Three-time world champion John Part brings you his match-by-match analysis and predictions for Thursday night's Premier League Darts action in his weekly column.
The 2017 Premier League Darts season continues on Thursday April 6 at the 3 Arena in Dublin, featuring Phil Taylor's clash with Raymond van Barneveld and a repeat of last week's fixture between Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson.
John Part, who triumphed in two PDC World Championship finals against Phil Taylor and Kirk Shepherd to add to his BDO crown of 1994, continues to bring you match-by-match analysis and predictions ahead of every round of the 16-week season, including the finale at London's O2 on May 18.
So here are Darth Maple's best bets for all five games in Dublin, which will be screened live on Sky Sports from 1900 GMT...
Premier League Darts: Week 10 predictions
JOHN PART'S TREBLE: TAYLOR, WRIGHT & BARNEY ALL TO WIN AT 4.83/1
Click on each match for more Sky Bet odds
James Wade (10/1) v Michael van Gerwen (1/7) (Draw 9/1)
Michael van Gerwen picked up his first Players Championship title of the season at the sixth attempt this past weekend, but he’s still behind Peter Wright in terms of tournament wins for the season.
If you exclude the world championship, which is more of an end to 2016, he has three compared to Snakebite’s five which is making the season more competitive than last year.
What’s perhaps even more encouraging is the fact MVG doesn’t seem as though he’s become any worse a player either.
Sure, he may not have produced many of the crazy averages so far but he still managed two nine darters in one match not so long ago and currently sits top of the Premier League table. What a dreadful season!
Meanwhile James Wade’s misery continued at the weekend with a first-round defeat in his only appearance on Sunday and he’s now lost his last four matches, which isn’t good for his confidence or frame of mind at all.
His last two Premier League defeats have come against MVG and Barney – and the fixture schedule has put him up against both of those players again in Dublin.
By the end of this week he could be bottom of the table and I expected him to be bashed up in this opening match. MVG is 8/13 to win, hit the highest checkout and score more 180s and I’m happy with that even though it’s not the most exciting of prices.
The Player Performance bet for MVG is another viable option but these markets ideally require the player to be pushed by their opponent and I can’t see that happening here.
Raymond van Barneveld (6/4) v Phil Taylor (5/4) (Draw 7/2)
It was silly to hype up the previous meeting between these old rivals earlier this season as potentially their last on TV – but this really could be unless they both make finals night.
Phil can pass Barney in the table – albeit briefly as he plays the struggling Wade later in the night - with a victory and I expect him to do just that and end the Dutchman’s winning streak.
Phil is patiently working his way through the season without any panicking but he’s also showed character when he needs to – like last week when he trailed Jelle Klaasen 4-1 before winning 7-5.
He’ll be confident of beating Barney having done so in Leeds earlier in the season and is a good price at 5/4.
Phil can get a bit bothered when the crowd is against him, like it probably will be in Dublin, but I have faith he’ll be business-like and get on with it.
If he gets on course early, he’ll stay on course.
Dave Chisnall (7/2) v Peter Wright (1/2) (Draw 9/2)
Dave Chisnall has nothing to lose any more so he’s now become a bit of a banana peel opponent. You can’t say that about James Wade yet as he’s currently a man in misery but it won’t be long before he reaches that point as well.
When you have nothing to lose, you can be dangerous and Jelle Klaasen so nearly proved this against Phil Taylor last week, almost giving us a 16/1 winner!
That said, I still expect Peter Wright to win this clash because he’s been so good this season and the pressure he’s feeling to stay in the top four places means he shouldn't be complacent.
Both of these players reached a final at the weekend, with Chisnall losing to Adrian Lewis on Saturday before Wright got beaten by MVG on Sunday, so they will be satisfied with their most recent form.
Peter has beaten Chizzy in their two previous meetings in 2017 so he'll have plenty of confidence to make that three in a row.
He's 1/2 for victory which is solid enough - and he goes into my treble of the week - although I wouldn't recommend throwing in any extras with Chizzy so strong on the 180s.
Adrian Lewis (3/1) v Gary Anderson (4/7) (Draw 9/2)
Adrian Lewis had a great weekend, beating Michael van Gerwen en route to winning Saturday’s Players Championship event.
He may have lost 6-5 in his opening game on Sunday but overall he’ll be very satisfied with his performances and will be happy to get an instant crack at revenge against Anderson, who beat him last Thursday.
I watched him closely throw very well during a European Tour qualifying event on Friday and when speaking to him afterwards he seemed very confident about his form. He backed those words up by winning the following day and it could kick his season into life.
He has the motivation of knowing that beating Anderson makes the race for the top four extremely tight although a defeat for him could see a separation appear.
The Match Action bet, which I tipped last week, is interesting once again but the 3/1 on Adrian just to win is juicy enough.
Gary has made the most ton plus checkouts this season and has hit more 180s than Adrian so I wouldn’t advise throwing in any extras into this bet – just keep it simple.
James Wade (5/2) v Raymond van Barneveld (8/11) (Draw 4/1)
I’m going to assume James goes into this match on the back of another defeat to keep him on a downer and I’d still expect Barney to be good even if, as I’ve tipped, he’s lost to Phil Taylor earlier on.
He’ll still possess the need and urgency to win given his position in the table and obviously if he’s beaten Phil then he’ll be on an even greater high than he is already.
Barney didn’t have it all his way over the weekend but he was happy to have qualified for the upcoming European Tour event later this month and he did reach the quarter-finals in Sunday���s event.
Last week I backed him to win, hit the most 180s and have the highest checkout – which he managed to deliver - so I’m going to stick with the same treble once again at 9/4.
As mentioned earlier, James is in a rut of playing badly right now and with the schedule now stacked against him, he needs as lot of character out of nowhere to get out of it.
Premier League Darts 2017 Table
MVG P 9 W 6 D 2 L 1 LegD +19 Pts 14
Wright P 9 W 6 D 1 L 2 LegD +16 Pts 13
RVB P 9 W 5 D 2 L 2 LegD +8 Pts 12
Anderson P 9 W 4 D 3 L 2 LegD +10 Pts 11
Taylor P 9 W 4 D 3 L 2 LegD +5 Pts 11
Lewis P 9 W 4 D 1 L 4 LegD 0 Pts 9
Wade P 9 W 3 D 2 L 4 LegD -3 Pts 8
Chisnall P 9 W 3 D 0 L 6 LegD -16 Pts 6
Klaasen P 9 W 1 D 1 L 7 LegD -16 Pts 3
Huybrechts P 9 W 0 D 3 L 6 LegD -23 Pts 3
* Klaasen & Huybrechts relegated after week nine