Welcome back to the OpenOdds Darts Round Up, in which we will take a look at the first two weeks’ action in the PDC Premier League, and look ahead to Night Three at Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena. How have the challengers so far – John Henderson and Fallon Sherrock – performed, and who is making the early running in this year’s title race?
We’ll also have a look at the rest of the darts news, and have a look at the bookmakers’ best prices for the week ahead. But first, what took place in Nottingham on Night Two of the Premier League?
Sherrock underlines top-level credentials
After a surprising run in the World Championships – where she made it to Round Three and could have gone further – Fallon Sherrock is now in the position to be shot at by cynics. Rolling up to the night’s action in Nottingham, Sherrock would have been aware that none of the “challengers” have taken a win off their opponent since the tournament changed format last year. Add this to her novelty factor, as the first female player to participate in the Premier League, and there was a lot of pressure to perform. That’s precisely what she did, taking a 6-5 lead over Glen Durrant and having the throw to win. Durrant managed to save a draw in the end, but Sherrock has gone closer than any challenger so far to delivering a shock.
Durrant, who won his first week’s match against Michael Smith, now has three points to his name after an unbeaten start to his maiden Premier League campaign. He’ll face Gary Anderson on Night Three, with the Scot having beaten Daryl Gurney and drawn against new World Champion Peter Wright. Anderson is favourite with the tournament sponsors, Unibet, with odds of 21/20 to Durrant’s 19/10. Arguably the best odds are on the draw, which is priced at 16/5; these two are likely to be tough to separate.
Gurney off to a shaky start
A semi-finalist in this competition last season, Daryl Gurney has it all to do if he wants to appear in the knockout stages again. The Northern Irish darter has lost his first two matches in this season’s campaign, losing to former champion Gary Anderson last week and to Michael van Gerwen on Thursday night. Granted, those are some illustrious opponents to lose to, but Gurney has an uphill battle considering that last season, no player lost their first two matches. Against van Gerwen – an opponent he beat twice in this competition last year – the Mallusk man was taken apart, losing 7-1 on the night.
Gurney’s recovery won’t be easy, as his next opponent is Gerwyn Price, the World Number 2 who has drawn both his outings so far, against Rob Cross and Michael Smith. There is an interesting undercurrent to this match, as Gurney and Price have a strained history – which is no surprise, as Price has an uneasy relationship with everyone – and neither man will want to lose the match. The Iceman is solid favourite with Betway, at 8/11, but we’d actually back Gurney in this one. In the past, the combustible Welshman has seemed to get distracted when playing against “rivals”, and Gurney’s too good to stay down for long – his 13/5 odds are attractive.
MvG’s new darts seem to be working
Just as there is one player with no points in the Premier League table, so there is one with a 100% record, and his identity will surprise no-one. Michael van Gerwen opened the competition by gaining a measure of revenge over his World Championship conqueror Peter Wright, and on Night Two was barely detained at all by Gurney. He now takes on tournament newcomer Nathan Aspinall, who has started with a win and a loss against challenger John Henderson and last season’s beaten finalist Rob Cross respectively.
Aspinall was a losing semi-finalist at the World Championship (indeed, he was beaten by van Gerwen), and so has to be taken seriously, but there’s no doubt that the Dutchman starts as favourite here. He’s a comfortable odds-on favourite with every bookmaker, but if you want to take a match score bet, then backing the favourite to win 7-5 is an attractive prospect. Aspinall is good enough to be competitive, and the odds on that scoreline are 7/1 with William Hill.
Elsewhere, Peter Wright is still awaiting his first win of the competition. After losing narrowly to van Gerwen he played out a 6-6 draw with compatriot and fellow World Cup winner Gary Anderson on Night Two. He’s up against Rob Cross next week, and that will be a fascinating encounter. Wright started last season abysmally and finished it as world champion, while Cross matched MvG for much of the year before bowing out early at Ally Pally. We’ll see how the two contenders measure up on Thursday night.
