Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen (Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

Premier League Darts: Night 11 predictions, betting tips, acca, order of play and Sky Sports TV time

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Fri April 22, 2022 · 3y ago

The Cazoo Premier League Darts season heads to Aberdeen for night 11 and our guide includes match-by-match statistics, predictions, best bets and an acca.

Just six regular season nights remain in the race to reach the play-offs so the stragglers will be desperate for points at the P&J Live Arena, where Gary Anderson and Peter Wright will be the home favourites.

Below are the season stats and head-to-head records for each match up, with previews and tips...

Darts betting tips: Premier League night 11

1pt Gary Anderson to beat Jonny Clayton at 11/5 (General)

1pt Wright v Cullen to have 6+ 180s and 2+ 100+ checkouts at 15/8 (Sky Bet)

1pt Michael Smith to beat James Wade and hit most 180s at 13/8 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power)

1pt Michael Smith to win the night at 10/1 (Paddy Power)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

SL Acca: Anderson (+1.5 legs), Wright, Smith & MVG at 11/1 all to win

Open a Sky Bet account for £30 in free bets

Thursday April 21: Night 11 quarter-finals

Venue: P&J Live Arena, Aberdeen
TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
Format: Best of 11 legs

Jonny Clayton (2/5) v Gary Anderson (11/5)

Head-to-Head: 4-10 (TV: 2-3)
Meetings in 2022: 0-1 (TV: 0-1)
Tournament Average
Clayton: 98.13 (20 games)
Anderson: 94.58 (12 games)
Tournament 180s (180s per leg)
Clayton: 50 (181 legs, 0.28 per leg)
Anderson: 29 (117 legs, 0.25 per leg)
Tournament Checkout %:
Clayton: 94/233 (40.34%)
Anderson: 53/124 (41.66%)
100+ Checkouts and % legs won with a 100+ checkout:
Clayton: 12 (12.00%)
Anderson: 5 (9.43%)

Gary Anderson's form in all competitions this season is streaky to say the least but if there's one stage that will inspire him to bring out his best again it's Aberdeen, where a raucous crowd will be doing everything they can to roar him to victory.

The last time he faced Jonny Clayton in a first-round match sparked one of his winning streaks as he also beat Peter Wright and Michael Smith to triumph in Nottingham before a run to a Players Championship final two days later.

But since then he's lost three more Premier League games, including two last-leg deciders and a sound defeat to James Wade seven days ago, while he also had to take a week off due to Covid.

Clayton's form has picked up in recent weeks after a bit of a lull and was unfortunate last week to bow out in the semi-finals to a battling Joe Cullen having earlier beaten Michael van Gerwen 6-5 with a 109 average.

The Ferret played pretty well at the German Darts Grand Prix at the weekend, losing to Damon Heta in the quarter-finals, but he's certainly not untouchable and Anderson, who really needs the points, could make those odds look a little silly.

Scoreline prediction: 4-6

CLICK HERE to back Anderson to win with Sky Bet

Peter Wright (4/7) v Joe Cullen (6/4)

Head to Head: 22-6 (TV: 8-1)
Meetings in 2022: 2-1 (TV: 2-1)
Tournament Average
Wright: 97.19 (19 games)
Cullen: 92.46 (17 games)
Tournament 180s (180s per leg)
Wright: 52 (175 legs, 0.28 per leg)
Cullen: 57 (159 legs, 0.36 per leg)
Tournament Checkout %:
Wright: 88/227 (38.77%)
Cullen: 75/210 (35.71%)
100+ Checkouts and % legs won with a 100+ checkout:
Wright: 8 (9.52%)
Cullen: 10 (13.33%)

"I’ve been switching my darts stupidly, that’s why the results have been up and down. One minute I’m averaging over a ton and the next second in the same night I’m averaging 80 - that lack of consistency doesn’t win you games. Now is the time to knuckle down and use the gold ones and blow everyone off the board."

Yes, the gold ones which won him the World Championship for the second time in style. The ones every darts fan and pundit have been saying he should always use.

But now Peter Wright has eventually come to the same conclusion as everyone else, we can probably expect to see more of those sparkling performances on a far more regular basis and Joe Cullen may well need to be at his very best.

Snakebite will also have the crowd on his side in Aberdeen but that shouldn't bother the Rockstar, who silenced the Rotterdam crowd to stun Michael van Gerwen last month.

Both Wright and Cullen endured disappointing weekends in Germany, losing their opening matches to Scott Waites and Wesley Plaisier respectively with below-par averages, while the Bradford ace does at least have better Premier League form having reached the final in Manchester last week, losing 6-5 to James Wade.

I do expect some fireworks from Wright, who might even challenge Cullen strongly on the 180s front, so I'm going for six or more maximums and two or more 100+ checkouts at 15/8.

