Gerwyn Price v Luke Humphries
What can be said about Gezzy that hasn’t been said in the past couple of days? Well, he has hammered home to a lot of his critics that he definitely belongs in the elite of world darts right now, and his fans are absolutely loving it. To only get a point against James Wade in Dublin would’ve disappointed him and his performance was down on previous PL weeks, especially at the start of the game, but his rebound in Barnsley over the weekend was emphatic, to say the least. Winning both pro tour events and doing so with alarming consistency and high averaging has sent a message to the world and most definitely to Luke Humphries.
Luke's form has, to his own admission, not been good enough this season so far, even at these early stages. People expected a lot from him after a great run in The World Championship, but he hasn’t caught fire yet. I have a gut feeling that Luke feels more comfortable on a big stage as opposed to the library type atmosphere that the UK based pro tours provide. He will have to prove that this week in the South West against someone who has never had better confidence on a dartboard. Luke has a chance in this game but if he was to get a result it would be categorically against the run of play and form, and this week I just can't forecast that.
Price to be King of the Oche – 3/1
Daryl Gurney v Rob Cross
Contrasting fortunes, I think is the correct phrase that comes to mind when I think of these two players after Dublin in week 3. Cross was most definitely not at the races last week and should’ve been zilched by MVG, but somehow managed to get a couple of legs. Who knows, that might be crucial come Judgement Night or in the race for the play-offs. However, he didn’t offer much to the game and if he is to improve, that first dart needs to be better. In Dublin, it wasn’t good at all, and he will know this. After a last 32 and a last 16 in Barnsley this past weekend, Cross will be staring at the word “consistency” in the thesaurus and be striving for it this coming month.
Gurney was a 140 and 180 machine against Bully Boy last week and the consistency that he showed there got him over the line. The standout moment of this year's PL for me came in leg 6 of that match as Superchin walloped in a 140 checkout when Smith left 40 after 9 darts. A truly stunning leg that made analysts and fans alike, aghast with amazement. He was dodgy in the next leg though, as he squandered a golden chance to stretch his lead, but in the end, he got another two points with a gutsy 7-5 win.
Gurney is running in this race and is picking up points all over the place, so if Cross doesn’t turn up in Exeter, Daryl will chin him all ends up.
I have to go with Daryl here, but only just by a hair from his chinny chin chin.
Mensur Suljovic v Peter Wright
Three questions will be asked of Peter Wright before Exeter.
- Will he change darts again?
- Can he remain unbeaten?
- Will he put in the kind of performance that helped him hit a 119.50 average in this arena two years ago, only one day before going to Minehead where he picked up his maiden major title?
I cannot tell you how infuriating it is to see Peter changing darts every week, but the bright side of Dublin was that the setup he used looked solid. This is probably a moot point because he will change again, but when he played his contender game against home favourite Steve Lennon, he was in real trouble and should’ve tasted defeat. He dug so deep and didn’t allow the crowd to phase him, hence he got his first two-pointer of the campaign. Winning five straight legs after being 3-0 down tells you how much Snakebite can dig sometimes, even in a hostile atmosphere.
Mensur will be livid to have only taken a point from his game with Barney. He was 5-1 up and looked good, but allowed a sniggering RVB back into it and only gave himself one match dart, which he missed on double 19 for a 158 out at the very end. It wasn’t an end of the world game for Suljovic, but the clock is ticking and he needs to find his PL flippers if he is going to win with these sharks in 2019’s roadshow.
This could be another draw easily, but I feel this could be Peter's night to shine. He is ripe to play an outrageous game and this match SHOULD have a massive checkout at some point.
Highest checkout of the night in this match – 7/2
MVG v James Wade
MVG was left fuming with a 7-2 win last week against Voltage. He is doing everything right on the league table but he is making the odd error, and missing seven match darts last week before finally converting cannot be ignored. On the other hand, in the middle of that game, he was insatiable and it is those little spurts that people in this league cannot live with.
CROSS AVOIDS THE WHITEWASH | MvG has two match darts but busts on the 13! #Unibet180 pic.twitter.com/VeiwgVhBDI
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) February 21, 2019
I ask myself if Wade can, and the answer is, sometimes. His scoring is getting better week on week for me, but is it at the right level to topple the jolly Dutch darting giant? It isn't, but Wade will be ready to pounce if Michael slips. His pickups against Gezzy were typically Wade, and the 127 and 129 checks that he crashed last week are proof of it, especially the 129 at the end to get another point in the bank.
If Michael gets out of the blocks it is goodnight James, but if Wade is level or better after 8 legs, he can sneak a point, but I don’t see a loss for Michael as he is focused, fresh (after skipping Barnsley at the weekend) and playing well enough to beat everyone in this field right now.
Michael Smith v Raymond Van Barneveld
Going into this match, the signs are excellent for Smith. First and foremost, he has never lost to Barneveld in the Premier League, and more specifically he got his first ever PL win against Raymond in the arena where they play this week. That was just a few days shy of three years ago and a lot has happened since then. Smith is a bigger threat now and Raymond is finding it hard to get into matches until the later stages.
Smith isn’t hitting all of the drums in the right spots but there are little glimmers of light shining with his game. He wasn’t that far away from getting a result against Gurney last week, but small misses at tops early in the match and some miraculous stuff from Daryl cost him another close game. I don’t think Michael is worried about his plight at the foot of the table yet, but he knows that this is a game he must win to get his campaign rocking.
The crowd responding to Barney closing it out as a draw from 5-1 down!
He always earns his stripes. #Unibet180 #PremierLeagueDarts #BarneyArmy pic.twitter.com/Ztim12DSLR— Unibet (@unibet) February 21, 2019
RVB was mystifying last week in Dublin as he started to smile and almost laugh during his match with Mensur Suljovic. I have no idea why that occurred but it worked as he started to play decent stuff, but only when he was 5-1 adrift.
He should’ve lost that match three times over but somehow only afforded Mensur one match dart which he let go, and subsequently, Raymond took out a marvellous 92 to steal another point. He is not playing his best in this roadshow and he isn’t on the pro tour either, picking up only one match win on Saturday and Sunday.
Everything points to a Bully Boy two-pointer here because if Ray is slow out of the blocks again, Michael will shut the door faster than a dietician who is faced with a pizza delivery person.
Smith to be leading after first 4 legs – 59/50
UniBets of the Night
1 – Gezzy King of the Oche – 3/1
2 – Smith to win and have most 180s – 4/1
3 – Highest checkout of the night in the Suljovic/Wright game – 7/2
