Premier League Darts betting tips and predictions ahead of the 2020 season restart

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1pt Michael Smith to win the Premier League title at 10/1

1pt Michael Smith to top the regular season table at 12/1

For details of advised bookmakers and each-way terms, visit our transparent tipping record

Trying to build a case for a player to win a Premier League season before a dart is thrown is obviously much tougher and complex than a regular tournament due to the additional factors to bare in mind such as consistency over a fourth-month period, ability to peak for one match per week and who can cope best with all the travelling between the other weekend events in a usually hectic calendar.

However, this year's edition has now turned into a compact sprint finish to reach the Play-Offs, which could even be staged at the Marshall Arena as well on Sunday September 6 if it's soon decided that a crowd won't be able to attend the scheduled climax at the O2 on Thursday October 22.

As it stands right now, we'll be seeing 10 nights of league action across 13 days at the 2020 home of world darts in Milton Keynes and if it turns out to be as fascinating and exciting as we're anticipating, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a new televised 'major' staged in a similar format to this in the future - or a revamp of a current one such as the Champions League of Darts. One league of eight stars, playing each other once over a week before the top four break off for the semi-finals and final on the last night. But hey, that's a discussion for another day.

This week they'll be six consecutive nights of fixtures from Tuesday to Sunday - with Judgement Night being held on Thursday - and by the end of it we'll have a much better idea of who will finish in the top four than we do right now.

Glen Durrant has been sitting pretty at the top since he beat rock-bottom Daryl Gurney 7-5 in Liverpool but after just six games, he's only one point ahead of second-placed Michael van Gerwen and just two above Peter Wright, who lies in fifth spot behind Michael Smith and Nathan Aspinall on legs difference.

Gary Anderson is obviously in striking distance on six points but faces Smith, Price and MVG in a particularly tough run of fixtures which could see him in a lot of bother unless he's sorted out the problems that were bothering him during his run to the World Matchplay final.

At least he overcame his issues well to enough to get that far - including a late burst of brilliance to beat Bully Boy in the semi-finals - whereas Price and MVG both endured miserable shock early exits on this very stage without a crowd at the Marshall Arena.

The Iceman is of course in trouble himself on just five points alongside Rob Cross, whose World Matchplay title defence ended at the first hurdle, and they may well be looking over their shoulders at Daryl Gurney come Judgement Night on Thursday if SuperChin can bag a couple of wins over Chris Dobey and Aspinall prior to potentially his final match of the campaign against Peter Wright.

Dobey is the strongest of the three remaining Challengers to take to the Premier League stage, and I'm struggling to see how the Dutch duo of Jeffrey de Zwaan and Jermaine Wattimena - who were initially dreaming of playing in front of a packed Rotterdam crowd many months ago - will be able to fire themselves up for a pretty meaningless exercise against Wright and Price respectively compared to what it should have been.

As far as picking a winner is concerned, I think we can safely put a line through the form and averages of the opening six weeks. Those performances were all achieved so long ago in normality with big crowds and now it's all about who has adapted best in the surreal fake atmosphere of Milton Keynes and also been able to motivate themselves to practice effectively during the long gaps between tournaments.

On both counts, I'm going with Smith at 10/1 to lift the trophy - whether that's a week on Sunday or at the O2 in October - and 12/1 on him to top the regular season table.

I tipped Bully Boy at 25/1 to finally end his wait for a first major title at the World Matchplay and it was all going so well after he battered Jonny Clayton before seeing off Mensur Suljovic after a brilliant comeback and then Krzysztof Ratajski in an absorbing affair.

Considering how below-par Anderson at looked in comparison, I was pretty much beginning to count the profits until the Flying Scotsman raced into another five-leg lead in their semi-final at 14-9 lead having earlier seen his 8-3 advantage wiped out.

Smith showed plenty of character to storm back with six legs on the trot but his missed dart on the bullseye was punished by Anderson's stunning checkout from 116 and that proved to be a pivotal sucker punch for the five-time major runner-up.

