Wright Can Carry His Flag into Glasgow Premier League Battle
The Premier League Darts bandwagon rolls into Glasgow on Thursday. Last week Gerwyn Price won on home soil. Can Peter Wright, who plays under the Scottish flag, similarly please the fans packed into the OVO Hydro arena?
Wright lost his first-round match in both Belfast and Cardiff, but he averaged 103.8 in the Northern Irish city and nailed a 156 checkout in the Welsh capital. Playing Dimitri Van den Bergh this week, the stats suggest he will claim his first League victory of 2023.
Peter Wright has been playing far better than his bare results suggest. ©MichaelCooper/PDC
Head-to-head, Van den Bergh has won just three of his 16 previous meetings with the two-time world champion. Darts betting sites have taken note, and the Belgian is 13/10 to improve his record.
Peter Wright vs Van den Bergh
At 8/13, Wright doesn’t represent enormous value. Understanding he is the most likely winner of this match means he has more opportunities to claim the highest checkout of the game. And ‘Snakebite’s’ checkouts have been good anyway.
Against Chris Dobey in week one – despite losing 3-6 – Wright recorded two 100-plus checkouts. A second 3-6 defeat in week two – to Nathan Aspinall – saw him post two more 100-plus finishes including his 156, which was the best finish of the night.
Therefore, the recommendation is to back Peter Wright to register the highest checkout of the match. This market is on offer at bet365, and its odds compilers have marked the outcome up at 8/11.
Nathan Aspinall vs Michael van Gerwen
Van Gerwen has played five matches in the 2023 League, and while he has not won a nightly final, the Dutchman possesses the highest three-dart average (102.3) and the best checkout percentage – a 49.1 percent success rate.
Little wonder the six-time Premier League winner is trading at a top price of 4/11 against Aspinall. But Aspinall should not be so easily dismissed. ‘The Asp’ registered seven 180s in last week’s match-up with Peter Wright – it was impressive in a match that was over in nine legs.
There is yet to be a 6-0 or 6-1 scoreline in the 2023 Premier League, and eight of its 14 matches have featured ten or more legs. Aspinall can outplay his match odds and make a fist of things. Consequently, the bet suggestion is a 9.5-plus leg match at odds of 11/10.
Gerwyn Price vs Michael Smith
Price was a shock winner last week, and his victory did not come with any impressive figures. In his first-round defeat of Chris Dobey, his checkout percentage was just 27.3 percent, and only one of his 18 winning legs came courtesy of a 100-plus finish.
💚 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 💚
Gerwyn Price wins in Cardiff! 🏴 pic.twitter.com/FIfZtedKxd
— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) February 9, 2023
Leading darts betting sites can barely separate this par – by shopping around, you can back Price at evens and Smith at 10/11 – but Smith has been playing the better darts for several months.
The newly crowned World Darts Champion also rolled off three consecutive wins against Price in last year’s Premier League. That’s enough to convince us that Smith, at 10/11, represents wholesome value and earns nap status in the conventional win market.
Jonny Clayton vs Chris Dobey
Clayton has played two and lost both. And having won just five legs he sits bottom of the league. With Dobey winning the Masters and then winning week one’s Premier League nightly final, it is difficult to understand why Clayton is the favorite for this one.
This duo has not met in over 18 months, and eight previous encounters have seen them share the honors with four wins apiece. So, while the temptation is to place the whole bag of marbles on a Dobey success on the handicap market (where the underdog receives a 1.5-leg start), we have looked elsewhere for a bet.
And that has led us to the total 180s market. The best darts betting sites have set the line at 5.5, and the 4/6 available on the ‘unders’ is an obvious play. Neither Clayton nor Dobey are prolific 180 scorers at the best of times, and, in their six combined 2023 Premier League games, they have registered just 13 maximums to date.
