James Wade vs Peter Wright (Night 13)

On a night where the leaders of the pack play each other, and the stragglers claw at the scraps that are left of their campaign, you look at Wade and Wright and feel that a defeat in this game, and they could be left out in the cold, especially Snakebite. 

Aside a little bit of success in Players Championships, it hasn’t been a great year for Peter, but he has much more important things on his mind away from darts. However, he is someone who can sometimes use the stage as an escape, and this may be no different as the fans return to an arena for the first time in what feels like an eternity. Don’t be shocked if Peter uses some weird and wonderful kit combinations over the four remaining evenings because that way he will create his own fun, and keep his opponents guessing.

The problem with that is, Wade doesn’t care about what his opponent does, he will just look to grab the 2-points and try to keep his campaign alive so he can bridge the gap to Anderson and Clayton, who also play each other. 

I feel like Wade is more likely to pick up the win here, and you have to fancy his chances of winning by a small margin. 

Wade to win by over 1.5 legs – 6/4

Nathan Aspinall vs Michael van Gerwen (Night 13)

A lot has been made of this match as the top 2 in the table go head-to-head. MVG will want to keep his unbeaten run of 3 matches going, and if he does pick up another 2-points, he will be very comfortable at the top of the standings going into Tuesday. 

I think Michael knows that he can cause Aspinall all sorts of issues if he beats him, and the previous table topper from Stockport will be dragged into a 2020 style top-4 scrap if he loses. The urgency in this night 13 match is palpable. 

Do you remember what Aspinall did last year? He clawed his way into the top 4 with plucky, passion filled displays and I feel he will do that again, but in this match, I feel he will suffer defeat against a very hungry Green Machine. 

The start, like most games of this length, is massive, and if MVG gets the jump, he will most definitely not look back. He has the most points coming into this game, the best leg difference and good form, so you cannot back against him when he’s playing an opponent who is having his worst mini-run in this years event. 

 Van Gerwen to win, and after looking at my crystal ball, I fancy the exact score of 8-5 (17/2) 

Accumulator of the night: MVG, Wade and Clayton to win and Van Den Bergh/De Sousa to draw – 40/1