World Champion Rob Cross Suffers MVG Loss In Matchday One Of Darts Premier League

World Champion Rob Cross Suffers MVG Loss In Matchday One Of Darts Premier League

MVG Beats Rob Cross Premier League Darts

Rob Cross’ miserable time since the New Year’s Day heights of Ally Pally continued as he suffered another loss, this time at the hands of Michael van Gerwen administering a slice of retribution.

The Dutchman began the defence of his Premier League title in a 7-2 win over the PDC world champion in a battle of the baldies in Dublin in which Mighty Mike landed three 114 checkouts and averaged 100.80.

For MVG, who was beaten by Cross in the World Championship semi-final in December, success was sweet and served to remind his young rival that he remains the game’s super power.

Other early action

Elsewhere, Michael Smith marked his return to the Premier League after a 12-month absence by fighting back from a 5-1 deficit to brilliantly beat Gary Anderson by 7 sets to 5. Anderson was once again plagued by a troublesome back injury that saw him miss 18 darts that would have otherwise guaranteed him at least a point.

In another tough result for the tipsters, 2012 Premier League runner-up Simon Whitlock overcame match favourite Mensur Suljovic in the night’s first match, also by 7 sets to 5. The Aussie needed to claw himself back from 3-1 down, racking up an average of more than 106 against his debutant opponent who was the early leader in the contest. Suljovic then missed a vital dart at bullseye that would have given him a comfortable 4-1 lead but instead opened the door for Whitlock, who spiked off a succession of 14, 12 and 11 dart legs before an awesome 160 handed him a winning two-leg advantage.

Premier League new comer Daryl Gurney and oche legend Raymond van Barneveld took home a point each after Grand Prix champion Gurney missed three crucial darts that would have landed him a debut victory pleasing the Irish crowd in the process. However, these were gratefully snapped up by his rival in spite of a late missed bully shot.

Finally, another debutant, Gerwyn Price, walked away with a share of the points, having won the final three legs in his opener against Peter Wright. Snakebite, who confirmed punters’ long-standing concerns over his change in darts, duly missed four shots that would have provided him the opening victory. Instead, Price twice battled back from 5-1 and 6-3 down before bagging five out of the last six legs to bank a point. The Welshman moves on to a home game in Cardiff where this week’s Matchday Two games take place on Thursday night at the Motorpoint Arena with coverage getting underway from 7pm on Sky Sports Action.

Matchday One results

  • Mensur Suljovic 5-7 Simon Whitlock
  • Gary Anderson 5-7 Michael Smith
  • Daryl Gurney 6-6 Raymond van Barneveld
  • Michael van Gerwen 7-2 Rob Cross
  • Peter Wright 6-6 Gerwyn Price

Premier League: Matchday Two Betting Tips

The Premier League Darts season finds itself in its second week in Cardiff and the action gets underway with Michael Smith versus Daryl Gurney in a match where we are backing Bully Boy Smith to take the win, against the much fancied Superchin.

This is followed by another toughie – although there are no easies in the Premier League – as Rob Cross meets Simon Whitlock. Cross is certainly finding out the hard way that life is tough at the top and will be looking to bank his first ever Premier League points here against Whitlock, who was a surprise winner last time out. A loser last week, Cross played well enough in Dublin, but MVG was in an imperious form. The World Champion now has the chance to put things right against Whitlock, an opportunity which I expect him to take.

Next up, Michael van Gerwen takes on Peter Wright with the Dutchman having stopped Snakebite in the Premier League final last year. Wright has a woeful head-to-head record against Mighty Mike; despite often showing well, he historically drops the crucials when it counts. I wouldn’t be expecting a shock here either as MVG powers on to his second straight League win.

Gerwyn Price will step up next in a match that his rival on the night Gary ‘The Flying Scotsman’ Anderson has already spiked with a not-to-be-forgotten taunt dropped at their last meeting when the world number two joked, “If you can’t beat a man with a bad back, you better go back to the practice board”. Now, Price — in Cardiff of all venues — has the chance to do exactly that. With the Welsh crowd likely to be against Anderson, the temperamental Scot could implode, especially if his bad back continues to bother him, so I would be picking Price to be right here.

Soon after match four, Raymond van Barneveld and Mensur Suljovic will step out with Barney having lost to the Austrian in their last meeting making Suljovic worth a shot at 15/8. That said, Barney will inevitably be the crowd favourite and has shown the occasional glimpse of his former self. For this reason, others might fancy him at 11/10, although I’m looking at a Suljovic win to close out the night.

