Van Gerwen v Gurney – 7.15pm
This is a fascinating match. Daryl Gurney’s beaten Van Gerwen in the Players Championship, he’s beaten him twice in the Premier League, 7-5 in Berlin, 8-5 in Manchester, he picked up seven points in the final four weeks to pip Gerwyn Price and Mensur Suljovic to the fourth spot, so he’s in really good form.
He’s a fantastic player and will love it at the O2, but MVG is the world number one.
Here’s an incredible stat: he’s never lost a Premier League semi-final. Six years, six appearances, six wins. He’s won every single year.
He’s won the Premier League the last three years, but he hasn’t been at his brilliant best recently. He’s averaged 101.94, which is good, but he’s had higher. His success rate on the doubles is 49% this season. It’s the highest in this year’s tournament.
I’m expecting Van Gerwen to get the job done against Gurney. He’ll put up a fight, but a 10-6 victory for Mighty Mike stands out to me at 11/2.
Cross v Wade – 8.15pm
It’s a long time since James Wade has been this far in the Premier League. He won it in 2009 and is no stranger to the playoffs as a two time runner-up as well, but he is featuring on finals night for the first time since 2013.
He’s the only semi-finalist who has beaten all three of the remaining rivals in this year’s competition, so he’s playing the best darts he’s ever played in his career right now in my view.
Wade beat Rob Cross 8-6 in Leeds last week, it was phenomenal display.
On the head-to-head you can’t split them, with six apiece between them. Cross finished fourth twelve months ago, he just missed out on top-spot last week because of that defeat.
He’s played well this year, but in one or two of the big games, like against Van Gerwen, he hasn’t played well and buckled.
So I’m fancying an upset here. James Wade can do a job on Rob Cross in a tight game – he won’t roll over, that’s for sure – but this should be a really good battle.
A 10-8 Wade victory is a tasty 8/1 at PaddyPower.com.
I’d fancy Cross to get more 180s than Wade (4/7), but it won’t matter on the final result. Wade to win at 5/4 is my pick.
BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND – APRIL 25: Michael van Gerwen of the Netherlands shakes hands with James Wade of England following their match during the 2019 Unibet Premier League Darts at Arena Birmingham on April 25, 2019 in Birmingham, England. (Photo by Alex Burstow/Getty Images)
The Final
So, with MVG and James Wade likely to meet in the final in my view, we should have a cracking final in store.
I’d have to go for Van Gerwen to win again though. He’s 8/15 in the outright market at the moment, and the straight forecast of MVG first and Wade second is 5/2.
For scoreline predictions, I’d fancy it to finish around 11-7 to the Dutchman.
It should be a magnificent night to finish an epic 17 weeks of competition.
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