The Premier League Darts run-in explained
Friday 5 May 2017 07:25, UK
Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright have qualified for Premier League Darts’ Finals Night on May 18 but, with two matches before then, which two players will join them?
The remaining six players all have a chance of qualifying for The O2 extravaganza so Sky Sports assess the likelihood…
Gary Anderson
Remaining fixtures against: James Wade (Sheffield), Michael van Gerwen (Aberdeen)
Form: Inconsistent. The Flying Scotsman has exchanged wins and losses in his most recent four matches. Anderson has seen off Raymond van Barneveld and Peter Wright but, in between those results, lost to Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis.
He hasn’t cemented his spot yet. He’s not looked that great every week, has he? If he wins on Thursday, he’s in. He might even scrape in with a point. But he’ll want to make it absolutely final with two points, then he can let the others scrap.
Phil Taylor
Remaining fixtures against: Michael van Gerwen (Sheffield), Adrian Lewis (Aberdeen)
Form: Worrying. Taylor has lost three out of four (suffering losses against Peter Wright, Dave Chisnall and James Wade).
Phil may not even need another point. His leg difference is +1, he’s not in a bad position. But unfortunately for him, he’s playing Michael van Gerwen next. The others will think: ‘Phil’s in trouble’. It looks a certainty that it will come down to Phil v Adrian next week.
Raymond van Barneveld
Remaining fixtures against: Dave Chisnall (Sheffield), Peter Wright (Aberdeen)
Form: Shocking. Barney has lost three in a row, and each result has been pretty convincing. Gary Anderson, Michael van Gerwen and Adrian Lewis have put him to the sword in consecutive weeks.
He’s not showing the confidence of someone who is making a run for it. He’s looked tired in recent weeks. He’s showing the stresses and strains of someone who is hoping.
Live Premier League Darts
Adrian Lewis
Remaining fixtures against: Peter Wright (Sheffield), Phil Taylor (Aberdeen)
Form: Diminishing. Last week's 7-0 defeat to Michael van Gerwen came after losses to James Wade and Dave Chisnall. It's been downhill since his nine-darter in Liverpool.
A couple of weeks ago Lewis was the form man - he'd hit a nine-darter and won five out of six matches. Just as quickly as the form arrived, it disappeared. Last week he was really poor - two defeats took the situation out of his hands, and getting whitewashed by Michael van Gerwen made such a big difference to his leg difference.
Dave Chisnall
Remaining fixtures against: Raymond van Barneveld (Sheffield), James Wade (Aberdeen)
Form: Outstanding. Avoided defeat in three matches against big-hitters Michael van Gerwen, Phil Taylor and Gary Anderson - the draws with Van Gerwen and Anderson could easily have been wins, too.
Chizzy is playing the best darts that he's played all season. He's unbeaten in five games but, the daft thing is, he'll be disappointed by drawing three of those. He's playing with confidence and, although he's got a lot to do, I'd give him a chance.
James Wade
Remaining fixtures against: Gary Anderson (Sheffield), Dave Chisnall (Aberdeen)
Form: Decent. But wins over Adrian Lewis and Phil Taylor have been offset by losses in between.
Very, very slim chance. He's three points behind but his leg difference is the worst in the field. He needs to win two matches, and win big. I'm not sure that he's in the form to do that. He's in the hunt, by his fingertips, but you'd get very long odds on James to qualify.
Premier League Darts in Sheffield is on Thursday, live on Sky Sports from 7pm.