Smith, who lost over two and a half stone in weight during lockdown, admits he's still fuming about it now and recently told the PDC: "Then I had to watch the final. He didn't play like that against me - it took him 24 legs to hit his first 180 and that's what annoyed me. It's one of those new learning curves, hopefully I can put it right for the Premier League. When I first started I was annoyed that I could never make a quarter-final.

"Now if I do make the quarters or the semis, I'm annoyed because where I'm at now in my mind, I should be making the finals and I should winning these tournaments now. It's been too long and hopefully I'll get one soon."

It sounds like a cliche now but it really is a matter of time for the St Helens star, who beat MVG 7-4 in Exteter back in March to get his Premier League campaign up and running. These major disappointments are further fuelling his fire and I really fancy his chances of getting revenge over his former mentor on Tuesday night before picking up at least two more points against Cross and Aspinall.

That will set him up well to consolidate his top four position heading into his remaining seven matches, and it might be preferable from his point of view that Finals Night ends up being held at the Marshall Arena, should he qualify.

The 29-year-old has been practicing with his close friend Ian White which will have done him the world of good - a point which both men recently mentioned in interviews - and believes his doubling is now getting better than ever. Taking these improvements into a televised tournament setting is no guarantee but don't be surprised to see more fireworks from this season's nine-dart hero.

I have to say, Durrant has been disrespected in the betting at 12/1.

The bookies are presumably expecting him to start sliding down the table over the next two nights as he prepares to face world champion Wright and five-time Premier League king van Gerwen but let's not forget he beat Snakebite at the World Matchplay en route to a fourth PDC major semi-final in just two seasons - and only just lost their UK Open encounter 10-8 - while he's yet to lose to MVG in their two previous encounters.

Duzza hasn't faced van Gerwen since last year's memorable World Matchplay clash but won't fear the Dutchman, who was sensationally crushed 11-4 by Simon Whitlock on this stage and looked decidedly out of sorts, even during his first-round win over Brendan Dolan. Although it's easy to assume a wounded MVG is even more dangerous than usual, the three-time Lakeside champion is as mentally strong as they come and he'll be right up for the challenge.

As Paul Nicholson noted in his Premier League preview for Sporting Life, Durrant is also an accomplished player in one match per day tournaments, which this has now turned into, so don't let his age of 49 lead you into thinking he'll run out of steam next week.

One one hand I feel van Gerwen could be vulnerable of missing out on a top four spot for the first time in his career - let alone not finishing top for the first time - but on the other, this frantic schedule of daily televised matches is probably exactly what he needs to regain his relentless momentum.

If Smith, MVG and Durrant take up three of my predicted top four, then who gets the last spot?

The way Wright played during the five-tournament run at the Summer Series and the last five legs of his 10-5 victory over Jose De Sousa at the World Matchplay suggests he'll be hard to stop if and when he gets going, while he did average over 100 in his high-quality second-round defeat to Duzza.

Price and Aspinall could easily come good as well and make my prediction look embarrassingly wrong by the end of this regular season but has there ever been a better excuse than "2020".

Predicted top-four

1. Michael Smith
2. Michael van Gerwen
3. Peter Wright
4. Glen Durrant

Premier League Night Seven: Tuesday August 25

Click on the odds for more Sky Bet match markets

• TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
• Format: Maximum of 12 legs
• Suggested Treble: Smith, Price & Durrant at 14.36/1
• Suggested Acca: Smith, Price, Dobey & Durrant at 41.25

Michael Smith (11/8) v Gary Anderson (11/8), draw (3/1)

• Head-to-head: 7-10 (TV: 4-5)
• Meetings since start of 2019: 1-1 (TV: 1-1)
• Last Meeting: 16-18 (World Matchplay 2020)
• Individual Career PDC Titles: 10-47 (TV: 1-15)
• PDC Titles this season: 0-1 (TV: 0-0)

As mentioned in the above preview, I fancy Bully Boy to make a great start to the resumption and make amends for the World Matchplay semi-final, which he got himself into such a great position to win.