Scoreline prediction: 6-3

CLICK HERE to back 6+ 180s and 2+ 100+ checkouts with Sky Bet

James Wade (9/10) v Michael Smith (1/1)

Head to Head: 17-6, 1 draw (TV: 6-3, 1 draw)
Meetings in 2022: 0-2 (TV: 0-2)
Tournament Average
Wade: 94.54 (20 games)
Smith: 96.12 (15 games)
Tournament 180s (180s per leg)
Smith: 42 (132 legs, 0.32 per leg)
Wade: 34 (182 legs, 0.19 per leg)
Tournament Checkout %:
Wade: 92/210 (43.81%)
Smith: 59/145 (40.69%)
100+ Checkouts and % legs won with a 100+ checkout:
Wade: 15 (16.30%)
Smith: 9 (15.25%)

James Wade's triumph in his fourth Premier League final of the season last week left Michael Smith out in the cold as the only player yet to break his duck.

That will no doubt put an extra element of pressure on Bully Boy, who will be desperate to avoid the ignominy of going through the whole campaign without a nightly 'title', but surely a player of his ability can string three victories together like everyone else.

Smith's first objective will be to snap his five-match losing streak in this tournament dating back to his final defeat to Gary Anderson in Nottingham, which has left him second bottom in the table and with the worst legs difference of -14.

He's played pretty well in four of those losses and often come up against a fantastic performance while statistically he's out performing Wade on averages and 180s, while his finishing is not too shabby either.

Not that those stats matter to the Machine, who has taken to this format like a duck to water, picking off his inconsistent opponents with relentless accuracy - particularly with 100+ checkouts - and chalking up points virtually every week to claw his way up to third in the table.

Smith averaged over 100 a couple of times at the weekend, including in his defeat to eventual winner Luke Humphries, who later destroyed Michael van Gerwen 7-0, so if he can reproduce that kind of form then he could burst Wade's bubble and potentially blow his own up.

Scoreline prediction: 4-6

Gerwyn Price (11/10) v Michael van Gerwen (5/6)

Head to Head: 7-22, 1 draw (TV: 4-14, 1 draw)
Meetings in 2022: 2-0 (TV: 2-0)
Tournament Average
Price: 96.94 (14 games)
Van Gerwen: 98.75 (19 games)
Tournament 180s (180s per leg)
Price: 28 (136 legs, 0.21 per leg)
Van Gerwen: 53 (173 legs, 0.31 per leg)
Tournament Checkout %:
Price: 65/168 (38.69%)
Van Gerwen: 101/249 (40.56%)
100+ Checkouts and % legs won with a 100+ checkout:
Price: 11 (16.92%)
Van Gerwen: 16 (15.84%)

Michael van Gerwen is probably still in a state of shock over his 7-0 defeat to Luke Humphries at the German Darts Grand Prix, where he was restricted to just one dart at a double.

According to @DartsOrakel, that's the fewest in MVG's entire career although he didn't help himself by averaging just 90.4 compared to Cool Hand's 107.36.

However, van Gerwen did perform brilliantly to see off Rob Cross and Keegan Brown with averages well above 100 in the previous rounds so we shouldn't let one result completely overshadow an otherwise positive weekend from a stats perspective.

Last Thursday night he was involved in the Premier League match of the season, averaging 105 and hitting three 100+ checkouts but being ridiculously unfortunate to run into a sensational performance from Jonny Clayton, who ran out a 6-5 winner with a 109 average.

Gerwyn Price had withdraw from the weekend's event in German after going down with suspected tonsillitis and there were fears he'd have to miss a night Premier League action for the second time this season.

His positive social media posts since then suggests he's ready to take on his big rival, who he's already beaten twice in the Premier League this season.

However, recent performances point to MVG and I expect him to set up a semi-final with Michael Smith.

Scoreline prediction: 3-6

Weekly winner: Night 11 Sky Bet odds

Clayton: 10/3
MVG: 7/2
Wright: 4/1
Price: 5/1
Wade: 8/1
Smith: 8/1
Cullen: 8/1
Anderson: 16/1

Premier League Table & Format

NW = Nights won, RU = Runner-up, SF = Semi-final defeats, MW = Matches won

MVG NW 3 RU 1 SF 2 MW 13 LegD +36 Pts 22
Clayton NW 2 RU 1 SF 4 MW 12 LegD +7 Pts 21
Wade NW 1 RU 3 SF 2 MW 11 LegD +2 Pts 18
Wright NW 1 RU 1 SF 6 MW 10 LegD +1 Pts 18
Cullen NW 1 RU 2 SF 2 MW 9 LegD -3 Pts 15
Price NW 1 RU 0 SF 3 MW 6 LegD -6 Pts 11
Smith NW 0 RU 2 SF 1 MW 5 LegD -14 Pts 8
Anderson NW 1 RU 0 SF 1 MW 4 LegD -11 Pts 7

Each night will see quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final played over the best of 11 legs (first to six). Each player will meet the other seven players twice over the course of the season in a quarter-final game, plus two further nights (Night Eight and Night 16) will feature additional fixtures in the same format. Those fixtures will be a draw bracket based on how the league table looks at the time. So, whoever is top will face the eighth-placed player in the first round.

Night Winner - 5 points + £10,000 bonus
Runner-Up - 3 points
Semi-Finalists - 2 points