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Jonny Clayton and Peter Wright (Picture: Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

Premier League Darts: Night 12 predictions, betting tips, acca, order of play and Sky Sports TV time

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Thu April 28, 2022 · 3y ago

Our guide for night 12 of the Cazoo Premier League Darts season includes match-by-match statistics, predictions, best bets and an acca.

Last time Dublin hosted a night of Premier League Darts, Michael Smith hit a nine-darter so hopefully we'll see one of the eight stars repeat the feat.

You can find stats for all four quarter-finals below, with match previews and tips to follow.

Darts betting tips: Premier League night 12

1pt James Wade (+1.5) to beat Michael van Gerwen at 11/10 (bet365, Paddy Power)

1pt Price to win and Cullen hit most 180s at 11/4 (Sky Bet)

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

1pt Wright to win the night at 5/1 (Paddy Power)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

SL Acca: Wade (+1.5), Price, Smith & Wright all to win at 10/1 with Sky Bet

Open a Sky Bet account for £30 in free bets

Thursday April 28: Night 12 quarter-finals

Venue: 3Arena, Dublin
TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
Format: Best of 11 legs

James Wade (9/5) v Michael van Gerwen (1/2)

Head to Head: 17-43, 1 draw (TV: 10-30, 1 draw)
Meetings in 2022: 1-4 (TV: 1-3)
Tournament Average
Wade: 93.97 (22 games)
Van Gerwen: 99.35 (22 games)
Tournament 180s (180s per leg)
Wade: 35 (202 legs, 0.17 per leg)
Van Gerwen: 61 (202 legs, 0.30 per leg)
Tournament Checkout %:
Wade: 101/237 (42.61%)
Van Gerwen: 118/288 (40.97%)
100+ Checkouts and % legs won with a 100+ checkout:
Wade: 16 (15.84%)
Van Gerwen: 16 (13.55%)

It's somewhat strange that James Wade continues to head into each night of the Premier League as one of the outsiders to go the distance even though he's now reached four finals - which is only bettered by Michael van Gerwen's tally of five.

Sure, his odds to triumph in Dublin reflect the fact he's facing MVG first up but even if he were facing Gary Anderson, for example, you could still get around double figure prices to win his second night of the season.

The format is clearly suiting him more than most fans and pundits expected, with his consistent finishing and lethal 100+ checkouts often punishing numerous below-par performances we've seen from every competitor - while he's also thrown in his own quality displays for good measure.

These best of 11 leg encounters are just too short for averages to have that big a say yet the odds seem to take those into more consideration than the actual results. MVG may well be averaging considerably higher against Wade but he only managed 88 during their meeting in Birmingham, which the Machine ran away with 6-2.

The Dutchman has, however, won three of their four Premier League encounters this season, including last week's 6-3 victory in Aberdeen but I wouldn't remotely be surprised to see an 'upset' in Belfast - and nor should anyone else.

Scoreline prediction: 6-4

CLICK HERE to back Wade (+1.5 legs) to win with Sky Bet

Gerwyn Price (4/7) v Joe Cullen (13/8)

Head to Head: 6-9 (TV: 3-3)
Meetings in 2022: 0-3 (TV: 0-2)
Tournament Average
Price: 96.66 (15 games)
Cullen: 92.68 (18 games)
Tournament 180s (180s per leg)
Price: 29 (145 legs, 0.20 per leg)
Cullen: 60 (170 legs, 0.35 per leg)
Tournament Checkout %:
Price: 68/175 (38.85%)
Cullen: 80/221 (36.19%)
100+ Checkouts and % legs won with a 100+ checkout:
Price: 11 (16.17%)
Cullen: 10 (12.50%)

With just five weeks of the regular season remaining, this is a huge match in the race for the play-offs as both Joe Cullen and Gerwyn Price find themselves playing catch up in fifth and sixth place respectively.

The situation is considerably worse for the Iceman as he's nine points adrift and realistically might need to win two of the remaining nights - or at least reach a run of finals - and his recent poor form has been hampered by injury and illness.

His scoring power and finishing prowess have dropped off but thankfully for him, Cullen hasn't been ripping up trees either from a stats perspective and didn't even play blockbuster stuff to win in Rotterdam and reach the Manchester final.

They have been poles apart on the 180s however, with the Rockstar boasting the highest maximum per leg ratio this season and his 0.35 is significantly higher than Price's 0.20.

Price has the quality to overcome adversity when he needs to most but I still expect Cullen to throw more 180s.

