Thursday 29 March 2018 22:46, UK
Premier League Darts returns on Thursday night, live on Sky Sports Action, featuring the Dutch derby between Michael van Gerwen and Raymond van Barneveld. Wayne Mardle looks into his crystal ball...
We will know who is in danger of elimination from the Premier League in the penultimate week of the first phase as we head over to Northern Ireland.
Daryl Gurney will appear on his home stage against world champion Rob Cross, while Dutch rivals Van Gerwen and Van Barneveld square off.
Peter Wright will play Simon Whitlock, Gary Anderson takes on Mensur Suljovic in a repeat of the 2017 Champions League of Darts final, while Michael Smith plays Gerwyn Price.
Wayne runs the rule over five titanic tungsten contests, live on Sky Sports Action from 7pm.
I was reading quotes from Anderson that he still gets physically sick - that's how nervous he still gets - but he holds himself together probably better than he has ever done these days. I think he'll be just fine after struggling earlier on in the tournament. Mensur has really got to win. He's got the run-in from hell so all he can do is accumulate more points than he's got and hope that it's enough.
I think Anderson will take care of Mensur and I think he will be one of those really hard players to beat now. He will win this one 7-4.
Gerwyn cannot afford not to lose - he needs to win. He's just put himself in a horrible spot with just two draws and he's the only person without a win. He's just not played well. The Premier League started off when he was struggling and I've been in that situation before because it's hard to stop. He's now looking to the end of the tournament and I think that will be in two weeks for him.
I think Michael Smith beats Price 7-4 or 7-5.
I never think that Michael will ever get beat - we know that. But the odds are wrong on Barney to beat Van Gerwen here. If you have a punt you have to back Raymond. This is going to be a quality game. These two normally get involved in high-quality encounters. The last few world championship matches have been absolutely phenomenal, especially THAT semi-final when Michael averaged 114 and Barney 109 - probably one of the best games I've ever seen.
I believe that Michael van Gerwen beats Raymond van Barneveld 7-5 in a last-leg decider. I really do. They'll both be in three-figure averages, but Michael just does enough and gets over the line.
Cross is playing like a world champion, but Gurney is playing very much better than his points suggest - he's playing well. This won't be easy for Rob. Gurney is easily good enough to nick something from the match, but I think Cross just has that extra relentless nature and won't slip up.
This will be another close one, but Cross will win this one 7-4 and make it six wins on the bounce.
There were no positives from Wright's 7-1 hammering at the hands of Raymond van Barneveld last week. But at the weekend he was averaging a ton over the course of the European Open and lost to Michael van Gerwen in the final where he had a dart at bullseye to win it. I really do believe that if Peter uses the same darts as the weekend he will keep a bit of that confidence so long as he starts well and doesn't panic. Whitlock continues to punish people who under-perform or make mistakes against him.
It's a tough one to call but Peter Wright is the better player. I'm going for Snakebite to pick up a real, real important 7-5 win.
Wayne Mardle was speaking to Sky Sports' Raz Mirza. The 2018 Premier League heads to the Echo Arena in Liverpool next Thursday for Judgement Night with coverage underway from 7pm on Sky Sports Action & Sky Sports Mix, which you can find on channel 287, and is free for all Sky customers. Seven weeks of tungsten action will then continue through to the season's conclusion with the Play-Offs on May 17 at The O2 in London.
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