Bully Boy threw the most 180s at the Marshall Arena during that tournament with 41 compared to the 28 managed by Anderson, who hit just one across the 28 legs played in the final, and while the short format of the Premier League makes this market a bit of a lottery, I think it's as good a way as bumping up the odds for Smith as any.

• Predicted scoreline: 7-3
• Suggested bet: Smith to win with most 180s: 3/1

Michael van Gerwen (4/11) v Rob Cross (5/1), draw (4/1)

• Head-to-head: 18-3 (TV: 13-2)
• Meetings since start of 2019: 6-0 (TV: 4-0)
• Last Meeting: 10-4 (UK Open 2020)
• Individual Career PDC Titles: 131-12 (TV: 51-4)
• PDC Titles this season: 3-0 (TV: 1-0)

Michael van Gerwen has bossed his rivalry with Rob Cross apart from 'that' World Championship semi-final in December 2017 and has won their last six meetings dating back to the start of 2019.

They've only played each other once this year in the quarter-finals of the UK Open prior to MVG's nine-dart heroics in his title-winning final session but as we saw during the recent World Matchplay, he was hardly raring to go and razor sharp following the long break.

Sure, he did win two Summer Series events in the same venue but his lacklustre displays against Brendan Dolan and Simon Whitlock are a concern. A consistent run of games could see him hit top gear over the next week but as for tonight, it could be an arduous match against Cross, who is battling for his Premier League life.

• Predicted scoreline: 7-5
• Suggested bet: Cross (+2.5 legs) to win at 11/10

Nathan Aspinall (6/4) v Gerwyn Price (5/4), draw (3/1)

• Head-to-head: 4-8 (TV: 4-5)
• Meetings since start of 2019: 4-5 (TV: 1-1)
• Last Meeting: 8-3 (Players Championship, Feb 2020)
• Individual Career PDC Titles: 6-11 (TV: 2-2)
• PDC Titles this season: 3-2 (TV: 0-0)

This 'should' be a repeat of a World Matchplay quarter-final that most fans and pundits alike were expecting but they were both bundled out in the first round.

At least Nathan Aspinall can say he lost to the eventual champion in Dimitri van den Bergh but Gerwyn Price's conqueror Danny Noppert bowed out in the next round to Adrian Lewis.

Nevertheless, both players were easily two of the hottest on the circuit before lockdown and it won't take them long to rediscover their spark and rise to the pressures of trying to seal their place in the play-offs.

We can't forget Aspinall did win the Home Tour so was clearly been practicing hard during the barren months while Price did start to show glimpses of his best during the back end of the Summer Series. It just didn't work out for him during the World Matchplay and he certainly wasn't alone.

• Predicted scoreline: 5-7
• Suggested bet: Match to have over 10.5 legs, highest checkout to be over 101.5 and over 4.5 total 180s at 5/4

Chris Dobey (7/4) v Daryl Gurney (11/10), draw (3/1)

• Head-to-head: 3-2 (TV: 0-0)
• Meetings since start of 2019: 1-1 (TV: 0-0)
• Last Meeting: 5-6 (European Darts Grand Prix 2019)
• Individual Career PDC Titles: 0-5 (TV: 0-2)
• PDC Titles this season: 0-0 (TV: 0-0)

Daryl Gurney is certainly no quitter and has made a name for himself by battling against the odds and proving the doubters wrong.

He'll need to do just that if he's to somehow avoid elimination at Judgement Night on Thursday but he's got the toughest of the remaining Challengers who has zero pressure on his shoulders and an incentive to remind the TV audience what he can do having missed out on World Matchplay qualification.

Although Gurney has the advantage of knowing what to expect from this setting, I do fancy Dobey to pull off a minor surprise given all the hard work and online practice he's been putting in during the summer months.

The Player Performance levels from Sky Bet are quite tame for Dobey and he should achieve the below targets even if there were only seven legs in the match, let alone a much closer match I'm expecting.

