Who Will Win the Final Premier League Darts Spot in Scotland?
Night 16 of Darts Premier League – the final evening of action before the Play-Offs – takes place in Aberdeen’s P & J Live on Thursday. Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, and Michael van Gerwen are already assured of their place in the Premier League’s deciding night.
Can Nathan Aspinall successfully fight for his Premier League life in Scotland? ©Simon O’Connor/PDC
Jonny Clayton and Nathan Aspinall will battle for the final qualifying spot this week. They will meet in the second match on the card. Success for Clayton is all that is needed for the Welshman to book his place in the O2 London finals night. Aspinall needs to win two matches on Thursday to make the final four. Bet365 quote 7/2 about him completing the task.
How will this match, and three others, unfold? Read our opinion on where the best betting value lies at the leading best darts betting sites.
Gerwyn Price vs Peter Wright
Price has topped the Premier League table for the past four weeks. Wright has sat at the bottom for 13 consecutive weeks. Gerwyn Price may be 4/11 to win this clash, but this is no David and Goliath clash. The favorite has lost two of the three games the pair have played in the 2023 Premier League.
Wright plays under a Scottish flag, which means he should receive strong support in Aberdeen, and he ended a title drought by taking the £30,000 top prize at last weekend’s Czech Darts Open. Playing some exceptional darts there, he is expected to push Price close and possibly beat him again.
The best darts betting sites are offering 6/5 about Wright overcoming the handicap where he receives a 1.5-leg start. It is a strong fancy for us and the first selection in our Yankee slip.
Jonny Clayton vs Nathan Aspinall
Success is vital for both players, and the betting suggests this should be the closest match of the night. But Clayton is the strong favorite in our book. ‘The Ferret’ has won the last four encounters between this pair, and Aspinall has been spanked 6-3, 6-3, and 6-2 in his last three Premier League matches.
Coral Sportsbook offers the industry top price of 3/4 on a Clayton victory – It looks like an outstanding proposition in this exciting game.
Michael Smith vs Dimitri Van den Bergh
Smith is on a roll. The reigning World Champion has won the last three Premier League nightly finals and must be relieved to be smashing in 100-plus averages for fun again. In his nine most recent Premier League matches, ‘Bully Boy’ has landed an amazing twenty-eight 180s.
Van den Bergh – without a nightly win and only one appearance in a final – will be glad to collect his £65,000 for finishing seventh in the standings and head home to Belgium as quickly as possible.
If this were a boxing match, regulators would probably object to the apparent mismatch going ahead! It could and should be a quick kill. But, hopefully, for us, Smith will have time to hit four or more 180s to land our 6/5 bet selection. The price is available at the darts specialist site, bet365.
Michael van Gerwen vs Chris Dobey
Van Gerwen’s Premier League form has cooled since a golden spell at the beginning of March. But, win, lose, or draw, the Dutchman is guaranteed a place in the Play-Offs where he will meet either Price or Smith. Dobey has already been eliminated from the 2023 Premier League. And so, he is playing for nothing more than pride. Losing seven of his last nine Premier League matches, he is difficult to fancy.
But the pair are two-apiece from four meetings in this year’s competition, and Dobey did inflict a remarkable 6-nil defeat on MVG in mid-March. In fact, their last three matches were relatively quick kills. Therefore, the 8/11 available on this match featuring less than 9.5 legs is our bet suggestion.
