Rob Cross vs Peter Wright
As Rob Cross strolls into Liverpool for Night 11 of the Premier League Darts roadshow, he will feel like he is on top of the world. Well, in terms of the PL right now, he is, and that after going into Daryl Gurneys backyard and getting a very good 8-4 result. He handled the vociferous crowd with a smile and measured aggression, and then he put in a performance that proved why he is top of the tree. He didn’t make many mistakes and was too hot for Superchin to handle.
In stark contrast to that, Peter Wright has had a week of uncertainty. He will feel like the point he got from his 7-7 draw with Bully Boy was a bonus but it doesn’t alter the fact that he STILL chops and changes his kit even when he doesn’t need to. Rotterdam seems to have scrambled his confidence that he’d worked so hard to get and coming up against Cross here is a big challenge.
On Saturday, Peter changed his darts mid-game multiple times and I think even for Snakebite that highlights a massive problem. If he doesn’t pick a setup soon and a grip for that matter, I think his game could get lost in the fog. In this match however, I see Cross setting the pace and not allowing Peter to settle. A sensible rest at the weekend from Rob will allow him to be fresh for this great arena and he will pose too many problems for Wright you would think.
The 6-6 draw that they had earlier in the campaign is not a guide as they have had very different journeys since then. Also, you would expect a three figure average from Cross as he has put in so many in 2019. It has become his norm.
Gerwyn Price vs Mensur Suljovic
If you look closely, you can probably still see the steam coming out of the ears of Gezzy after squandering a 5-1 lead against MVG and only coming away with a point in Belfast, in what was a pulsating 7-7 draw. The way that the Welsh captain started the match and lead down the back straight was exemplary, but just like his previous couple of encounters with Michael Van Gerwen, he made key mistakes and slowed up on scoring at the wrong stages and paid a very large price, no pun intended.
He still hasn’t beaten MVG, but he has to take stock and realise that he himself wasn’t beaten that time. He has drawn too many games in this campaign and if he had been more clinical, I am sure he’d be way inside that top four, but as it stands he will have to settle for sixth, albeit only a point away from fourth-placed James Wade.
Speaking of Wade, he got Mensur’d again in Northern Ireland. The Gentle was a tactical maestro and dictated the tempo like Mr Miyagi in a kata session. That frustrated the living daylights out of his opponent and as a result Mensur got another massive win over The Machine to elevate himself to a lofty third in the standings. He’s sitting pretty just now, but this PL is so tight that the entire league could change in one evening.
If Mensur can get two points here, he will feel that the play-offs are well within reach and that would be some achievement considering his history in this event, where he has struggled at times to get points in the bag. Suljovic has had a better knack of getting wins than Price but the scrappy nature of this PL season for Gerwyn has me impressed.
He may just come a cropper this time round as I feel Mensur is playing his opponents well and picking his spots. In true Gezzy draw specialist fashion though, expect this one to go all the way to the last leg. This will be a lot closer than the 7-3 win that The Iceman got in Aberdeen.
James Wade vs Daryl Gurney
Both of these players will be wanting to bounce back from defeats in Belfast, and both of those will sting for very different reasons. Gurney will be disappointed to have not delivered a two-pointer in front of his home faithful, but Cross was way too good for him on that night.
Taking a break from the ProTour events at the weekend was the correct play for Superchin as he doesn’t want a repeat of the burnout he suffered last summer, so coming into Liverpool a little rested may just see him trouble Wade. However when you take into account that James won one of those aforementioned ProTour events, funnily enough on his 36th birthday, you’ll not be surprised to hear that I feel Wadey is the favourite in this one.
That ranking event win was some comeback considering how he has been man handled by Mensur lately, not only in the PL, but in ranking events too. It just goes to show the teflon coating that The Machine has in his arsenal, because lesser players would’ve buckled when dealing with some of the darting adversity that he has faced lately.
He is a year older, a year wiser and now fourth on the all-time winners list in the PDC and it is very possible that Wade could pound the pain into the play-off challenge of Gurney here, as Daryl will have had nightmares post Aberdeen where James doughnutted him.
I can see Daryl getting legs but James will be too strong and cement his place in the top four after the scousers have had their big night. Wadey loves to rebound and he loves to compound peoples misery, so he will not feel once ounce of sympathy for Gurney after the last PL game they had.
Michael Smith vs Michael Van Gerwen
Speaking of misery, that’s exactly what Michael Smith has been the advocate of with some of his performances in this campaign. Now, before you think I am being too harsh, it is Bully Boy who has been his own worst critic in post-game interviews. We all know what he can do, but this season in this format it hasn’t been coming out. I am sure this is very frustrating on his part, especially when he is playing very well on tour. A ProTour final on Saturday where he lost to James Wade is an encouraging sign for his form, but in that final he ran out of juice.
If he is to have any chance in this game, he will need to replicate some of the magic he found against Snakebite in Belfast, and do it more consistently. Gerwyn Price showed that MVG can be troubled, but is Smith in that relentless, spirited place to trouble the man who denied him a world title three months ago? I don’t think he is, yet!!
MVG is still cackling at Gerwyn Price for stealing a point away from him last week, and cackle he can considering the position he was in, and just how he got out of it. His brilliance got him out of it when he needed it, but even that didn’t get him back on top of the table which is now held solely by Voltage.
Michael Van Gerwen has never not won the league phase and he will abhor not being the angel at the pinnacle of the tree just now, but he will eye this game as massive, because if Cross beats Wright, MVG will need two points to stay in touch with him in the race for the £25,000 bonus which goes to the league phase champ.
A lot of people and experts will be thinking that MVG will jump on Bully Boy's eighth-place league plight in this one, and they’d be right. Even though Smith's form has improved lately, I still can’t see a route for him into the play-offs or a win in this game. Do expect 180s and a 9-darter is never out of the question in this one. There have been that many on the ProTour this year that another won’t shock anyone.
UniBets of the night
1 – Cross to be king of the oche – 33/10
2 – Wade to win and have highest finish – 5/2
3 – Red checkout in leg one (MVG/Smith game) – 2/5. Way more likely to be red when Smith plays as he anchors his game plan on tops, 10’s and 12’s.
