Premier League Darts: Season betting tips, night one predictions, accas, order of play & TV times. Our guide for Thursday night's action in Premier League Darts includes bets for the season, match-by-match predictions, order of playm Sky Bet odds and a suggested acca.
Take a deep breath because the darts season is about to pick up pace with the new Unibet Premier League Darts season as Michael van Gerwen bids to win this tournament for the fourth year in a row and fifth time in total.
Having quashed the critics who claimed his dominance was on the wane by reclaiming the world title without really breaking sweat and then comfortably winning a fifth successive Masters crown at the weekend when only in third gear, he's unsurprisingly back to odds-on prices again.
💚5⃣🆠Michael van Gerwen wins a fifth successive Masters title!🆠118 career titles🆠34 PDC TV majors😲 He's still not 30! 👊 @MvG180 lays down another ominous marker for the rest of the seasonpic.twitter.com/jFfdAdDAGA
Gary Anderson's injury-enforced withdrawal saw his odds shorten further to 1/2 and it goes without saying he'll be at the O2 on Finals Night in 17 weeks' time.
Many feel MVG also has one of the softer 'Gary Anderson replacements' in John Henderson - although that's perhaps a tad disrespectful to John Henderson considering he's technically the highest ranked of the nine guest players, who'll take it in turns to feature weekly until Judgement Night.
Regardless what's happened over the past six weeks, he's still someway short from his imperious best of 2015-2017 when he consistently recorded those silly averages and last year there were plenty of occasions on the big stages when he became unstuck. Not least the last major before the worlds at the Players Championship Finals, when Daryl Gurney out fought him.
🎯 INCREDIBLE SCENES! 🙌💪🆠Daryl Gurney hits the bullseye to beat Michael van Gerwen and win the Players Championship Finals! 👠That's how to become a crowd favourite! What drama! @Superchin180 pic.twitter.com/vd6goWbfdC
In Anderson's absence, world championship runner-up Michael Smith is arguably the second best player right now in the field, despite his Order of Merit ranking of six, as he seems the most confident and able to string together those 100+ averages on a consistent basis.
Sure, Smith fell short of doing just that when he needed to most against MVG at the Ally Pally but as the St Helens man explained in our interview last week, he let sight of the trophy on the stage get the better of him and 'tried too much'.
Last year Bully Boy reached more TV finals than he ever has before - five - including the Premier League and while he only managed to win one of them in Shanghai, he's learning from those experiences and I'm firmly of the belief that it's just a matter of time before he lands a big one.
Obviously, at four months long, this event goes on longer than any other by a country mile (although some will say the world championship ran it close!) so having a bet now on an overall winner is taking a big chance that they happen to hit a purple patch on May 23, as well as having been consistent enough to get there.
Rob Cross (Brisbane final), Smith (Shanghai semis), Barney (World Series Finals QFs & Premier League), Peter Wright (Champions League SFs, Melbourne SFs, Premier League x2), James Wade (US Darts Masters QF) and Gurney (Players Championship Finals, final), all managed to defeat him in televised competitions last year so whoever books their spot at the O2 shouldn't feel without a chance.
VAN GERWEN IS FINALLY BEATEN!His first ever defeat in Shanghai as Michael Smith progresses to a first World Series final in an 8-4 win. What a moment for the Bully Boy!#ShanghaiDarts pic.twitter.com/7faYSLZmis
Any of the nine permanent players can finish in that top four and
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