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Who will join Glen Durrant and Gary Anderson in the play-offs?

Premier League Darts: Night 16 predictions, permutations, betting tips, accas, Saturday order of play & TV time

By Chris Hammer

21:08 · SAT September 05, 2020

The Unibet Premier League Darts regular season comes to a close tonight, so check out our match-by-match predictions, best bets and a suggested acca.

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It promises to be a fittingly historic conclusion to the Premier League Darts regular season tonight as we prepare to crown a new table-topper, while the incredibly tense race for the play-offs involving five players could well go down to the final dart of the night.

Glen Durrant will become just the third League Winner ever behind Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen since the tournament began back in 2005 unless he loses to Nathan Aspinall and Gary Anderson beats Gerwyn Price with a massive leg difference swing of +14 across the two games. To put it more simply, even if the Flying Scotsman wins 8-0, Duzza will only need three legs against Aspinall to seal his bonus of £25,000.

In terms of the far more pressing race for fourth, Anderson, Peter Wright and Aspinall hold the aces but Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price can still make it even though destiny is out of their hands. Here's all you need to know with match-by-match guides, stats, head-to-head records and the current table...

Premier League Night 16: September 5

Click on the odds for more Sky Bet match markets

TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 BST)
Format: Maximum of 14 legs
Suggested Acca: Price, Smith & Aspinall at 19/1

Gerwyn Price (5/4) v Gary Anderson (6/4), draw (3/1)

Head-to-head: 6-8 (TV: 4-4)
Meetings since start of 2019: 3-2 (TV: 3-1)
Last Meeting: 7-1 (Premier League, August 2020)
Individual Career PDC Titles: 11-46 (TV: 2-14)
PDC Titles this season: 2-1 (TV: 0-0)

Gary Anderson's 8-6 defeat to Michael van Gerwen last night all but ended his hopes of becoming the regular season league winner for the first time in his illustrious career and now he must avoid another hiding at the hands of Gerwyn Price that would put his play-off place at risk.

As unlikely as it is, second-placed Anderson, who has never finished as high as runner-up in the round robin phase, can only miss out if he loses, Peter Wright draws or wins and Nathan Aspinall and Michael van Gerwen both win while also overturning big leg difference deficits.

In that particular department, the 2011 and 2015 champion winner is +11 while Aspinall is +5 and MVG is +2 so it would be some set of results to knock him out of the top four.

Nevertheless, he'll still be motivated to get one over his rival Gerwyn Price and avenge the 7-1 battering he suffered last week, and would almost certainly take quiet satisfaction in freezing the Iceman's outside hopes of reaching the play-offs.

In terms of his faded table topping aspirations, Anderson must win 8-2 or better to at least give league leader Glen Durrant a meagre legs target to hit against Aspinall later in the night but Price won't be too picky about scorelines - he just needs two points to give himself a shot.

The two-time Grand Slam of Darts winner, who of course won the first of those titles in acrimonious circumstances against Anderson, is two points behind fourth-placed Aspinall and MVG in fifth but such is his superior leg difference that any win would see him leapfrog either should they lose their respective matches.

Back-to-back draws against Daryl Gurney and Michael Smith in the past 48 hours - which followed his defeat to Aspinall on Wednesday - have cost him dearly whereas Gary Anderson has averaged 100+ in each of his last four games, including three wins and last night's 8-6 defeat to MVG.

It's so close to call but I think Price's battling instincts may get him over the line in a tight contest that's a lot closer than their previous meeting.

Predicted scoreline: 8-6
Suggested bet: Gerwyn Price to win the match, score over 2.5 180s and checkout over 82.5 at 5/2

Michael van Gerwen (4/9) v Daryl Gurney (4/1), draw (4/1)

Head-to-head: 23-6, 1 draw (TV: 12-4, 1 draw)
Meetings since start of 2019: 5-3 (TV: 4-3)
Last Meeting: 11-3 (UK Open, March 2020)
Individual Career PDC Titles: 131-5 (TV: 51-2)
PDC Titles this season: 3-0 (TV: 1-0)

Michael van Gerwen is well over the fact that his proud record of topping the regular season table every year since his debut in 2013 is over, and now the sole focus is just giving himself the chance of winning the overall title for sixth time and fifth in a row.

