Michael van Gerwen
Michael van Gerwen

John Part's Premier League preview: Week 4 in Brighton


Three-time world darts champion John Part brings you his match-by-match analysis and predictions for week four of the Premier League!

The 2017 Premier League Darts season continues on Thursday February 23 at The Brighton Centre, featuring Michael van Gerwen's clash with Adrian Lewis, and here John Part previews the action in his weekly Sporting Life column.

Over the coming months Part, who triumphed in two PDC World Championship finals against Phil Taylor and Kirk Shepherd to add to his BDO crown of 1994, will bring you match-by-match analysis and predictions ahead of every round of the 16-week season, including the finale at London's O2 on May 18.

So here are Darth Maple best bets for Thursday's games in Brighton, which will be screened live on Sky Sports from 1900 GMT...

Premier League Darts: Week four predictions

Click on each match for more Sky Bet odds

JOHN PART'S TREBLE: Klaasen, Taylor & Wright all to win at 7.72/1

Dave Chisnall (1/1) v Jelle Klaasen (15/8) (Draw 7/2)

Jelle may be at the bottom of the table but I don't see him as the worst player by any means. He's been playing fairly well and has so far come up against the best three in the world in Peter Wright, Gary Anderson and Michael van Gerwen. 

Chizzy got his season up and running with a good win against Kim Huybrechts last week but that doesn't convince me he'll be consistent and play well every week.

Jelle is the outsider here but has an edge on the head-to-head record having won three of their last five meetings since the start of last year so there's reason to side with him here.

He's 15/8 just to win but I prefer to take Sky Bet's Player Performance bet of 7/2 which requires Jelle to win, score over 2.5 180s and have a checkout of over 99.5

These are very reasonable targets for Jelle and he should make both of them if he wins the match, which I expect him to. And I like these bets because it doesn't matter if Chizzy hits more 180s or makes a higher checkout - the only thing we don't want him to do is win!

There is another price I like in this opener, which could be quite a tense affair given both players' position in the table and that's for there to be under 7.5 180s, a checkout of under 120.5 and fewer than 11.5 legs at 7/2.

The 180s mark is the biggest danger because of Chizzy but it's the fixture which looks most likely to be a scrappy one.

Michael van Gerwen (2/9) v Adrian Lewis (7/1) (Draw 7/1)

Michael's season is going very well but he has new incentive to hammer someone after what happened in an exhibition against Peter Wright in Cheltenham last Friday - he lost 4-0 despite averaging 120.86, with Peter averaging 133.60.

And we know what he can do when he has something to prove after suffering a setback, even if it's 'just' an exhibition which we can't dismiss out of hand given how high the standard was and both players clearly wanting to win.

After his disappointing weekend in the first batch of UK Open Qualifiers, he thrashed Wright in the Premier League before going on to hit two nine-darters in one match the following day in Wigan.

Therefore, I'm expecting a fired up performance from MVG and I'm backing him to win, hit the highest checkout and score more 180s than Lewis at 11/8.

The 180s is the concern as he does switch but it shouldn't be a problem if it's a one-sided match which could prompt Adrian's 'not again' attitude.

It's hard to argue with Adrian being as big as 7/1 and there's no real reason to believe he can do anything momentous here after such a lacklustre performance last week against James Wade.

He does have the ability to win but is there evidence at the moment to predict that happening on Thursday?

Gary Anderson (8/15) v James Wade (7/2) (Draw 4/1)

James is in good form right now and he's also enjoyed a fair bit of recent success against Anderson, winning five of their last seven matches while the two before them in last year's Premier League were both draws.

Gary does handle adversity well and isn't one to panic so he won't be too fazed after defeat to Peter Wright last week but nevertheless there is more pressure on him than his opponent, who is unbeaten on five points.

James will be feeling comfortable and confident heading into this match and the 7/2 is a big price when you take into account his recent head-to-head record.

But there's the temptation to be greedy here and back Wade at 14/1 in the Player Performance market which requires him to win, score more than 2.5 180s and have a checkout of over 92.5.

He's one of the game's best finishers from 100 to 120 and he'll more than likely need to do a couple of these if he's to beat Gary while three 180s isn't exactly a tall order either.

Gary is world class so we won't include this match in our treble this week but it remains a really good opportunity for Wade which I feel he can grasp.

Phil Taylor (4/9) v Kim Huybrechts (4/1) (Draw 9/2)

Phil looks great and produced a fine performance against Raymond van Barneveld last week while Kim had a disappointing loss to Chizzy and will feel he's in big trouble.

He's only beaten Taylor once in their 12 competitive matches so there's not much confidence to draw from there either.

Phil is a good blue chip bet at 4/9 and an obvious inclusion for my treble but the correct scoreline of 7-3 catches my eye at 11/2.

I don't normally predict exact scorelines but it does give a bit more juice to the bet plus it doesn't get affected by Taylor's switching.

Kim can play well enough to get three legs even if he's messed up in the head a bit after that very disappointing loss in a match he would have felt was vital to win. 

Premier League spots are a rare commodity given how many players are in contention and he'll be feeling pressure to keep it. He's performed fairly well in terms of averages but hasn't delivered so far under pressure.

Raymond van Barneveld (15/8) v Peter Wright (11/10) (Draw 7/2)

Peter is red hot at the moment - not just because of his superb victory over Gary Anderson in the Premier League last week but also the 4-0 exhibition victory over MVG we mentioned earlier when he averaged a staggering 133.60.

He was extremely good last week with those four ton plus finishes which he had to make given Anderson's finishing was also hot so he'll be very confident this week. 

Meanwhile Barney started the season brightly but he's gone a bit cool and doesn't seem to enjoy playing Peter these days having only beaten him once in their last seven competitive matches since the start of 2015 although there were two Premier League draws in that sequence.

Wright is a good price at 11/10 but again I'm going to look to the Player Performance option where you can get 6/1 on him winning, scoring over 3.5 180s and making a checkout of over 103.5.

The hardest part is the 180s but given his form he can do this and his checkouts last week means we should be confident of him going over 103.5 this week.

He may have had a slow start to the year but it's all coming good for him now and perhaps the success he's enjoyed in the floor play recently at the UK Open qualifiers has given him that regular competitive exercise needed to get his game back on track.

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