We are really getting down to the business end of the 2012 Premier League darts betting season now, with just five weeks remaining in the race for the top four spots. Phil Taylor remains unstoppable and can wrap up top spot in the regular season this week if results go his way. Meanwhile the battle behind him for a top four place remains pretty tight, with just four points separating bottom from second place. So everything is still on the line, and this where a couple of back to back wins can pay huge dividends. We are off to the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield this week, for an important evening in Premier League Darts betting.
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Standings: Taylor 17pts, Whitlock 10pt, Barneveld 10pts, Lewis 9pts, Wade 8pts, Anderson 6pts, Painter 6pts, Hamilton 6pts
James Wade V Gary Anderson
England’s James would couldn’t follow up his previous week’s demolition job of an 8-0 win over Simon Whitlock last week. Wade went down against Adrian Lewis and was heavily out-gunned in that. Last week’s results dropped Wade outside of the top four, but there is still a lot to play for, because he is just one point out of the running. So this is going to be a big week for him, as he takes on Scot Gary Anderson, who is two points behind him. However, Wade has played an extra match, so he really needs to keep Anderson off his heels with a win here. Anderson goes for a double header this week to make up his matches after missing a week. He has been sadly lacking a bit of an edge in this season’s Premier League, which is s surprise for the defending champion. Expected a bit more, and he went down heavily last week 8-2 against Whitlock. But if he can rattle off two wins on Thursday, he will be right back in contention again. Can see Wade just edging this one though, and getting some revenge for an 8-5 defeat earlier in the season.
Wade Evens, Anderson 11/8, Draw 9/2 at Totesport
Simon Whitlock v Kevin Painter
The Aussie Wizard Whitlock, bounced back from a whitewash against James Wade the previous week, to destroy defending Premier League champion Gary Anderson 8-2 last week. Again, this all points to the complete unpredictability surrounding Whitlock, but he has played himself up into second place in the table ahead of this week’s round of matches. Really needs to back up what he did last week with another win to consolidate his position Whitlock will be faovurite against Painter, who has now stretched his losing streak to four. Painter’s solid start to the season has transformed into struggles to get the job finished on the night. Battled well against Raymond van Barneveld last week, but fell short. Not in the confident mood really, so would back Whitlock to keep up his challenge for a place in the knock outs
Whitlock 8/15, Painter 11/4, Draw 5/1 at Bet365
Phil Taylor v Raymond van Barneveld
On powers the Power, with another win last week. He picked up an 8-6 win over Andy Hamilton, with his opponent putting up a pretty solid fight on the night. Still, that is now eight straight wins in a row and Taylor is a massive seven points ahead of his rivals and sure to book top spot. If Taylor wins again this week and both Whitlock and Barneveld lose, then top spot will have been won by Taylor. Again, and we say it week in week out, his scoring power is just phenomenal. This is another big match though, with Raymond van Barneveld going up against him, and big Barney has also been scoring well this season. Barneveld edged out Kevin Painter last week, but got hammered the week before that against Adrian Lewis. Taylor picked up an 8-4 win over Barneveld earlier in the season as well, so as good as Barneveld has been on his night, The Power should stroll on to another win.
Taylor 2/7, Barneveld 11/2, Draw 11/2 at Paddy Power
Andy Hamilton v Gary Anderson
In his first Premier League season, Andy Hamilton may be sitting at the bottom of the table, but he is not dead and buried yet. He needs to pick up a win against Anderson though to keep himself in with a slim chance of landing a top four place. However, Hamilton has managed only two wins this season, so he has an uphill battle. Hamilton went down 8-2 against Anderson at the start of the season, but the two are level on points going into this week’s fixture. However, this match will be the second of a double header night for Anderson, so he will have had a good warm up and that could work in the Scot’s favour. Anderson is the stronger of the two players, but neither are in any Anderson will be favourite to pick up the points though.
Anderson 5/6, Hamilton 13/8, Draw 9/2 at Bet Victor