The defending champion is currently level on points with fourth-placed Nathan Aspinall but his surprisingly low legs difference of +2 is three less than the Stockport star so he really needs a big victory over Daryl Gurney to pile on the pressure.

Of course, any win will be enough should Aspinall drop points against league leader Glen Durrant in the final match - or even if Peter Wright loses to Michael Smith - but he knows the more he gives the debutant to think about will make a huge psychological difference.

He's also thriving off the fact that his remaining rivals for the title don't want him in the play-offs. He said: "I know what I'm capable of. People also know. They are praying I don't get to the last four. Trust me, they are praying. I need to fight hard, I need to battle. I didn't have the most easy two weeks of my life, I know that for a fact. But I'm still here, I'm still fighting."

This doesn't bode well for Gurney, who hasn't been the biggest of spoilers since he avoided elimination on Judgement Night, apart from beating nine-dart hero Peter Wright last Saturday and landing a point-earning 130 checkout against Gerwyn Price on Thursday.

The Northern Irishman did the regular season double over MVG in 2019 but he lost in the play-off semi-finals and has also suffered two heavy televised defeats to the Dutchman this year; 7-1 in the Premier League back in February and 11-3 in the UK Open.

If MVG gets off to an explosive start - which is on the cards given his performance last night in which he averaged 103 - then pride isn't the kind of motivation you'd need to pull it back.

Predicted scoreline: 8-3
Suggested bet: Michael van Gerwen (-3.5 Legs) to win at 11/8

Peter Wright (4/6) v Michael Smith (3/1), draw (3/1)

Head-to-head: 18-11, 2 draws (TV: 10-3, 2 draws)
Meetings since start of 2019: 5-3, 2 draws (TV: 3-0, 2 draws)
Last Meeting: 4-6 (Summer Series, July 2020)
Individual Career PDC Titles: 30-10 (TV: 6-1)
PDC Titles this season: 3-0 (TV: 1-0)

Peter Wright is almost home and hosed but a defeat to Michael Smith would leave him in real trouble if Michael van Gerwen has already beaten Daryl Gurney earlier in the night.

Snakebite could in theory be playing this match with no pressure whatsoever if MVG drops points but I think we've got to preview this match on the assumption that he does have work to do.

If that turns out to be the case, a draw will enough to go back above the Dutchman given his vastly superior legs difference, while it'll also mean Nathan Aspinall can't displace him either - even if he thrashes Glen Durrant 8-0.

There is no doubt the world champion has found an extra gear at just the right time having defeated van Gerwen 8-1, Aspinall 8-5 and Glen Durrant 8-6 this week since successive defeats to Gary Anderson, Daryl Gurney and Gerwyn Price put his season in jeopardy.

He's averaged over 101 in all of those matches except for a surprisingly lacklustre 95 against Duzza last night so most will be expecting another supreme performance.

Although Smith has absolutely nothing to play for in terms of position, you can certainly expect him to show a great deal of pride in light of the sickening social media abuse he's received since the restart.

Bully Boy has managed just two wins from his nine games since the restart due to his consistent level of agonisingly finishing that has caused him to throw so many points away - and he's disgracefully being taking stick for it.

The most recent case was missing three match darts in a 7-7 draw with Glen Durrant in which he led 7-2, but despite his season being over by the time he stepped up to the oche against Gerwyn Price last night, he still battled hard for another point in which he averaged 103 and threw nine 180s.

