Michael van Gerwen to Win v Chris Dobey
Michael van Gerwen will be looking to tighten his grip on a play-off spot after his absence last week and he should make up for lost time by getting the better of Chris Dobey. While there will be doubts around van Gerwen’s fitness this week, going up against Dobey could represent an ideal opportunity to get back up and running. ‘The Green Machine’ has triumphed in each of his two meetings with ‘Hollywood’ in this season’s Premier League, the most recent of which was a 6-1 thrashing. On top of that, van Gerwen boasts an impressive record in his opening match of the night in this year’s Premier League, posting six wins from eight to date.
While Dobey caused a huge upset last Thursday by defeating Luke Littler, that was just ‘Hollywood’s’ 4th Premier League win of the season, having fallen to defeat on nine occasions. Consequently, Dobey is now looking nervously over his shoulder after Stephen Bunting’s exploits in Berlin. It’s also worth noting that Dobey has lost each of his last four meetings with van Gerwen, further suggesting that he will suffer the same fate in Manchester.
Gerwyn Price +2.5 Handicap v Luke Littler
Expect Luke Littler’s clash with Gerwyn Price to be a lot closer than the pre-match odds suggest. No player on the PDC circuit boasts a stronger head-to-head record against Littler than that of Price. In fact, ‘The Iceman’ is currently enjoying a six-game winning run against the teenage sensation, dating back to April of last year. That impressive sequence of victories includes a pair of wins in this year’s Premier League, with Price claiming 6-4 and 6-3 successes respectively. With all that in mind, the Welshman looks well worthy of support with a +2.5 handicap start.
While Littler has performed admirably across the opening nine weeks of the Premier League season, last week’s 6-2 defeat to Chris Dobey showed that he is not bulletproof either. It would be fair to say that the Warrington wonderkid can expect an even tougher test this week, especially given his current hoodoo against Price.
Stephen Bunting +1.5 Handicap v Luke Humphries
Stephen Bunting was at his brilliant best to land last week’s five point bounty in Berlin, making him an attractive prospect with a +1.5 handicap start against Luke Humphries on Thursday night. ‘The Bullet’ got the better of ‘Cool Hand’ last week either side of victories over Nathan Aspinall and Gerwyn Price. What’s more, Bunting has since clinched a maiden European tour title when triumphing at the International Open in Germany on Sunday. It’s also worth noting that Bunting defeated Humphries en-route to his Euro tour title at the weekend, meaning that he has now won three of the last four contests between the pair.
While Humphries is sitting comfortably in 2nd place in the Premier League table, he has looked a dejected figure on the oche in recent weeks, and he has also been vocal about the impact the increasingly congested darts schedule is having on him. Of course, Cool Hand could quite easily justify favouritism here, but his form is hardly consistent and at the prices, a rejuvenated Bunting looks good value with a +1.5 head start.
