finland
  • Netherlands v Spain

Saturday June 8

  • Eight Second Round Matches

Sunday June 9

  • Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals & Final
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Gerwyn Price And Daryl Gurney Tie Before Coming To Blows

Gerwyn Price And Daryl Gurney Tie Before Coming To Blows

Daryl Gurney Geryn Price Darts Premier League

Following a stormy 7-7 draw, Daryl Gurney and Gerwyn Price had to be held back on the oche in Sheffield on Thursday night. Security was required to step in and separate the pair after Price and Gurney scuffled following some perceived over the top celebrations and what Price believes to be other players trying to get him banned.

Both players are still in the hunt to qualify for the end-of-season play-offs, with The Iceman looking for long periods that likely take the spoils. That was before the Welshman let a 6-3 lead slip to open the door for Superchin to level the game at 6-6. Price rediscovered some form in the nick of time, securing a double-double finish and clinching a point. Gurney then took the final leg of the match to earn himself a point also, but then erupted into a Price-esque, shouty celebration.

This then led to an argument with the players blowing up and exchanging heated words. It was another charge on Price’s rap sheet after he refused to shake James Wade’s hand last Thursday along with a row with Gary Anderson when winning the Grand Slam of Darts that also resulted in a three-month suspended sentence, which is still hanging over the Welshman.

More Night 15 action

Rob Cross is now guaranteed a Premier League Darts play-off spot after posting a decent 8-4 victory over Mensur Suljovic that also keeps him top of the table for at least another week. All Voltage requires now is to beat James Wade in Leeds this week and he will become only the third player in the 15-year history of the tournament to finish the league stage on top two years in a row. The others, as I’m sure you know, are Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen.

It is exactly what Voltage deserves in what is only his second Premier League campaign and one in which he has performed magnificently. This latest win saw him post his 10th 100+ average of the Premier League season, one aided significantly by hitting four 180s in the opening three legs on his way to a 4-0 lead.

Suljovic is also a play-off hopeful, fighting hard to stay in the contest for as long as he could by managing to half the deficit to 4-2 before Cross produced a 126 checkout on the bull. Voltage then took the next for good measure to bring the score to 6-2 before the pair distributed the next two legs equally. The Austrian had one last leg in him before Cross sealed victory with a 15-darter that included back-to-back 180s.

As expected, Michael van Gerwen is keeping the pressure on Cross and remains only the one point behind after his much expected and brutal 8-1 win over Peter Wright. Mighty Mike is looking to top the table for a seventh successive season but is fast running out of time with only the week left before London. The Dutch world number one is looking to win the competition for the fourth year in a row and, although still not top, this battering of Snakebite certainly increases his chances of making it to the O2 going into next week’s final round of fixtures. He even managed to bank an impressive average of 110.85 despite not landing a single 180 in the match.

MVG got off to a great start, opening up with an 11-darter plus two back-to-back ton-plus checkouts to go 3-0 up, before Wright scored his only leg of the contest after banking an 81 checkout. Snakebite, who averaged 102.29 and pinned four 180s only got to shoot for a double three times as Mighty Mike ran off with the match thereafter.

In the night’s opener, James Wade narrowly missed out on securing his place in London after dropping the last two legs in his match against Michael Smith, which ended in a 7-7 tie. The Machine went into the match third in the table and a victory looked a sure thing after a superb 161 checkout on the bullseye put him 7-5 up. From there Wade slipped up, failing to make it to a finish in either of the following two legs, leaving Bully Boy free to step in and salvage a point.

Premier League Betting Tips Week 16

It’s over to Leeds for the final week and where the first match sees Gerwyn Price take on Peter Wright. The Iceman is sitting one point outside the top four and needs to beat Snakebite while hoping results elsewhere go his way if he is to qualify for the O2. The Welshman picked up a point last week in a bad-tempered draw with Daryl Gurney but should fare better this week against Wright, who is without a win in 10 matches. Snakebite has won 12 of his 16 meetings with Price, but it’s The Iceman who has won their last two and who has something left to fight for making him the firm favourite in match one.