Try this treble bet at Betway: Michael Smith, Michael van Gerwen and Mensur Suljovic at 10/1, or be brave and chuck in Cross and Price for a five-fold worth 57/1. Also, it might be worth paying attention to Betway’s boosted price of 9/2 for Cross, van Barneveld and van Gerwen to win, two points higher than its original price of 7/2.

  • (13/8) Michael Smith v Daryl Gurney (6/5)
  • (4/7) Rob Cross v Simon Whitlock (7/2)
  • (1/3) Michael van Gerwen v Peter Wright (6/1)
  • (13/5) Gerwyn Price v Gary Anderson (4/5)
  • (11/10) Raymond van Barneveld v Mensur Suljovic (15/8)
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Michael Van Gerwen Wins Masters For A Fourth Year In A Row

Michael Van Gerwen Wins Masters For A Fourth Year In A Row

MVG Wins Again

For the fourth time in a row, Michael van Gerwen, the world’s number one darts player, was crowned the Darts Masters champion at the Arena MK. This victory came via a brilliant 11-9 win over Raymond van Barneveld in a thrilling final in Milton Keynes on Sunday night.

In truth, it was a hard-fought battle as the 28-year-old came from 4-1 and 8-5 down against his fellow Dutchman, averaging 100 across all four of his Masters’ matches in total.

On the way to Sunday’s showdown, MVG had overcome Kim Huybrechts, demolished James Wade 10-2 before dispatching Gary Anderson in the semis.

50-year-old van Barneveld, who started out at the weekend as a 33/1 outsider, showed the form of his younger years when he too was world number one, beating Dave Chisnall, Peter Wright and Mensur Suljovic, who had eliminated Rob Cross in the quarters along the way.

In the final, Barney raced into an early 4-1 lead thanks to checkouts of 72, 76 plus a 13-darter. The gap remained the same after seven legs (5-2) before van Gerwen galvanised a response from himself and hit back to level by landing two 177 scores in an 11-darter and break-of-throw before scoring a 137 finish for a 12-dart leg.

However, RVB wasn’t giving up his well-earned lead without a fight, taking down another thee legs to maintain an 8-5 advantage, only for van Gerwen to strike a 124-bull finish. This was followed by a 12-darter allowing him to finally move ahead for the first time in the contest, from where he closed out the match courtesy of an 81 finish making for a title winning 12-darter.

In the end, van Gerwen posted a final average of 105.85 and a checkout percentage of 47.83%, compared to Barney’s 100.55 and 47.37%.

Darts Premier League betting tips

Defending champ Mighty Mike, bidding to win his fourth Premier League Darts title, now heads into the opening night of the new Premier League season in Dublin on Thursday as the Betway favourite at 4/5. No surprises there. Elsewhere, things have a fresh feel this year as the League welcomes a few debutants. World Grand Prix champion Daryl Gurney, Champions League of Darts winner Mensur Suljovic and 2017 UK Open finalist Gerwyn Price all come in for their first Premier League, as does World Champ Rob Cross.

Former champions Gary Anderson and Raymond van Barneveld are joined by last year’s runner-up Peter Wright, while Simon Whitlock and Michael Smith both make a return. Making way are James Wade, Adrian Lewis, Jelle Klaasen and Kim Huybrechts.

World champion Rob Cross is second in the outright betting at 7/2 at Betway, while Gary Anderson can be picked up at 6/1. Backers of Peter Wright can do so for 9/1 before the long-range picks can be found, starting with Raymond van Barneveld at 33/1. He is followed by Daryl Gurney at 40/1, Mensur Suljovic at 50/1, Michael Smith at 80/1, Gerwyn Price at 125/1 and Simon Whitlock at 200/1.

The first matches

The night’s opener pits Mensur Suljovic against Simon Whitlock, for which we fancy the Austrian over the Australian, who could suffer against Suljiovic’s slow throws. Gary Anderson is next out against Michael Smith, and I can only see one winner – The Flying Scotsman. That is, of course, so long as his increasingly problematic back holds out.

Matchday one, game three sees the return of Barney fresh from his final appearance in last week’s Masters. His rival here will be Daryl ‘Superchin’ Gurney and the Northern Irishman should be able to get Dublin’s support behind him to make it an uncomfortable night for Barney, who should expect to win regardless.

MVG goes in the night’s fourth match of five, an intriguing re-match with newly crowned World Champion Rob Cross. The Englishman has something of an upper hand over the Dutch number one, something that van Gerwen must recognise as he has let his composure slip against his younger rival in the past. Cross’ inexperience at this weekly format might mean he takes a while to settle into the swing of things. If MVG plays to his usual ability, it should be enough to see him bank his first points on the board.

Up last is Peter Wright and Gerwyn Price. A lot is expected of Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright as he looks to avoid becoming one the game’s great “nearly” men. The Premier League suits him though and he should be backed to make the cut after judgment night. Snakebite has a great record against Price, and I’m going to back him in the last of the night’s action.