Scoreline prediction: 6-4

CLICK HERE to back Price to win and Cullen to hit most 180s with Sky Bet

Michael Smith (4/7) v Gary Anderson (11/8)

Head to Head: 10-14 (TV: 7-8)
Meetings in 2022: 1-1 (TV: 1-1)
Tournament Average
Smith: 95.70 (16 games)
Anderson: 94.10 (13 games)
Tournament 180s (180s per leg)
Smith: 43 (143 legs, 0.30 per leg)
Anderson: 30 (125 legs, 0.24 per leg)
Tournament Checkout %:
Smith: 64/156 (41.02%)
Anderson: 55/132 (41.66%)
100+ Checkouts and % legs won with a 100+ checkout:
Smith: 10 (15.62%)
Anderson: 5 (9.09%)

We've probably got to the stage of the season where we can brand this a 'must-win' match for both Michael Smith and Gary Anderson.

The former master and apprentice are rooted to the bottom of the table while Bully Boy could well be feeling the pressure of being the only player without a nightly victory under their belt.

Anderson's wheels have come off quite dramatically since he brilliantly triumphed in Nottingham during a short spell in the season when he felt he'd been playing his best darts in three years.

"BULLY BOY HITS THE LOT"

The last time that we were in Dublin, Michael Smith produced this moment of magic 🪄

Beautifully called by the late Nigel Pearson... pic.twitter.com/gzcFIygZWU
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) April 26, 2022

The Flying Scotsman has lost all four of his quarter-final matches since then - while he also missed one week due to Covid - and he's averaging in the very low 90s in that run.

Smith has lost his last five matches since reaching the Nottingham final that Anderson won and although he's been unfortunate from a stats perspective on three occasions - including when he averaged 102 and lost 6-2 to Peter Wright - his last two performances have been pretty poor.

I still think he's shown a bit more promise than Anderson and will back him to sneak through here and fire most 180s.

Scoreline prediction: 6-5

CLICK HERE to back Smith to win and hit most 180s with Sky Bet

Jonny Clayton (8/11) v Peter Wright (11/10)

Head to Head: 5-12, 1 draw (TV: 4-4, 1 draw)
Meetings in 2022: 3-3 (TV: 3-1)
Tournament Average
Clayton: 98.12 (23 games)
Wright: 97.65 (21 games)
Tournament 180s (180s per leg)
Clayton: 61 (211 legs, 0.29 per leg)
Wright: 60 (197 legs, 0.30 per leg)
Tournament Checkout %:
Clayton: 112/280 (40.00%)
Wright: 99/253 (39.13%)
100+ Checkouts and % legs won with a 100+ checkout:
Clayton: 12 (10.71%)
Wright: 9 (9.09%)

Peter Wright finally went back to his World Championship-winning darts last week and it looked like they had the desired effect in front of the Aberdeen crown when he averaged over 103 in a 6-5 victory over Joe Cullen.

However he was pipped by eventual nightly champion Jonny Clayton by the same scoreline despite averaging almost a ton and now he finds himself as the marginal outsider ahead of a rematch with the Ferret.

Wright has endured an inconsistent season and his usual tinkering won't have helped him much but thankfully it seems as though he's finally listening to what everyone has been telling him about the relentless experimentation.

Clayton has been producing some stunning performances of late to help him move to the top of the table - including that 109 average against Michael van Gerwen in Manchester - so on paper this should be the match of the night.

I do fancy Snakebite to get revenge for last week and we should see plenty of 180s to get the crowd going. Both are averaging around 0.30 per leg for the season but last week Wright hit eight 180s in 22 legs (0.36) while the in-form Clayton fired in 11 across 30 legs (0.36).

Scoreline prediction: 4-6

CLICK HERE to back Wright to win the night with Sky Bet

Weekly winner: Sky Bet night 12 odds

MVG: 3/1
Clayton: 7/2
Price: 9/2
Wright: 9/2
Smith: 8/1
Wade: 10/1
Cullen: 11/1
Anderson: 12/1

Premier League Table & Format

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

Clayton NW 3 RU 1 SF 4 MW 15 LegD +13 Pts 26
MVG NW 3 RU 2 SF 2 MW 15 LegD +41 Pts 25
Wade NW 1 RU 3 SF 3 MW 12 LegD 0 Pts 20
Wright NW 1 RU 1 SF 7 MW 11 LegD +1 Pts 20
Cullen NW 1 RU 2 SF 2 MW 9 LegD -4 Pts 15
Price NW 1 RU 0 SF 3 MW 6 LegD -9 Pts 11
Smith NW 0 RU 2 SF 1 MW 5 LegD -15 Pts 8
Anderson NW 1 RU 0 SF 1 MW 4 LegD -15 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.