Premier League Darts

After a sublime opening night in Manchester and an exciting follow up in Aberdeen, Premier League Darts hits Belfast in week 3 as the Odyssey Arena plays host to four cracking ties between eight of world’s best darts players.

Phil Taylor got his tournament up and running in Scotland with a tremendous nine dart finish against Kevin Painter, a feat which helped him overcome a 1-4 deficit to triumph 8-5 and move to the top of the standings alongside Aussie Simon Whitlock.

Taylor takes on Raymond Van Barneveld in week 3 and the Power is a red hot 2/5 favourite to continue his fine form.

But the Dutchman is unlikely to go down without a fight and could easily eke out another draw after two stalemates already against Lewis and Whitlock.

The draw is as big as 6/1 and definitely looks the value option as both players may cancel one another out.

Simon Whitlock will be hoping to follow in Taylor’s footsteps against Painter and is a solid 8/15 favourite. Painter produced a fantastic performance in Manchester to sink Gary Anderson however he should find the Wizard too strong.

Anderson bounced back from that defeat to Painter in style in front of his home supporters in Aberdeen, conceding just two legs to Andy Hamilton on his way to the most comfortable victory seen at the tournament so far.

The Scot was regarded as one of the outright favourites before the start of the competition and it would be no surprise to see him go on a long winning run.

Anderson is a 5/6 favourite against James Wade and if the form is anything to go by, he looks set to condemn Wade to his third consecutive loss.

The Machine was outclassed by Whitlock in week 2 and appears to be in a real slump at the moment. The fourth match of the round sees the World Champion Adrian Lewis square up to Andy Hamilton who will be hoping to shed his tag of being rank outsider for the event overall.

Lewis was pegged back by Taylor in week 1 before drawing with Van Barneveld seven days later, so he will be adamant to record his first success of the tournament in order to prevent losing too much ground early on.

Hamilton is a decent player however he is likely to be exposed over the duration of the competition and the classy Lewis can follow on from Gary Anderson and inflict a second heavy trouncing upon the Hammer.

Lewis is without doubt the anchor for any potential multiples at 4/7 and a lucrative treble certainly looks on the cards putting him alongside Whitlock at 8/15 and Anderson at 5/6.

Taylor/Barneveld draw is of course a slightly more speculative option but a worthwhile punt all the same at a lengthy price.

By the end of the Belfast action the main protagonists should definitely be starting to rise to the top and wins for Taylor and Whitlock may well give them daylight over the rest of the field heading into week 4 at the Westpoint Arena, Exeter.

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20/02/2012     © Frixo 2024