Premier League Darts (Wk 9)

Mensur Suljovic v James Wade

The Gentle has a terrific 10-5 head to head advantage of James Wade - despite being ranked lower in the PDC for the majority of those meetings. There is just a point between the pair in the Premier League after nine rounds, and while Wade has enjoyed a considerably better average, and marginally better check-out %, it's a surprise to see him trading as short as 5/4 against a man who he has historically struggled against.

Mensur also appears to have slowed down even more than his previous tortoise-like tempo, which could make things harder for Wade.

I'm taking the Austrian here at 13/8 in this one.

1pt Mensur Suljovic to beat James Wade at 13/8

Michael Smith v Peter Wright

This is a similar conundrum - Peter Wright is a decent outsider here, yet his excellent 15-8 (1 draw) head-to-head record is hard to ignore - especially when he's won or drawn each of the last four. The pair are 7th and 8th in the table, but it's all so close that there is every reason to believe either man could still qualify for the finals with ease.

For me, Smith has struggled to handle the rise to near greatness he achieved at the World Championships this year. He's only been past the last 64 once in eight Players Championships' since. He did reach the semi-finals of the UK Open, but that's been the one bright spot really.

Peter Wright has been average himself, but did make the semi-finals of the European Darts Open and The Masters, as well as the Quarter Finals of the German Darts Championship. In the Players Championship events he's posted one semi-final and one quarter-final this season.

All things considered I make him favourite in this one, so more than happy to snap up the 6/4 on offer with most firms.

2pts Peter Wright to beat Michael Smith at 6/4 (General)

Rob Cross v Daryl Gurney

This is a much tougher match to call. Gurney has a great 4-4 head-to-head record - decent when you consider how quickly Cross reached the top of the game, so very few players have a winning record against him - of those who have played him more than four times, only Gary Anderson, MvG and Mensur Suljovic can better Gurney's record.

While Cross looks back to his best recently, the same is true of Gurney - who won the German Darts Championships last weekend, has won his last three Premier League matches and also made the semi-final of the Wigan Players Championships in March.

All this makes me reluctant to take the tempting 4/5 on Cross despite his obvious claims.

No Bet

Michael van Gerwen v Gerwyn Price

We previewed this match quite recently - pointing out MvG's astonishing 15-0 head-to-head (it was 14-0 at the time). He kicked on from 0-2 to ultimately win 7-2 in that one and Price must feel sick every time he plays MvG - especially given plenty have been hard to forget (SFs in the US Darts Masters, SFs in the Dubai Masters, QF in the European Grand Prix for example).

Add in that MvG has won two meetings in the last two weeks, and it's got to be more of the same surely? The bet looks to be MvG (-2.5) on the handicap. He's throwing first, meaning he's more likely to win 8-5 or 8-3 than 8-6 or 8-4, so taking the 8/13 with Bet Fred on the -2.5 makes more sense than the -3.5 for bigger odds elsewhere.

We'll try the Correct Score as well - backing small stakes on 8-3 and 8-5.

2pts MvG (-2.5 legs) at 8/13 (Betfred)

0.5pts MvG to win 8-3 at 13/2 (Betfred)

0.5pts MvG to win 8-5 at 7/1 (Betfred)

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