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Jonny Clayton v Michael van Gerwen
After an exceptional first couple of nights, it was a first round exit at the hands of James Wade for Jonny Clayton on Night 3, and although he does remain at the top of the table as he seeks to defend his Premier League crown, the chasing pack are now hot on his heels with a long way to go. A Semi-final fun in the opening European Tour event of 2022 is no mean feat especially when considering he beat Dimitri van den Burgh en route, though a defeat to Peter Wright at that stage ended any hopes of coming into this on a massive high.
Michael van Gerwen has not been at this best and enters this night with three defeats in his last five matches. He can be considered unlucky to have exited at the semis on Night 3 having encountered a red hot Gerwyn Price, who he narrowly lost out to in a decider having averaged over 106 on the night. He’s been less consistent than Clayton, both statistically and with results, though his best darts of late have arguably been far superior to those of the Welshman.
The last time Clayton managed to average over 100 for a match in recorded competition was the last time these two met on the opening Premier League night nearly a month ago now, and van Gerwen will be relishing the opportunity to prove some doubters wrong here.
MICHAEL VAN GERWEN TO WIN
Michael Smith v Joe Cullen
At these early stages, one night can change the whole complexion of the table, with Joe Cullen dropping down to the lower echelons after a defeat to van Gerwen in the opening round of Night 3. He failed to bounce back immediately with just a second-round performance at the European Tour, though losing to Nathan Aspinall is nothing to be ashamed of.
Michael Smith, as always stated, is a very dangerous player on his day, though he’s had a torrid Premier League so far and is the only player yet to register a win yet. It’s unfortunate he encountered Price in the opening round of Night 3, losing despite averaging over 103, and that would have dented confidence. He managed a third round run at the European Tour, losing again to the only player he faced of real quality, Peter Wright, and that doesn’t bode well here.
Smith has a W9-L3 record over Cullen, though each of Cullen’s three wins have come in the most recent seven of those meetings. They’ve only faced off once in the last 12 months, and that shows there’s not really much to go off on that regard. While Smith has t he experience, Cullen seems the hungrier of the two right now and we’ll back him to get his Premier League campaign back on track.
JOE CULLEN TO WIN
Gerwyn Price v Peter Wright
The highlight clash of the evening sees Night 3 winner Gerwyn Price take on World Champion Peter Wright in a repeat of the European Tour final of just a week ago. Price finally stepped up to the mark after a couple weeks of disappointment and is now on a red hot eight match winning streak, while he’s only been taken to a decider by van Gerwen in that run too.
Wright beat both Clayton and Smith on the way to the final last week, though when Price is in this kind of form there’s very little anyone can do to stop him. There’s nothing really splitting the two in terms of recent head to heads either, with the last 14 being split seven apiece, with neither winning more than two on the bounce in that run.
While Price will be determined to carry this momentum forward, the run will have to come to an end at some point and Wright is as good a player as anyone to do just that. What we can almost guarantee is this will be a contest of real quality, and the over 180s look the right bet in what should be a spectacle.
OVER 5.5 MATCH 180'S
James Wade v Gary Anderson
Rounding off the quarters is Night 3 finalist James wade competing against the Flying Scotsman Gary Anderson. With a quarters, semis and a final exit from his three Premier League nights so far, it’s hard to gauge just how on song Wade is at the moment. He sits fourth out of eight in the table, though victory on Night 4 would likely see him catapulted to the top, while a first round defeat would have him round the foot of the table.
Aside from this event, he’s not made any headway since reaching the semis of the Worlds and while he may take a first round victory here, it’s unlikely he’ll take maximum points from this night.
Gary Anderson is in poor form right now having lost five of his last seven matches, and it’s hard to see where he fins his motivation from at the moment. Write him off at your own peril though, as he wouldn’t have had this illustrious of a career without his quality, though he’s yet to average over 100 in his four Premier League meetings this season, and Wade looks the player that is going to take advantage of some sloppiness.
JAMES WADE TO WIN
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