Premier League Darts results: Michael van Gerwen thrashes Rob Cross as Raymond van Barneveld produces fine comeback

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Van Gerwen almost whitewashes Cross

Michael van Gerwen maintained his 100% record in this season's Premier League with a crushing 7-2 victory over Rob Cross at Dublin's 3Arena - although he blew the chance of a whitewash.

The world champion has achieved three of the previous nine in the tournament's history, including one against Phil Taylor in 2014 (full list below), and his fourth looked well on the cards when three 14-dart legs and an 11-darter helped him surge 6-0 clear of a far from hot Voltage.

But when trying to take out 68, van Gerwen spurned two darts at double four, with his second landing in the single 13 bed, and Cross responded by taking out 70 to avoid total humiliation.

The Dutchman then missed three more darts at doubles from 32 in the next leg as Cross added a further - albeit still very thin - gloss of respectability to the scoreline but it was merely delaying the inevitable.

Voltage blew a dart at double 16 when attempting a 107 checkout and that was his last chance to close the gap as MVG finally got the job done on two fours to make it three wins from three and consolidate his position at the top of the table.

Van Gerwen, who pinned six of his 19 double attempts and managed a high finish of 100 in the second leg, averaged 101.93 compared to the 2018 world champion's lacklustre 93.31 while the pair both hit two 180s each. Cross hit two of his six double attempts.

"I'm happy with the win but I'm a bit annoyed with myself, I think I could've played better as Rob could have, but maybe that was because of the pressure of playing against me," said van Gerwen.

"I can't really complain because I won the game but you have to be critical of yourself and I shouldn't have missed all those doubles at the end.

"It would be nice to win every game this season because no one has ever done that before but I think that's nearly impossible. People think it's easy but I have to work hard to produce performances like this, there's no time to rest and I have to perform week after week."

Premier League whitewashes

• Lloyd 8–0 Jenkins (2007)
• Taylor 8–0 Mardle (2008)
• Wade 8–0 Whitlock (2012)
• MVG 7–0 Taylor (2014)
• MVG 7–0 Wade (2015)
• Chisnall 7–0 Thornton (2016)
• Taylor 7–0 Thornton (2016)
• MVG 7–0 Adrian Lewis (2017)
• Smith 7-0 Barney (2018)

Barney comeback thrills Dublin

Raymond van Barneveld produced a second stirring comeback in a row to escape with another crowd pleasing draw in his final Premier League season.

Barney rescued a point from 6-2 down against Gerwyn Price to send the Glasgow fans wild seven days ago and he created similarly jubilant scenes in Dublin having found himself 5-1 behind against Mensur Suljovic.

The Dutch legend and 2014 Premier League champion, who is retiring at the end of the year, was slow out of the blocks as Suljovic moved 3-0 up and although he finally got off the mark in the next, it did little to halt his opponent's momentum.

A timely 180 helped him break the Austrian's throw with a 13 darter before he survived a missed dart at a double from Suljovic to close the gap at 5-3.

Van Barneveld was now starting to find his rhythm and the partisan crowd responded to it as back-to-back 14-darters saw him claw himself level at 5-5.

Suljovic stopped the rot with a checkout of 48 to guarantee himself a point but he'd then miss a match dart at double 19 for a show-stopping 158 checkout as Barney returned with a 92 finish to spark joyous scenes of celebration.

Barney, who is still without a win this season, averaged 91.65 compared to Suljovic's 94.5, but he did hit one more maximum with three. The finishing stats was pretty equal, with the Dutchman pinning six of his 12 attempts and Suljovic managing six from 11.

"The crowd were amazing, I love playing in Dublin and I'm happy that I managed to fight my way back into that game," said van Barneveld.

"The receptions I get every week are so special to me, but I want to give them more back. I'm battling every single week, practising every single day to give the crowd 'their Barney'.

"The motivation is there and I cannot play darts without these amazing crowds, and I want to get better through the season for them."

Gurney edges Smith

Daryl Gurney moved up to second in the Premier League table with a 7-5 victory over Michael Smith, who is still searching for his first win of the season.

The Northern Irishman made a slow start as Bully Boy took the opening two legs but after getting himself back on level terms, he began to dominate proceedings with his consistent heavier scoring and he moved 4-2 up thanks to a stunning 140 checkout that completed a 12-darter.

After the sublime came a ridiculously bad leg of darts as Gurney missed eight darts at doubles by the time Smith spurned his first two after 21 darts.

The 2018 Players Championship winner blew another two in trying to take out 10 before Smith pinned double nine with his last dart in hand to get back into the match.

This gift sparked the 2018 Premier League runner-up back into life as he won the next two legs with checkouts of 65 and 74 to edge ahead again only for Gurney to restore parity with a comfortable hold.

As Smith began to stuttered towards the finishing line, Gurney made a relative dash for it and didn't allow his opponent an attempt at a double in the last two legs.

