Sports Blog 02/02/2015: Season Preview – Premier League of Darts, Thursday 5th February 2015

After the Masters at Milton Keynes came to a close on Sunday, it is a fast turnaround for the PDC as the Premier League of Darts gets underway on Thursday.

As always, Spreadex are offering fixed odds and spread betting on all the games, as well as odds on the Outright Index and overall Tournament Winner. Our Outright Index is made up of 60 points for the winner, 40 for the runner-up, 20 for a losing semi; 5th-8th get 10 points and the bottom 2 get a big fat zero.



With this in mind we look ahead to the first set of matches on Thursday, the choice of which is a replay of the PDC World Darts Championship final, as darts legend Phil Taylor takes on the man who bested him to this year’s World Title, Gary Anderson. Taylor had a dismal Masters, going out in the first round whilst Anderson fared better by reaching the semi-finals. However, despite Anderson being in the better form, Phil Taylor is Phil Taylor, and after winning the League for the first 4 years in a row, with 6 wins to his name and an unbeaten streak of 44 games between 2005 and 2008 he cannot be counted out. Taylor is at an Outright Index spread of 31-34 compared to Anderson’s 27-30. However it’s a tough game to call, with choice odds of a Anderson/Taylor 10-3 Supremacy spread betting quote of -1.5-1.5; Taylor is at 6/5 fixed odds to win the match, narrowly beating out Anderson at 7/5.

There is another tough call, but for very different reasons, as Dave Chisnall takes on Peter Wright. Both have failed to set the League on fire since its inception, with Wright’s 5th place finish last year narrowly beating Chisnall’s 7th place end to 2014 for bragging rights. With both finishing the Masters in the quarter-final stage, there isn’t much between either player, and our Spreadex traders have reflected this in the price, offering a Chisnall/Wright 10-3 Supremacy spread betting quote of -1.5-1.5 with both men at 10/3 fixed odds to win the match. Wright just beats out Chisnall on the Outright Index at a spread of 8-11 and 7-10 respectively, but these middle-of-the-road players are almost impossible to separate.

Thursday then sees a League first timer take on an old pro, as Stephen Bunting takes on 2009 winner James Wade in a replay of their World Championship second round game. Bunting won that tie before eventually losing a narrow quarter-final to Raymond van Barneveld. The former BDO World Champion will be looking to build on this entry to the PDC whilst Wade will be trying to recapture the past glories that have eluded him of late. A Masters quarter-final loss to Gary Anderson isn’t the best preparation to the League, but nevertheless our traders have another tough call on their hands, offering a Bunting/Wade 10-3 Supremacy spread betting quote of -1.5-1.5. The League newcomer is preferred in both the Outright Index and fixed odds for the match, at 15-18 and 13/10 respectively, compared to Wade’s 14-17 and 11/9 odds.

Someone who isn’t lacking in form is Raymond van Barneveld, last year’s League champion, World Championship semi-finalist and recent Masters’ runner-up. After this run of form van Barneveld will be confident ahead of his match against Adrian Lewis, 2011 league winner and semi-finalist in this year’s Masters. In fact, van Barneveld dispatched of Lewis in the third round of the World Championship, denying Lewis a quarter-final place for the first time since 2009. However, Lewis is still fancied over van Barneveld, at an Outright Index of 18-21 to the latter’s 9-12, and a Lewis/van Barneveld 10-3 Supremacy spread betting quote of 2-5.

Finally we have another first-timer, Kim Huybrechts, facing a difficult opening game against Masters 2015 Champion, World Championship semi-finalist and last year’s League runner-up, Michael van Gerwen. Van Gerwen sits atop Spreadex’s Outright Index at 32-35, in stark contrast to Huybrechts’ 5-8 spread. Compared to the tough to call spreads offered elsewhere, this match has a Van Gerwen/Huybrechts 10-3 Supremacy spread betting quote of 9-12, and fixed match odds of 40/85 for Mighty Mike. Yet with Phil Taylor falling flat in the first round of the Masters, upsets can happen, and Huybrechts would do good to hold onto that idea with all his might.