Gary Anderson to beat Peter Wright –
Peter Wright claimed his third PDC title in nine days at the weekend with victory in the sixth UK Open qualifier in Wigan.
It is unfortunate for him, then, that for the second week in a row, that success will be followed by a Premier League match against one of the top two players in the world.
Wright came within three missed MVG darts of being whitewashed in Nottingham last time out, with the night’s worst checkout percentage of 25 per cent and an average of only 89.83.
And Snakebite is likely to face a similar struggle against Gary Anderson on Thursday, against whom he has won just one of his last nine matches.
Wright has been an incredibly consistent performer of late, but rarely causes an upset on the biggest stage. Don’t expect a surprise here.
Adrian Lewis to win or draw against James Wade –
James Wade is currently one of five players tied on three points at the top of the Premier League table following last week’s impressive draw against Phil Taylor.
The Machine followed that up by making his first floor-event final since last April at the weekend, beating Gary Anderson along the way.
Adrian Lewis also made the semis of that qualifier, three days after securing his first Premier League win against Dave Chisnall, recording the highest checkout percentage of the night of 53.85 per cent.
Jackpot has only lost one of his last eight against Wade and, with the benefit of throwing first, looks a solid bet to either win or draw – though it is such a close call I’ve decided to leave this one out of the accumulator.
Raymond van Barneveld to beat Phil Taylor –
Phil Taylor is the favourite in another tight match-up between two greats of the game.
The six-time Premier League champion, though, has been showing the signs of decline that recently led him to announce this will be his final season.
Remarkably, Taylor has hit just a single 180 in his two matches so far, while Raymond Van Barneveld threw seven in Nottingham alone last week.
Barney has, admittedly, been far from his best after coming back from the brink to beat Adrian Lewis and rescuing a draw against Kim Huybrechts.
But the Dutchman has enjoyed the edge over his old nemesis of late, defeating Taylor in their recent World Championship quarter-final and winning four of their last five Premier League encounters.
Don’t be surprised if Barney pulls another result out of the bag here.
Michael van Gerwen to beat Jelle Klaasen –
In what is by far the easiest game of the night to call, it will come as no surprise that we’re going with Michael van Gerwen.
The fixtures have not been kind to Jelle Klaasen, who has already comfortably lost his first two games against the second and third favourites for the tournament.
And he is likely to get even less change out of the undisputed world No. 1 in Leeds, against whom he has lost his last eight matches.
MVG added yet another accolade to his list last weekend, becoming just the second man in history to hit two nine-dart legs in a single match on his way to winning the fourth UK Open qualifier.
Currently unbeaten in his last 39 televised matches, that run is unlikely to come under threat against the current favourite to finish bottom of the table.
Kim Huybrechts to beat Dave Chisnall –
Kim Huybrechts missed his chance to throw for the match against Barney last week, but did at least get off the mark with a draw.
That point is more than Dave Chisnall has managed in the Premier League since this time last year, having now lost eight games in a row since Week 3 of the 2016 season.
Particularly worrying is the nature of his defeats so far this season, with Chizzy outscoring both Taylor and Lewis in terms of 180s but still ending up with a leg difference of minus nine across the two games.
Huybrechts currently looks to have the better all-round game, and has also shown more stomach for the fight when things are going against him.
Given that they have met just once in the last 20 months, the Belgian will not be deterred by his inferior head-to-head record.
Expect another marginal surprise in this one.
