Premier League Darts - The Wizard to work his magic

Darts guru Ben Levene (@benlevene96) looks ahead to week nine of the Premier League of Darts.

Simon Whitlock v Gerwyn Price| Thursday 5th April 2018, 19:15 | Sky Sports

Betting on the day often means we’ve missed a few slices of value. But that’s not the case here. Simon Whitlock is 3/4 to beat Gerwyn Price, having opened at 4/5 seven-days ago. Let’s take advantage.

At the German Grand Prix, both players were dismissed in their first match. Price showed no signs of a return to form as he averaged 87 in a 6-1 defeat to Luke Humphries. The Iceman has now lost eight consecutive darts matches, with his last win dating back 26-days. On the other hand, Whitlock averaged 91.27 in a 6-4 defeat to Keegan Brown who averaged 103.2.

Gerwyn’s averaged under 94 in all eight of his Premier League matches, and given he’s already eliminated he’ll probably look to have some fun.

While that makes Price a danger, Whitlock is not the sort of guy to refuse chances. The Wizard’s three victories came opportunistically in his opening three games. Since then he’s five without a win but has drawn two of his last three. He’s averaged over 94 in five of his eight Premier League matches, including each of his last three.

Whitlock’s tournament average is 96.24 compared to Price’s 91.54. He’s finished at a rate of 43.14% in comparison to the Iceman’s 36.71%, despite having more attempts at double. From this we can see he’s evidently playing better on the big stage at the moment.

A stat I really like is that Whitlock has not lost any of the three Premier League games this campaign when he’s thrown first. He beat Barney 7-4, before 6-6 draws with Daryl Gurney and Peter Wright.

This reinforces what we already know. The Wizard is tough to break, a consistent player, and a battler. He’s also won each of the last two meetings with Price.

With the throw on side on Thursday evening, we can back the Wizard to work has magic against an out-of-sorts Price at a generous 3/4.