The top two in the world are playing brilliantly and will both win again in Belfast
There is little doubt that Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen are playing the best darts on the planet at the moment and both players will pick up wins in the Betway Premier League this week in Belfast.
Van Gerwen has won all three of his Betway Premier League contests this year so far whilst Taylor has emerged victorious from his last two, dropping just three legs in the process.
Away from this competition they have also enjoyed themselves in the UK Open qualifiers, each winning one of the three events held over the weekend in Wigan.
Between them, the pair have the two highest averages in the Betway Premier League thus far and the two best checkout ratios, Taylor’s a whopping 55.8%.
Against anyone but each other they will be the clear favourites and it is no different this week as the Power faces Peter Wright and MVG meets Adrian Lewis.
Individually there is not a great deal of value in backing each man but the double looks well worth it at 6/5. It is very hard to see either the struggling Snakebite or the inconsistent Jackpot troubling these two powerhouses.
Taylor and MVG will have cemented their places in the top four come the end of the evening.
Also on course for a win in Northern Ireland is Gary Anderson, who is facing James Wade. The world champion suffered his first defeat of the campaign last week but with that coming against Van Gerwen it will not bother him too much.
Wade was pretty poor in his draw with Dave Chisnall last week and wasn’t exactly pulling up trees in the UK Open qualifiers over the weekend.
Anderson is playing the better darts and comfortably has the better of the head to head between the players, winning 19 contests to Wade’s 11, including the last two. Back the Scot at 10/11.
Stephen Bunting and Raymond van Barneveld are both searching for their first wins of the season in the Betway Premier League and when they meet this Thursday it is more likely to be Barney celebrating that elusive victory.
Bunting was another who had a very ordinary weekend in Wigan, going out early on all three days, whilst Barney reached a semi-final on Sunday, only losing by the odd leg.
Raymond will have been gutted he did not get over the line and defeat Peter Wright last week, but if he averages over 100 again then he will surely beat the Bullet, who managed just 84.6 in getting thrashed by Taylor last time out.
These two have met twice in the PDC and Barney has won them both, he looks good to make it a hat-trick this week at 11/8.
Finally, Dave Chisnall looks worth backing against the struggling Kim Huybrechts at EVENS. Chizzy is one of only three players still undefeated and whilst he is not really playing at his best, he is finding ways of getting results anyway.
When his game really does click into gear then he could be unstoppable.
In contrast, Huybrechts has just one point from three games and was quite lucky to get that with a draw against Lewis last week.
The Belgian has won just three of the 12 meetings between these two, losing six of the last seven, so Chisnall certainly provides the value.
Dave Chisnall to beat Kim Huybrechts @ EVENS
Gary Anderson to beat James Wade @ 10/11
Michael van Gerwen & Phil Taylor to win @ 2.20
Raymond van Barneveld to win @ 11/8
