"The Cardiff crowd are going to get on Gary's back and Price will be egging on the Motorpoint Arena something chronic"
Monday 12 February 2018 11:17, UK
Our man in the know Wayne 'Hawaii 501' Mardle looks into his crystal ball and predicts the scores ahead of Thursday night's Sky Live Premier League Darts in Cardiff.
The roadshow heads to the Motorpoint Arena, with Welsh ace Gerwyn Price set to take to the stage in his home country against Gary Anderson.
Michael van Gerwen plays Peter Wright in a repeat of the 2017 Premier League final, while Rob Cross takes on Simon Whitlock, Raymond van Barneveld plays Mensur Suljovic and Michael Smith will clash with Daryl Gurney.
Wayne runs the rule over five cracking contests, live on Sky Sports Action and Main Event from 7pm.
Smith played poorly against Gary Anderson last week, but got away with it. He claimed the UK Open Qualifier title on Sunday, so his form is really good.
Daryl was a bit more consistent when he pulled out a draw against Raymond van Barneveld last Thursday, so this is a tough one to call.
The consistency will probably put Daryl on the cusp of a win, but for some reason I've got a draw in my head about this one - I can't separate the pair of them.
Cross has had a terrible time hasn't he? Since winning the World Championship he has hardly won a match. I think he should still be good enough to beat Simon Whitlock even though the Aussie put in the performance of the night against Mensur Suljovic last week.
That was Simon's second highest average on TV ever, so there's no reason to think that's he's going to produce that kind of form again and I don't think he will.
Rob Cross is by far the consistent out of the two so I'm going for a Cross win purely because his performances are more consistent. Cross needs to stop this slide because winning games are proving hard for him. He will win this one 7-4.
It is a repeat of the 2017 Premier League final and if Peter misses a handful of darts to win again, he won't be best pleased.
If Wright plays with the same darts as last week then he's going to get annihilated. I think of a worse darts set up that he has ever used. But if he changes back to what he normally uses then he will be fine and should run Van Gerwen close.
If Van Gerwen, just like last week against Cross, puts a player under pressure then they will wilt. He played at the Worlds, but just got beat because he missed doubles. He's playing well again, so nothing has really changed.
Peter Wright needs to start getting wins, but Van Gerwen has carried on and will win this one 7-2.
The Cardiff crowd are going to get on Gary's back and Price will be egging on the Motorpoint Arena something chronic and so he should do. He's got to let Gary know that he's in Wales.
If Gary is injured with that bad back, then Gerwyn is a good bet to cause an upset. He's got some bottle and he's got some firepower as well. He knows what to do and when to do it.
This is all about Gary Anderson. If he's fit, he wins. If He's slightly injured and can't follow through properly, then he loses. Anderson to win if his back isn't a factor 7-5. If his back is a factor, I'm going for Price to win 7-5 and wind him up.
I can't separate these two. I'm a massive Barney fan and I think he's got what it takes to win anything still.
Mensur was magnificent last week against Whitlock, but didn't get a point, while Barney ground out a point against Gurney without playing particularly well. He might play better while Mensur might not play to the same standard.
I think it's really tough to call. Mensur is without doubt one of the best finishers and one of the best double hitters in the world. If Barney plays brilliant, he wins. However, I'm going for another draw here.
The 2018 Premier League is heading to the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff this Thursday night with coverage underway from 7pm on Sky Sports Main Event & Action. 15 weeks of tungsten action will continue through to the season's conclusion with the Play-Offs on May 17 at The O2 in London.
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