Following the draw with Price, Gurney is level on points with fourth-placed Suljovic and this week faces Michael Smith, who drew with James Wade last time out leaving him winless in seven. Superchin beat the Bully Boy earlier in the campaign and, needing a win to progress, can be backed to do so again.

A result for Gurney is likely to put the squeeze on Mensur Suljovic who, after a strong campaign, could miss out unless he overcomes the challenge of Michael van Gerwen. It’s a shame for The Gentle that his two final games in the competition have been against the league’s top two. Having lost last week to Rob Cross — and with a record of only four wins in 16 games against MVG — Suljovic will be relying on results going his way to qualify for London. Given that Gerwyn Price faces Peter Wright, is thoroughly unlikely.

It is also unfortunate for James Wade that his ultimate match will take place against the other of the top two, Rob Cross. While perhaps not as daunting as MVG, this is still a tough match to overcome, although realistically he only needs one more point to reach the play-offs. Of their 11 meetings, Wade has won five and Cross six, so a close game is to be expected. Given Cross’ form right now and playing to secure top spot, it should be a Voltage win.

This week’s Betway acca; Gerwyn Price, Rob Cross, Michael van Gerwen and Daryl Gurney which pays 13.75/1.

  • (13/10) Gerwyn Price v Peter Wright (7/5)
  • (13/10) Daryl Gurney v Michael Smith (7/5)
  • (30/100) Michael van Gerwen v Mensur Suljovic (6/1)
  • (2/1) James Wade v Rob Cross (1/1)

QUICK GLANCE AT THE DARTS PREMIER LEAGUE – WEEK 16

Venue: First Direct Arena, Leeds
Dates: Thursday 16.05.2019
Format: Best of 12 legs
Current Champion: Michael van Gerwen
Where To Watch: Sky Sports
When To Watch: (1900 GMT)

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Rob Cross Goes On Top After Daryl Gurney Beats Michael van Gerwen – Again

Rob Cross Goes On Top After Daryl Gurney Beats Michael van Gerwen – Again

Rob Cross Darts Premier League

Daryl Gurney recorded his third successive triumph over Michael van Gerwen on Thursday as he ran out the 8-5 winner to blow the league wide open. The win also means that Superchin becomes only the second player ever to complete a Premier League double over the world champion, the first being Peter Wright last year.

Gurney now finds himself fourth in the table and with every chance of making the playoffs. Meanwhile, MVG loses top spot with just two weeks to go, meaning he could — for the first time in seven years — not top the table at its conclusion. There is even an admittedly slim chance that he might not make London at all, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Mighty Mike was way short of his normal game and fell 4-0 down early on in the contest before landing a 127 checkout to inspire a little hope. After van Gerwen took the following leg, the Northern Irishman took another two to hone in on victory, which came not too long after.

A recap of Night 14

MVG now finds himself one point behind Rob Cross, who defeated Michael Smith in a brutal beating at the start of the night in a match that now secures at least a playoff place for Voltage. Cross averaged 102.54, hit five 180s and landed eight of his 14 doubles in a thoroughly one-sided contest that was never in doubt. So dominant was Cross that in seven of the eight legs that he won in six darts or less. The tone was set early doors after Cross hit a 101 checkout to take the first and from there the win looked inevitable, reeling off the next four legs. Bully Boy, who averaged a surprisingly high 97.65, finally got points on the board when he took the sixth, but thereafter the 2018 world champion was unbeatable in the next three, cleaning up in 33 darts to put the game to bed.