• Predicted scoreline: 7-4
• Suggested bet: Chris Dobey to win the match, score over 2.5 180s and checkout over 76.5 at 7/2

Peter Wright (1/1) v Glen Durrant (15/8), draw (3/1)

• Head-to-head: 6-3 (TV: 3-2)
• Meetings since start of 2019: 5-2 (TV: 2-1)
• Last Meeting: 8-11 (World Matchplay 2020)
• Individual Career PDC Titles: 30-2 (TV: 6-0)
• PDC Titles this season: 3-0 (TV: 1-0)

Peter Wright may well be the world champion and vying for the unofficial crown of 'best player right now' but we saw on this very stage last month why Glen Durrant shouldn't be written off against anybody.

Duzza overcame similar odds of almost 2/1 to beat Snakebite in a much longer format en route to the semi-finals, and while his eventual defeat to Dimitri Van den Bergh was a sickener for him, he did boast an impressive tournament average of over 98 and coped a lot better with the same factors that other big name players struggled with.

Let's not forget Wright was seemingly for a one-sided defeat to Jose de Sousa when trailing 8-5 in the first round - before taking his glasses off and reeling five legs off on the spin - so there's no guarantee he'll adapt better to the unusual surroundings and atmosphere when he comes up against the mentally strong Durrant.

It should be close but the bet I like in this one is over two 100+ checkouts at 7/2. The pair had managed three by the 14th leg of their World Matchplay clash while they had plundered in 35 between them during the Summer Series. Wright's tally of 20 was higher than any other player on the circuit while Duzza's 15 was fourth highest.

• Predicted scoreline: 5-7
• Suggested bet: 3 or more 100+ checkouts in the match at 7/2

2020 Premier League Darts Table & Remaining Fixtures/Dates

1. Durrant P 6 W 4 D 1 L 1 LegD +11 Pts 9
2. Van Gerwen P 6 W 4 D 0 L 2 LegD +8 Pts 8
3. Smith P 6 W 3 D 1 L 2 LegD +4 Pts 7
4. Aspinall P 6 W 3 D 1 L 2 LegD +2 Pts 7
5. Wright P 6 W 3 D 1 L 2 LegD +1 Pts 7
6. Anderson P 6 W 2 D 2 L 2 LegD -1 Pts 6
7. Price P 6 W 1 D 3 L 2 LegD +0 Pts 5
8. Cross P 6 W 1 D 3 L 2 LegD -2 Pts 5
9. Gurney P 6 W 0 D 2 L 4 LegD -12 Pts 2

Fixtures and dates

* If its decided the O2 can't host the Play-Offs, then it will take place at the Marshall Arena on September 6, with nights 13-16 each taking place 24 hours earlier than the dates listed below.

Night Seven, Tuesday August 25
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)

• Michael Smith v Gary Anderson
• Michael van Gerwen v Rob Cross
• Nathan Aspinall v Gerwyn Price
• Chris Dobey (C) v Daryl Gurney
• Peter Wright v Glen Durrant

Night Eight, Wednesday August 26
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)

• Gary Anderson v Gerwyn Price
• Nathan Aspinall v Daryl Gurney
• Michael Smith v Rob Cross
• Michael van Gerwen v Glen Durrant
• Peter Wright v Jeffrey de Zwaan (C)

Judgement Night, Thursday August 27
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)

• Glen Durrant v Rob Cross
• Nathan Aspinall v Michael Smith
• Peter Wright v Daryl Gurney
• Michael van Gerwen v Gary Anderson
• Jermaine Wattimena (C) v Gerwyn Price

Night 10, Friday August 28
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)

• Fixtures TBC

Night 11, Saturday August 29
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)

• Fixtures TBC

Night 12, Sunday August 30
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)

• Fixtures TBC

Night 13 - Thursday September 3
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)

• FixturesTBC

Night 14 - Friday September 4
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)

• Fixtures TBC

Night 15 - Saturday September 5
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)

• Fixtures TBC

Night 16 Sunday September 6
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)

• Fixtures TBC

Play-Offs - Thursday October 22
The O2, London
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)

Semi-Finals (Best of 19 legs)

• First v Fourth
• Second v Third

Finals (Best of 21 legs)

• Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SEASON RESULTS

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