The 2017 World Grand Prix champion averaged 99.14 compared to Smith's 93.18 but the Ally Pally runner-up's finishing was slightly superior with five doubles hit from 13 attempts, with Gurney making seven of his 26. They both hit four maximums apiece.

Price and Wade draw thriller

Gerwyn Price produced an inspired comeback from 5-2 down to remain unbeaten in this season's Premier League, but James Wade had the final say in an entertaining 6-6 draw.

Seven days on from spurning a 6-2 lead against Raymond van Barneveld - with the assistance of a vociferous Glasgow crowd - the Welshman won the opening leg but found himself in real trouble after Wade, who levelled matters with a 127 checkout for a 12-darter, won three legs on the trot from 2-2.

The first two of those came after Price spurned darts at doubles in both but the Machine gave his opponent little chance in the seventh leg when a 54 finish completed an 11-darter.

Although both players had come out to pantomime booing, the crowd were beginning to cheer both players' efforts in an entertaining affair and Price was sparked into life when he pinned double 10 after Wade missed tops for a guaranteed point.

The pumped up former rugby player, so used to boos since last year's Grand Slam of Darts final against Gary Anderson, punished Wade's miss at the bull for an attempted 142 checkout by taking out tops while he then brought the fans to their feet when his 88 finish on the bullseye completed a superb 12-dart leg to restore parity.

Price, enjoying the unusual atmosphere of being cheered, then guaranteed himself a point in a scrappy 11th leg but was never in contention to win the 12th as Wade raced away to take it in 12 darts, finishing the match in style with a stunning 129 checkout.

Both players hit five 180s apiece and although the Machine averaged 103.89 compared to Price's 96.22 - the latter's finishing was marginally better as he missed nine doubles which was one fewer than Wade.

"Raymond pinched a point off me last week and I did the same to James this week," said Price.

"I'm scoring really well at the moment but I just didn't do that today so I have to be happy to get out of that one with a point."

Wright denies Lennon Dublin draw

Peter Wright picked up his first victory over the Premier League season with a hard-fought 7-5 victory over home favourite Steve Lennon.

Snakebite headed to Dublin on the back of two draws but was well fancied to overcome the young Irishman, who was this week's guest 'Contender', but found himself up against it when he fell 3-0 down.

Lennon was inspired by the hero's reception on his way to the oche and followed up an 11-darter in the second leg with a 105 checkout in the third - although it could have been better had he not busted 12 to go 4-0 up.

Wright punished him by pinning double five for a scrappy 19-darter and as Lennon began to stutter, the Scotsman took four more legs on the spin to storm into a 5-3 advantage.

The next two were shared as the youngster stopped the rot and he then gave himself a real chance of earning a draw with a 92 checkout to force a deciding leg.

However his fourth 180 of the match wasn't backed up by his other visits as Wright held his nerve on double 10 to take maximum points.

Snakebite averaged 96.95 compared to Lennon's 90.8 but hit two fewer maximums with two and his checkout percentage of 35% (7/20) was less than his opponent's 38.46% (5/13).

"I was happy to see play Steve play so well because he was under a lot of pressure in front of his home crowd," said Wright. "He was amazing in the first few legs and I was wondering if I was going to get a chance.

"So far this season I've played former World Champion Rob Cross and World Championship runner-up Michael Smith and now Steve Lennon in front of his own fans so I'm very happy with my start to this year's Premier League."

2019 Premier League Darts Table

1. MVG P 3 W 3 D 0 L 0 LegD +11 Pts 6
2. Gurney P 3 W 2 D 0 L 1 LegD +3 Pts 4
3. Price P 3 W 1 D 2 L 0 LegD +3 Pts 4
4. Wright P 3 W 1 D 2 L 0 LegD +2 Pts 4
5. Wade P 3 W 1 D 1 L 1 LegD 0 Pts 3
6. Cross P 3 W 1 D 1 L 1 LegD -2 Pts 3
7. Van Barneveld P 3 W 0 D 2 L 1 LegD -3 Pts 2
8. Suljovic P 3 W 0 D 2 L 1 LegD -4 Pts 2
9. Smith P 3 W 0 D 1 L 2 LegD -4 Pts 1

Night three results & next week's fixtures

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• WEEKLY GUEST PLAYERS IN BOLD

Night 3 results

• Gerwyn Price 6-6 James Wade
• Steve Lennon 5-7 Peter Wright
• Michael van Gerwen 7-2 Rob Cross
• Michael Smith 5-7 Daryl Gurney
• Mensur Suljovic 6-6 Raymond van Barneveld

Night 4, February 28
Westpoint Arena, Exeter
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)

• Luke Humphries v Gerwyn Price
• Daryl Gurney v Rob Cross
• Mensur Suljovic v Peter Wright
• Michael van Gerwen v James Wade
• Michael Smith v Raymond van Barneveld

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