Week Two of this year’s newly-revamped Premier League Darts will take place at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena on Thursday and there are plenty of heavyweight tussles to enjoy.
The new-look competition now operates on a mini knockout tournament format each week, rather than the previous round-robin league table system, and it was world champion Peter Wright that triumphed on Week One in Cardiff, beating reigning Premier League title holder Jonny Clayton in the final.
The tournament now heads to Liverpool, and Wright will be involved in an eye-catching quarter-final tussle in the opening match of the night against Michael van Gerwen, who is a five-time Premier League champion, but fell at the first hurdle to Gary Anderson last week (Wright 8/13, Van Gerwen 5/4 – Match Betting).
Premier League Darts Odds
Van Gerwen previously dominated his meetings with Wright, once winning 16 matches on the bounce against the Scot, but it is ‘Snakebite’ that has enjoyed the better of things of late, triumphing in five of their last seven clashes.
Wright is closing in on replacing Gerwyn Price as world number one, with ‘the Iceman’ set to face Anderson in what should be another intriguing quarter-final contest on Merseyside (Price 1/2, Anderson 8/5 – Match Betting).
There is no love lost between the pair, with their heated rivalry dating back to the final of the Grand Slam of Darts in 2018, a match that Price won, one of seven victories the Welshman has enjoyed across his last 10 meetings with Anderson.
Defending champion Clayton will take on World Championship runner-up Smith in what should be another keenly-fought contest, with the winner of that set to face either Wright or Van Gerwen in the semi-finals (Clayton 4/6, Smith 6/5 – Match Betting).
Smith lost his opening match to Wright last week, but should have a vocal backing in Liverpool, as the venue is just a short drive from his St Helens home.
The night’s other quarter-final tie will see James Wade, who beat Price last week before falling to Wright, take on Joe Cullen, who is still chasing his first victory in the Premier League (Wade 11/10, Cullen 8/11 – Match Betting).
The winner of that contest will go on to face either Price or Anderson for a place in the final.
Darts Betting Odds