The 02 in London brings the curtain down on the 2018 Premier League Darts with the top four players battling out to be crowned champion on Thursday night.
‘Mighty’ Michael van Gerwen is aiming to make it three Premier League titles in succession, but Rob Cross, Gary Anderson and Michael Smith will be doing all they can to deny the dominant Dutchman.
Our darts expert runs through both semi-finals and picks his overall winner.
Michael van Gerwen v Rob Cross
It’s a clash of the last two World Champions in the opening semi-final of the night and the recent statistics do not bode well for Cross.
The Englishman has failed to win any of his last five Premier League matches and has been handed the tougher semi-final to try and emerge victorious from.
On his day there is no denying that ‘Voltage’ can push the likes of van Gerwen and he is a 7/2 shot to advance to the final on Thursday.
He also has previous with van Gerwen, having defeated the Dutchman in the World Championship at Alexandra Palace back in December last year on his way to the title.
Van Gerwen finished top of the pile in the regular season and continues to be in top form having won the Dutch Darts Masters at the weekend and with that in mind it is hard to look past the 29-year-old.
However, he is a short price at 2/11 and the value play could be in backing the Dutchman to pick up the win on the night, plus the highest checkout and most 180s in the match at 2/1.
Gary Anderson v Michael Smith
It’s a match where the mentor takes on his pupil and this looks like it will be the closer semi-final of the two.
Anderson has taken Smith under his wing away from the oche and that has proved a wise move by the ‘Bully Boy’ as his form has been on the upturn for several months now and he goes into the semi-finals having finished second in the table behind van Gerwen.
Both players score heavily and while Anderson is the 4/11 favourite to make the final as he looks to secure a third Premier League title, I’m leaning towards Smith edging the encounter at 2/1.
Smith is also 10/1 to win the title on the night and if he can see off his mentor in a tough semi-final, then he could be overpriced to see off van Gerwen in the final.
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