His maximum hitting has been breathtaking and he's managed 53 from eight games since the restart to take his season tally to an astonishing 70. That's 11 more than second-placed Snakebite, who has hit 37 from his last eight.

want to say something real quick. I’ve not played my best here far from it. But every day I drag my arse out of bed and try put the best show on for everyone at home watching. Yes I want to win and yes I never give up. But I don’t need the level of abuse I get for it. Thank you.
— Michael Smith (@BullyBoy180) September 4, 2020

Whereas both players to hit 5+ 180's each at 3/1 is tempting, I'm going to be more bold and go for Smith to win the match and hit the most maximums.

Predicted scoreline: 5-8
Suggested bet: Smith to win and hit most 180s at 5/1

Nathan Aspinall (5/4) v Glen Durrant (6/4), draw (3/1)

Head-to-head: 1-2 (TV: 1-1)
Meetings since start of 2019: 1-2 (TV: 1-1)
Last Meeting: 7-5 (Premier League, February 2020)
Individual Career PDC Titles: 6-2 (TV: 2-0)
PDC Titles this season: 3-0 (TV: 0-0)

Barring a mathematical miracle, Glen Durrant is almost certainly going to be win the league winner's bonus of £25,000 in his debut season at the age of 49.

That really is a phenomenal effort, especially when you bare in mind only Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen have managed to do it since the tournament began way back in 2005.

It ends MVG's monopoly of topping the table for seven successive years since his debut in 2013, which halted Phil Taylor's own record run of eight seasons at the top.

Some harsh critics will probably put some kind of asterisk next to the achievement due to the surreal nature of the campaign, which has obviously been played in once venue for the last 10 condensed rounds of fixtures with no fans, but we really shouldn't be taking much away from the matter of his performances and his mental strength.

It's also unfair to agree with MVG's argument that some players haven't played their best against him. After all, isn't there always an element of cause and effect in all sports, especially individual ones?

While Duzza might not be as explosively hitting the crowd-pleasing 180s in the same way as many of his rivals, he's still managed to average over 100 on four occasions since the restart, including a 104 against Michael van Gerwen and a high of 106 against Rob Cross.

However, you just have to wonder if the 'invincibility' factor he was building up has been broken by his 8-6 defeat to Peter Wright last night after he'd survived 14 match darts in three of his four draws since the restart (seven v Anderson, five v Smith and two v MVG), while he also hasn't won since Sunday.

Aspinall did inflict Durrant's first defeat of the Premier League campaign way back in February so perhaps this is the perfect time for the other star debutant to seal his top-four spot in style.

The Stockport man has failed to win back-to-back games since the season resumed but his iron-like battling qualities will come to the fore again if he heads into this match needed a victory to finish in the play-offs.

He averaged 99 during his victory over Daryl Gurney compared to the 89 Duzza managed against Wright while he's also hit 26 more 180s during the whole campaign with 57 having fired in another five last night.

Predicted scoreline: 8-5
Suggested bet: Aspinall to win and hit most 180s at 11/4

2020 Premier League Darts Table

Durrant P 15 W 8 D 5 L 2 LegD +25 Pts 21
Anderson P 15 W 8 D 3 L 4 LegD +11 Pts 19
Wright P 15 W 8 D 2 L 5 LegD +15 Pts 18
Aspinall P 15 W 8 D 1 L 6 LegD +5 Pts 17
Van Gerwen P 15 W 8 D 1 L 6 LegD +2 Pts 17
Price P 15 W 5 D 5 L 5 LegD +10 Pts 15
Smith P 15 W 5 D 3 L 7 LegD -4 Pts 13
Gurney P 15 W 3 D 3 L 9 LegD -21 Pts 9
Cross P 9 W 1 D 3 L 5 LegD -14 Pts 5* ELIMINATED AT JUDGEMENT NIGHT

When players are tied on points, leg difference is used first as a tie-breaker, after that legs won against throw and then tournament average.
The current legs against throw tallies are currently: Durrant 36, Anderson 34, Wright 27, Aspinall 33, van Gerwen 28 and Price 29