There was a typically bad-tempered match between the league’s two pantomime villains in the night’s final match in which James Wade overcame the challenge from Gerwyn Price. In a playoff fight, the Englishman claimed an 8-4 victory over the Welshman, who refused to shake hands after the game. Both players have previous experience when it comes to winding opponents up, but Wade didn’t appear to do anything wrong so it’s hard to see where The Iceman lost his cool. However, it did look like Price’s game plan, which backfired, was to slow throw his opponent, a tactic which has worked for others against The Machine in the past. To be fair to Wade, he didn’t take the bait and kept calm to claim a fairly routine win. Wade, winner in 2009, now sits third in the table, while Price sinks to sixth with two points between him and the top four. Price slowed down his game for the night and was 3-0 down before getting back in the game one leg later with an 11-darter. Soon after, Wade restored a three-leg advantage when Price pulled back another leg. The Machine then proceeded to killed finish him off with 12 and 14 dart legs.

In match two, Peter Wright was once again the victim to defeat. This time to Mensur Suljovic, who almost threw the game away but chucked a decent 12-darter in the final leg to keep himself in the hunt for a playoff place. The Gentle started the night with a 144 checkout as he raced into a 5-1 lead. Snakebite, who actually climbed off the bottom on leg difference, found some fight in the seventh and went on a winning run of three in a row to give Suljovic a fright. The Austrian kept going and soon found himself shooting for the match but missing twice. This slip let Wright back in forcing a deciding leg, which went the way of The Gentle, who averaged 93.91 compared to Wright’s 89.49.

Premier League of Darts Betting Tips Week 15

It’s over to Sheffield for DPL Night 15 where all eyes will be on the race for the top four. We open with James Wade and Michael Smith, with The Machine looking to take the points needed to further cement his bid his for a playoff place. Wade was helped enormously by his squashing of Gerwyn Price last week. Bully Boy returned to the bottom of the table in Manchester after he was battered by Rob Cross. There is little reason to believe he will fare much better this week, especially when given statistics that weigh heavily in Wade’s favour and show the Machine to have beaten Smith in 16 of their 19 meetings.

League leader Rob Cross takes to the oche next as he looks to beat playoff hopeful Mensur Suljovic and stay top for another week, with only Leeds left on the schedule to play before London. Following his win over Smith, Voltage is now Betway’s 5/4 favourite to finish first at the end of the campaign. He has done well to topple Michael van Gerwen so far, who has topped the table for the past six seasons. The Gentle currently occupies the final playoff place, aided last week by securing a wobbly win over Peter Wright. Form-wise, both of these players have won six in twelve, but Cross is playing like a world beater right now and so must be favoured.

Daryl Gurney gave his top-four hopes a massive boost by stunning Michael van Gerwen 8-5 last week and now sits just point from the top four with two weeks remaining. This week Superchin faces Gerwyn Price, who has only one point less himself. Now more of an outsider, The Iceman is running out of time and now needs to begin winning in order to make up those points. Given that he has won nine of their past eleven meetings, the Welshman has a slim chance to do so in what is comfortably the hardest match of the night to call.

After losing last week, Michael van Gerwen is now chasing top spot, and given how Rob Cross fares in match 2, he has every chance to catch up after he surely beats Peter Wright, whose campaign never really got going this year. While MVG’s winless streak stretches to two, Snakebite is in freefall after nine games without a victory and a straightforward win for the Dutchman is expected.

Your weekly accumulator with Betway is as follows; James Wade, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen which pays 11.91/1.

  • (15/8) Michael Smith v James Wade (1/1)
  • (9/4) Mensur Suljovic v Rob Cross (5/6)
  • (5/4) Daryl Gurney v Gerwyn Price (6/4)
  • (30/100) Michael van Gerwen v Peter Wright (6/1)

QUICK GLANCE AT THE DARTS PREMIER LEAGUE – WEEK 15

Venue: The FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield
Dates: Thursday 09.05.2019
Format: Best of 12 legs
Current Champion: Michael van Gerwen
Where To Watch: Sky Sports
When To Watch: (1900 GMT)

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