2016 Betway Premier League Darts – Week 12 Preview & Betting Tips
Friday April 22nd 4:15am AEDST (Fox Sports)
The Betway Darts Premier League enters Week 12, with plenty of interesting results last week as the top four starts to take shape. Peter Wright was hugely disappointing and once again cost us dearly, while Adrian Lewis was the talking point of last week with an epic nine-darter that blew the roof off in Belfast.
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On to this week’s matches and our best bets for Week 12 of the Darts Premier League:
Michael van Gerwen vs Peter Wright
After starting the season so strongly, Peter Wright has fallen in a heap in recent weeks. He’s changed his darts once again and has lost the consistency that we banked on earlier in the season. He has slipped to sixth place on the Premier League table, and is three points adrift of the top four, so another loss here will make it very hard to make up that ground.
Another who hasn’t been at his best is world number one Michael van Gerwen. His last five Premier League matches have all gone the distance, for one win and four draws. Not the sort of record that would please the Dutchman. He’s now four points behind Phil Taylor at the top of the table, but does play twice this week, so he’ll want to close that gap by the end of the evening.
While MVG hasn’t had the results recently, he has still been putting up some big numbers, and it’s hard to see Wright competing with that based on recent form. This could be a hiding if Wright doesn’t show up to play, but there’s not a lot of value in the $1.32 offered for a MVG win.
I prefer to side with MVG in the 180s market where we’re getting a better price. Peter Wright hasn’t been too bad on the 180s with the second most of the season, but he has recorded just seven maximums in the last two weeks compared to MVG’s twelve. Most bookies have this priced at around $1.61 but CrownBet are giving is $1.83, so we’ll take that price as our best bet of the week.
Bet: MVG most 180s at $1.83 at CrownBet (best bet)
Raymond van Barneveld vs Adrian Lewis
Adrian Lewis was back to his best last week with a strong win over James Wade including the above-mentioned nine-darter! He showed some intensity and some energy which made a real difference to his performance.
Barney is another that I feel sometimes lacks some energy and intensity. He’s so relaxed at the oche, which is great to watch, but I don’t think we see his best until he is really pushed to his limits. He needs to find another gear! However Barney is rarely easily beaten. His throw is hard to break as he is usually very consistent with scoring, and strong with his checkouts. Lewis is a deserving favourite here, but I think this will be a very close match so I like the over 10.5 legs bet here.
I also think we can take a look at the 180s market for this match as neither have been the strongest 180s throwers this season. Barney has thrown no higher than four in a single match all season, while Lewis has thrown just seven 180s in his past three matches, even with the nine-darter last week. With a line at 6.5 180s, I’m happy to take the unders for a small play.
Bet: Over 10.5 legs at $1.56 at CrownBet
Bet: Under 6.5 180s at $1.95 at William Hill
Gary Anderson vs James Wade
Gary Anderson was very strong in his draw against MVG last week in what was a very high standard match. It was Anderson’s best performance of the Premier League season with a 108.24 average. If he brings that to the table in future matches, he’s going to be right in contention for the title once again.
We were keen on James Wade to upset Adrian Lewis last week, and he had a 5-4 lead before Lewis’ nine-darter switched the momentum completely. Wade is now sitting outside the top four, but a win here against the Anderson will switch them around in the standings.
Anderson to win is tempting, but I think a safer bet at similar price is for this to be a close match and so we’ll again take the over 10.5 legs. Just three weeks ago, these two played out a 6-6 draw, so Wade should be good to win at least four legs here.
Despite a couple of recent losses, Wade maintains an excellent checkout record. He has failed to checkout a ton finish in just three of the eleven matches this season in the Premier League, and with this match (hopefully) set to go the distance, there will be plenty of chances for Wade to land a big checkout once again. His line has been set at 95.5 at Sportsbet, so we’ll have a piece of that and bet the overs.
Bet: Over 10.5 legs at $1.67 at CrownBet
Bet: James Wade High Checkout Over 95.5 at $1.83 at Sportsbet
Phil Taylor vs Robert Thornton
This is top versus bottom, and it should be a strong win for The Power, but The Thorn has been playing some inspired darts recently. He is fearless and aggressive, and clearly the stress of expectations is no longer wearing him down. He was great against MVG and also in his 7-2 demolition of Peter Wright, although Barney did get him in his second match of the night last week. Thornton has started his matches strong so expect him to come out of the gates firing.
If Taylor can break early then he might be able to run away with it for a comfortable win. Nothing seems to rock Taylor this season, so I’m sure he’ll be able to weather any storm and come away with another win here, but the margin of victory is difficult to predict.
I don’t expect too many 180s in this one, so if you could find a 6.5 180s line, I would take the unders, but the current 5.5 line, looks a bit close to bet.
Bet: No play
Adrian Lewis vs Michael van Gerwen
What a treat for the live audience to get to see these two titans play twice in the one night! If Lewis wins his first match against Barney then his confidence will be high to take on MVG, and if Lewis is full of confidence, he’s certainly capable of an upset. The price of MVG is too short to back, so I would be tempted to wait and see how Lewis fares in the first match and you might find his price good value here to nibble. I think it will be a great match and I expect Lewis to push the world number one all the way. I see this one going the distance, and the over 10.5 legs line is again the play I'd like to make here.
The 180s line is set at 7.5 which is too high for us to get excited about, but there should be plenty of maximums in this one. While I don’t always trust Lewis on the 180s, I am happy to take a piece of MVG 180s at the 3.5 line. Most sports books are offering a line of 4.5, but Ladbrokes are giving us a 3.5 line which MVG has covered in 8 of 11 matches this season (with 3 scored in two others).
Bet: Over 10.5 legs at $1.69 at CrownBet
Bet: MVG over 3.5 180s at $1.62 at Ladbrokes
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Take note: Any of the tips in this article are simply the author’s opinion, so bet at your own risk and always gamble responsibly. Also be sure to check out the Before You Bet Twitter Page for all our thoughts in the lead up to bets! Happy punting!
