Premier League Darts predictions, inc MVG v Anderson

The 2017 Premier League Darts season kicks off on tonight (February 2) at Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena, featuring Michael van Gerwen's clash with Gary Anderson in a repeat of the recent world championship final, and here John Part previews the new campaign 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 also 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.First up, Darth Maple looks at the key outright betting markets...

Premier League Darts: Title betting

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It's virtually a foregone conclusion that Michael van Gerwen will finish in the top four but 'when' he does his odds to win the title won't be much shorter than they are now, especially if he ends up meeting Gary Anderson in the semis or final. So at this moment in time I think the bet that has most appeal from a value point of view is Raymond van Barneveld at 28/1 each-way. He's won it before and we all know he's capable of going on a roll while he seems to be enjoying his darts a lot more these days. I always think you play your best darts when you're enjoying it and he seems so relaxed without pressure. The only question mark about him is how long he'll keep playing rather than his quality. That all stopped after his Premier League win and his victory over MVG at the 2016 World Championship. He's been low ranked for so long now it's a non-issue and nobody cares because it's Barney. Everyone knows what he can do, and even in defeat to MVG at the Worlds he produced an amazing display.

Top Four

Apart from Michael van Gerwen I wouldn't say there's anyone else you'd consider an absolute lock for the top four. Gary Anderson, Peter Wright and Phil Taylor are all odds-on to reach the play-offs but considering I think Barney is a good bet to get through at 9/4 for the reasons mentioned above, one of those would have to miss out if I'm right. That 9/4 isn't as eye-opening as his overall title price of 28/1 each-way but realistically you'd expect him to finish fourth if he does go through and that would mean a probable semi-final with van Gerwen.

Relegation

Overall it is a superb talent pool of players which makes it difficult to judge who will fail. I'd say the top four in the title betting are almost immune because of their overall consistency but of the other six I can see any of them disappearing and being the one who has a bad season. The pool of six fighting not to go down have all shown signs of form at times in recent months but also signs of weakness although I don't think you can say of them are in over their heads this year which perhaps could have been said in previous seasons.

Season specials

Michael van Gerwen is even money to hit the most 180s during the season and this is a bet I like a lot, especially because it includes the play-offs which he's almost certain to be involved in. This obviously gives him one or two more matches than most of his rivals although on the flip side you'd expect most of his matches to be less than 10 legs and he tends to switch more than his main rival in this market, Gary Anderson. Even so, he hit 73 last season which was 19 more than Anderson in second.An eye-catching RequestABet is there being five or more 170 checkouts in the whole season at 7/2. It's something MVG could do on his own having nailed three of them at the World Championship.There are two other specials involving MVG which some of you may fancy - one for him to go unbeaten through the whole campaign at 12/1 and the other to win every game he plays at 66/1. In a world of darts that Phil Taylor forged, he strives to distinguish himself by achieving things that Taylor never did and further add to his own legend that he's creating. Taylor managed to go unbeaten in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010 but he's never won every game in a single season and in terms of excellence, this is something van Gerwen can do. However, the draw obviously kills this bet so the 12/1 on an unbeaten season is a safer option.

Premier League Darts: Week one predictions

• Click on each match for more Sky Bet's odds

JOHN PART'S TREBLE: Wade, Taylor & Wright all to win at 3.89/1

Kim Huybrechts (9/4) v James Wade (4/5) (Draw 4/1)

James Wade has a great record against Kim Huybrechts, having won 12 of their 16 meetings dating back to 2012 and nine of their last 10. I can't pinpoint exactly why he's owned him so much - perhaps it's Wade being relatively emotionless and unruffled by Kim's passionate body language - but there's something there. So I'm going to back Wade to win but also with the most 180s at 7/2. Kim is more of a 180 man but when you figure the other player will win it can swing this side of the game back the other way. Wade has been averaging in the 90s but he has erratic turns when he can start nailing the maximums and of course he has that reputation for good timing. As a middle player below the very best, Wade is usually pretty reliable at mopping up in these kind of games - and he has to if he's to stay in the hunt for a top-four finish.

Raymond van Barneveld (5/4) v Adrian Lewis (6/4) (Draw 7/2)

There's also head-to-head domination here in recent times, with Barney winning six of their last nine matches going back to the start of 2016 and six of their last seven. Barney is also in a much better place than Adrian Lewis right now and looks more confident and dangerous in his play. A lot of questions are being asked of Lewis about whether he's meeting his potential and you can see he's frustrated. If you're not improving then you become mentally vulnerable and this takes over from positive thinking. Against MVG in the Masters semi-finals on Sunday you could say he lost as early in the first leg when missing six darts at double and that's just another negative road mark in his form. In comparison Barney is enjoying his darts and this should help him get him over the line in a relaxed manner. I wouldn't back against Lewis on the 180s too often but I am going to combine a Barney win and hit the highest checkout at 5/2. He's been producing a lot of high finishes recently, including a 170 at the Masters.

Phil Taylor (8/11) v Dave Chisnall (5/2) (Draw 4/1)Taylor may play with a more relaxed approach having announced he'll retire at the end of the season. Drawing a line in the sand like he's done ends questions over his future and takes the pressure off him a little. As far as this match goes, it's a good starting point for Taylor considering Dave Chisnall has had little success against him in previous meetings. I'm confident Phil will win but you can't really throw in the 180s against Chizzy while I'm not convinced about the high finish either. Chisnall has times when he looks spectacular, especially on the 180s, and he's capable of causing Taylor problems but he's lost that many times against him that his head may get in the way again. So I'm going for Taylor to win but to include in your week one accumulators.

Gary Anderson (3/1) v Michael van Gerwen (8/13) (Draw 4/1)

This is undoubtedly the game of the opening night and with both players in such good form, it's set up to produce some great numbers. Therefore I'm taken by the Match Action bet of there being over 7.5 180s, a high checkout of over 120.5 and over 10.5 legs to be played at 7/2. I expect this to be a well-contested match and a continuation - in terms of quality - of their most recent battle in Sunday's Masters final while it's also a chance for Gary to land a psychological blow. Having lost the last few meetings, he needs to nip MVG's domination in the bud as soon as possible and he'll want to reassert himself having lost his world title. Michael will view the two matches against Anderson as his biggest threat to going unbeaten but he does like a challenge and often performs better in the big games than against lesser opponents. It's all set up to be a very good match.

Peter Wright (4/7) v Jelle Klaasen (3/1) (Draw 9/2)

I like Peter Wright to win this one and he goes into my week one treble but Jelle Klassen enjoyed a pretty good year and I wouldn't go against him in the 180s or checkouts. Overall Klassen should do better than his last appearance in the Premier League but as far as this match goes he's got a poor head-to-head record with Wright, who has won their last six going back to 2013. He may have beaten him in exhibition events during that time but generally there are more variables to take into consideration with those meetings than ranked events - such as motivation levels and how seriously they were taking it. In terms of Wright's overall chances this season, he's never done too well in the Premier League but maybe this is when he breaks through. He'll always grind away but out of the current world top four he's still the one you'd rather play. Maybe he just needs a bit more luck and someone else to do the dirty work for him by knocking out van Gerwen, who he always seems to play in finals!