  • (10/11) Mensur Suljovic v Simon Whitlock (11/5)
  • (8/15) Gary Anderson v Michael Smith (7/2)
  • (13/8) Daryl Gurney v Raymond van Barneveld (5/4)
  • (4/6) Michael van Gerwen v Rob Cross (3/1)
  • (8/13) Peter Wright v Gerwyn Price (3/1)

TV Channel: Sky Sports Action HD (1900 GMT)

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What If These Premier League Managers Were Darts Pros?

What If These Premier League Managers Were Darts Pros?

Premier League Darts

There is little in the way of sporting news in the UK right now other than England Cricket’s rain drenched test match against South Africa and a washed-out World Athletics Championship in London’s Olympic stadium.

Also, there isn’t much in the way of live televised darts until the Champions League gets underway in Cardiff, Wales in September. The line-up for Champions League of Darts was released recently and it boasts the usual names: Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright, Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis, Dave Chisnall, Mensur Suljovic and Raymond van Barneveld, will all compete for the title.

So, with plenty of darters off on their holibobs, thank god that Premier League Football is back this weekend. Frankly, it couldn’t come soon enough. Normally the beginning of the 10-month season heralds the summer’s decline but seeing as its pretty much been raining since the last season ended in May, it is very welcome indeed.

So, in a dartless week, and in anticipation of the incoming Football season, we wondered which Premier League Football managers are most like our pro darters.

Michael van Gerwen: Jose Mourinho

Michael vn Gerwen = Jose Mourino

Joe Mourinho is very successful, but a bit moody (actually, read: extremely moody). The Manchester United boss is predictably stroppy but more often than not ends up with a trophy or two. In truth, the decorated Dutchman, isn’t as relentlessly angry as United’s Portuguese leader but he did still walk away from his defeat to ‘The Power’ last week without giving a comment to the press following Taylor’s branding of him as “stupid”. Over in Manchester, Jose just walks out.

Jose Mourinho

Peter Wright: Jurgen Klopp

Peter Wright = Jurgen Klopp

While Dave ‘Chizzy’ Chisnall is the biggest Liverpool fan in darts — for pure charisma and eccentricity — Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright’s best match is Liverpool’s nutty German coach Jurgen Klopp. ‘Kloppo’ has enjoyed success, albeit back in his homeland, and has even reached a couple of finals in his short time with Liverpool too. He won neither. Likewise, Snakebite regularly reaches finals, but sadly for the popular Scot frequently walks away empty handed, save for winning the UK Open in March — his only ever PDC televised final victory.

Jurgen Klopp

Phil Taylor: Arsene Wenger

Phil Taylor = Arsene Wenger

As successful as they may be and despite some successes recently, it’s time to retire . There was a time when Phil was unbeatable at the oche. Similarly, Wenger’s Arsenal remain the only ever Premier League team to go an entire season without losing a match. This, of course, was with his team of ‘Invincibles’ back in the 2003-04 season. Alas, the team then went almost an entire decade without a trophy as restless fans lead nightly Twitter campaigns to remove their head coach. And, yet, he nobly soldiers on, even being rewarded with winning three out of the last four FA Cup finals. Likewise, Taylor — who clearly has better timing than Arsenal’s French boss — won a swansong title when he scooped the World Matchplay in Blackpool last week. For Taylor, one last shot of glory remains in North London. The Ally Pally is, after all, less than three miles from Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, where we still expect Wenger to be for a long time.

Arsene Wenger

Raymond van Barneveld: Pep Guardiola

Raymond van Barneveld = Pep Guardiola

Style comes first for Dutch hero Barney, much as it does for Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola. Pep won as manager of his hometown club Barcelona and then repeated his success while in charge of Bayern Munich. However, success hasn’t followed him to Manchester as super style has been beaten by a more a pragmatic approach. Plus, he doesn’t have Lionel Messi in Manchester.

Pep Guardiola

Bully the Bull: Sam Allardyce

Bully the Bull

With the belly and the bling, Big Sam would have made the perfect darter had he not been a pro footballer before his move into management. In fact, he gave Darts a shot, taking part in the early qualifying rounds of the 2003 UK Darts Open at the Reebok Stadium when he was the Bolton manager. Below is a ten-year-old image of Sam during his spell in charge of Newcastle United playing darts with close friend and legend Arsene Wenger, sorry, Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor (Note: Liverpool’s James Milner in also the background). Of course, Allardyce would later manage Toon’s fierce local rivals Sunderland, swapping Black and White stripes for Red and White, like Bully The Bull from 80’s Darts TV show, Bullseye.

Sam Allardyce

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