Sports Blog 19/05/2015: Darts Preview – Premier League Darts Play-Offs & Final, Thursday 21st May 2015

The end is nigh: come Thursday evening, the latest Premier League Darts champion will be crowned at London’s O2 Arena!

With Phil Taylor falling at the group stage hurdle for the first time in the competition’s 11 year history, some may fear that Thursday night’s finish will be less than ‘Power’-ful. However, the remaining 4 players have more than proved their talents and will all be gunning for a place in the final, with Spreadex offering an Outright Index 60-40-20-10 (with the winner receiving 60, the runner-up receiving 40 and the losing semi-finalists receiving 10) spread alongside a host of other spread betting and fixed odds opportunities.



To reach the final the remaining players must overcome a best of 19 leg play-off match, the first of which sees Dave Chisnall take on Gary Anderson. Chisnall narrowly missed out on the top spot, on 22 points to van Gerwen’s 23, after drawing with Mighty Mike in his final pre-play-off game. 8th on the PDC’s Order of Merit, Chisnall has the least experience in the league, with this being only his second appearance.

However, he has already far surpassed his 7th place finish last year, and has already beaten Anderson twice this season, 7-2 in phase 1 and 7-3 in phase 2. He has also, alongside van Gerwen, won the most matches in the league, with both men on 10; only losing one more match than van Gerwen left Chisnall in 2nd place. This has left Chisnall with an Outright Index spread of 30-33 with fixed odds to win the tournament of 11/2.



Gary Anderson has had a comparatively spotty tournament so far, especially in phase 2 where he lost 3 of his 7 matches. However, wins against Adrian Lewis and, importantly, Phil Taylor in his final 2 games ensured Anderson finished 3rd on 20 points, the same position the Scotsman holds on the PDC’s Order of Merit where only van Gerwen and Taylor sit above him.

Despite losing his previous 2 games to Chisnall, Anderson’s previous form in the competition, which he won in 2011 and reached the semi-finals of last year, has given him the edge going into the play-off on Thursday, at an Outright Index spread of 35-38 with fixed odds of 5/2. In terms of the play-off itself, our traders fancy the Scotsman at an Anderson/Chisnall 10-3 Supremacy spread betting quote of 2.5-5.5, with our clients going the other way.

The second play-off is the battle of the Dutchmen, as the formidable Michael van Gerwen takes on last year’s champion Raymond van Barneveld. Sitting in 13th on the PDC’s Order of Merit, van Barneveld is technically the lowest ranked player left in the competition. Yet this is a man that bested Phil Taylor in last year’s play-off before beating van Gerwen to win the title AND beat van Gerwen in phase 2 of the 2015 season, so to underestimate him is perhaps unwise.

Yet at the same time, his opponent is widely regarded at this point in time as the best player in the world, something that has gone against van Barneveld and left him at an Outright Index spread of 26-29 with fixed odds of 7/1, both of which are the worst of the remaining players.



Finally, we come to Michael van Gerwen. Still PDC’s Order of Merit No.1, Mighty Mike only failed to sit in atop the league table in the 1st and 5th weeks of the season. Winner in 2013 and runner up last year, van Gerwen finished first with 23 points after drawing his last phase 2 game against Chisnall.

Yet he isn’t impervious to defeat. van Gerwen beat van Barneveld 7-2 in their phase 1 meeting, as well as beating Chisnall and Anderson, and after winning his first phase 2 game Mighty Mike was on a 10 game unbeaten streak. However, losses to van Barneveld and Anderson (as well as Adrian Lewis) and a draw with Chisnall left van Gerwen’s form tarnished, and made his no. 1 position look shakier than it had throughout phase 1. Regardless, van Gerwen has an Outright Index spread of 43-46, is odds on favourite to win the tournament at 4/5 and has the advantage over his fellow Dutchman at a van Gerwen/van Barneveld 10-3 Supremacy sports spread betting quote of 11-14.