Night eight predictions, betting tips, acca, order of play and Sky Sports TV time

Darts Betting Tips: Premier League Night Eight

1pt Wright and MVG to hit 2+ 180s and a 100+ checkout each at 6/1 (Sky Bet)

1pt Peter Wright wins the night on 10/1. (William Hill, bet365, BetVictor)

1pt Chris Dobey with 2+ 180s and a 100+ checkout at 13/8 (William Hill)

Skybet Odds | Paddy power | Betfair Sportsbook

Thursday, March 23: Eighth Night

• TV coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
• Format: Quarterfinals, Best of 11 Legs
• Venue: Utilita Arena, Newcastle

Michael van Gerwen (2/5) vs. Peter Wright (7/4)

• head to head: 72-24, 2 draws (TV: 43-8, 2 draws)
• 2022/2023 head to head: 8-1 (TV: 7-1)
• PL average: 98.60 – 94.46
• PL 180s per leg: 0.30 – 0.20
• PL checkout percentage: 41.70% – 34.56%
• Legs won with 100+ checkout: 9.7% – 25.0%

Has anyone else had enough of this fixture!?

Just by the quirk of how the table looks after seven weeks, all four of Thursday’s quarter-finals tonight are identical to those in Nottingham and this is indeed the third Premier League night in a row Michael van Gerwen meets Peter Wright.

The Dutchman won his semi-final 6-1 two weeks ago and then beat him by the same tally last week to record eight wins from their last nine meetings since February 2022.

Despite being immediately stunned 6-0 by Chris Dobey despite averaging 100, MVG bounced back from his first-ever Premier League whitewash and won Sunday’s Players Championship tournament in Germany with a series of solid performances that ended in a final win over Josh Rock culminated.

A day later he was beaten by Gerwyn Price in a hard-fought encounter in which both players battled to play their best, but overall he will be in high spirits after claiming his first ranked title of the season.

Wright has once again opted to miss the weekend action, meaning he has only competed in two Players Championship events and they were back in early February. He may play the long game to avoid burnout later in the campaign but at this rate his Premier League hopes will be difficult to salvage.

He has only had one win in the competition so far and his averages against MVG in the last two meetings have been 91.85 and 89.06 – although the Dutchman has yet to play any blockbuster darts. He just has to start faster.

However, this short format can always throw up surprises, and Snakebite will be working very hard behind the scenes to recover vigorously. No one can say he can’t, and even during this sticky phase of form, Wright is tempting at over 2/1. Especially when MVG plays hittable darts. Not to take away from his streak of three nightly wins, but he averaged in his mid-90s in the vast majority of those nine games, and other players didn’t play their best.

If Wright can pick up a second win of the season and find some momentum at Newcastle, who says he can’t go the distance and get five big points down the board? He’s too good not to pull himself together sooner or later.

As for this match, I really like the special of both players in that they each hit two or more 180s (both hit two in just seven legs last week) and also a 100+ checkout apiece. Snakebite won a quarter of his legs on a 100+ finish while MVG hit second most of them all with nine.

Verdict: 4-6

Dimitri Van den Bergh (19/20) vs. Nathan Aspinall (4/5)

• head to head: 10-5 (TV: 7-1)
• 2022/2023 head to head: 3-0 (TV: 2-0)
• PL average: 96.68 – 94.21
• PL 180s per leg: 0.28 – 0.29
• PL checkout percentage: 41.35% – 33.52%
• Legs won with 100+ checkout: 10.9% – 15.5%

Last week, I tipped this game to serve the most 180s from all four quarterfinals, but they finished second in a three-way tie, four to two behind Smith vs. Dobey.

Unfortunately, none of the players got off the ground in 10 legs of spasmodic darts, with Dimitri Van den Bergh incredibly extending his winning streak against Nathan Aspinall to 10 matches since July 2020.

That series includes just two games this year – both in the Premier League – and based on their stats in this competition you’d probably make Van den Bergh slight favorites despite being a point behind in the table.

Aspinall opted to miss the last two Players Championship events while the Belgian put up some decent runs on both days despite some inconsistent performances.

It’s a coin toss when it comes to picking a winner and also in the 180 fight as both players have very similar maximum ratios per leg this season. I think I’ll stay clear.

Verdict: 4-6

Gerwyn Price (8/15) vs. Jonny Clayton (11/8)

• head to head: 17-10 (TV: 9-7)
• 2022/2023 head to head: 5-3 (TV: 5-3)
• PL average: 95.52 – 94.55
• PL 180s per leg: 0.27 – 0.23
• PL checkout percentage: 39.08% – 40.35%
• Legs won with 100+ checkout: 8.8% – 6.5%

Gerwyn Price defeated his compatriot for a fourth consecutive week en route to his second nighttime title of the season – and played some great darts in the process.

After posting a very respectable 97 average in a 6-4 triumph over Jonny Clayton, he surpassed 100 in his next two games as he worked his way up to second in the table and he now wants to move on and his place is cemented by the first four.

Price threw 10 maximums in the 30 legs he played last Thursday and also weighed in with three 100+ checkouts while enjoying a very good run in Monday’s Players Championship event before being penalized for a lackluster performance by Gary Anderson in the penalized in the semifinals.

Suddenly suffering a couple of second-round losses, Clayton comes back from Germany with a point to prove in the Premier League, where he currently sits seventh in the table and has only reached one final.

Price is the fair favorite here and it’s also worth throwing most 180s, even though they were tied with two apiece last Thursday.

Verdict: 6-4

Michael Smith (8/15) vs. Chris Dobey (11/8)

• head to head: 4-4 (TV: 1-2)
• 2022/2023 head to head: 1-2 (TV: 1-2)
• PL average: 97.00 – 97.02
• PL 180s per leg: 0.29 – 0.28
• PL checkout percentage: 38.36% – 40.32%
• Legs won with 100+ checkout: 16.4% – 14.0%

Michael Smith is going through a rough patch at the moment and Chris Dobey took full advantage of that last Thursday to battle past him 6-4 en route to his second final of the season.

Bully Boy subsequently missed the weekend’s Players Championship events, saying: “People ask me why I’m not in Germany. I’ve been feeling really bad since Minehead Saturday and I just can’t shake it. But there were no excuses to keep fighting.”

He reached Thursday night’s final after the UK Open without even remotely doing his best before eventually succumbing to MVG while losing two of his four matches in the Players Championship events this weekend.

Smith averaged slightly higher than Dobey last week, hitting four of the five 180s and being more disciplined on his doubles – but a miss at the tops in the 10th leg proved costly.

Dobey followed that 6-4 win by becoming the first player in Premier League history to gloss over Michael van Gerwen and although the Dutchman averaged over a ton he only allowed him three double tries.

The Northumberland ace played reasonably well against Gerwyn Price in the final only to lose 6-4 but his three-point win has kept him in touch with the top four ahead of his homecoming in Newcastle.

He will have been looking forward to this all season and will not want to risk a poor start against the world champions if he wants to be on this stage for a second or third time.

I fancy a little surprise, but he needs to improve on his disappointing performances in Germany over the weekend, where his highest three-game average was just 92.71 and his lowest was 81.09.

Dobey’s 180-per-leg ratio is generally pretty good, and he’s also won 14.0% of his legs on a 100+ checkout – including two in the win over MVG last week – so I like William Hill’s price of 13/8 very good when he hits 2+ 180s and also with a finish higher than 99.

Verdict: 4-6