Wednesday 18 March 2015 10:03, UK
Rod Harrington says the pressure is on Adrian Lewis and Raymond van Barneveld as the Premier League heads to Glasgow’s SSE Hydro on Thursday night.
The former world champions find themselves in a battle for survival after managing just one win apiece in their opening six games.
Reigning Premier League champion Van Barneveld is in the bottom two after taking three points from a possible 12, and he desperately needs a victory over old nemesis Phil Taylor to boost his survival hopes.
Lewis, meanwhile, sits just one position outside the danger zone and he faces an in-form James Wade who took the Players Championship by storm last weekend.
It’s probably a good thing that Adrian is on first as he tends to cop a bit of stick when he plays in Scotland! But he hasn’t been playing well, either on television or on the floor.
Lewis was trounced 7-1 by Gary Anderson last week while trying out new darts. He said afterwards that he was quite happy with them and averaged 103.08, but averages can fool you sometimes. Adrian only had seven darts at a double, and that brings your average down.
We all know that Adrian could just rock up to Glasgow and produce a brilliant performance, and because of that he’s very hard to back against. However, on current form you’d have to go with James Wade, who has been playing absolutely brilliantly.
Wade reached two Players Championship finals at the weekend, losing to Gary Anderson on Saturday before defeating Peter Wright in Sunday’s decider. He beat Raymond van Barneveld in Nottingham last week and is playing as solid a game as he has ever done.
If Wade continues this form a major could be on the cards, but Lewis has to step it up. A player of his talent should not be down at the bottom of the table, but a defeat here and he is in real trouble.
There’s no sympathy in this company though. The formbook points to a Wade win but there’s always the danger of Lewis turning up and blowing the dartboard away.
These players looked in trouble a couple of weeks ago but they have given themselves a chance of avoiding elimination. The last time they met was in the UK Open semi-finals, where Peter Wright won 10-0.
Stephen is a great player and is still finding his way in the PDC, but Wright really looks like he’s turned the corner. He’s happy with his darts and is sticking with them. He beat Phil Taylor and Bunting at the UK Open and that followed that up with victory over Kim Huybrechts in Nottingham.
Peter rang me up last week and said, ‘I’ve got a new set of darts’. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing but he then started laughing; he was winding me up! He cannot play any better than he did in his win over Taylor.
Thankfully he’s sticking with his darts. What I like about Peter is he has a lot of bottle. He doesn’t get flustered and bottle it like other players do at certain times. He’s got a good game about him and if he carries on, he’s got an outside chance of making the semi-finals.
I think I’ve gone against Bunting almost every week and he seems to love proving me wrong. I don’t mind because that’s what sport is all about. Form edges it towards Wright but it wouldn’t surprise me if Bunting nicked a draw.
Raymond looks completely out of sorts at the minute. These two have played each more times than anyone else in the modern game. Phil Taylor lost last week but at 3-3, Michael van Gerwen fired off four legs of unbelievable quality.
This has a Phil Taylor victory written all over it. He averaged under 100 for the first time last week but he has been really consistent, and of the games he has lost this year, his opponents have had to play at the top of their game.
Barney doesn’t appear to have the game to beat Taylor at the moment. Like Adrian Lewis, we know he can rock up and produce a performance, but you’d have to go with Taylor all the way.
Barney is staring elimination in the face. He faces Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson in the next two rounds and he won’t get much change out of that duo. A loss here and he could be history.
I don’t think the Glasgow crowd are going to hammer Kim as much as they would some of the other players. He’s a likeable fella and has been quite unfortunate in the Premier League.
Huybrechts has been playing quite well but hasn’t got the results. Peter Wright produced the goods at the death against him last week, but he has been throwing some good darts. However, this is going to be a tough one for the Belgian.
Gary Anderson was outstanding at the Players Championship in Barnsley last Saturday. He dropped just 10 legs in six matches as he reached the final, where he defeated Wright. His performance against Adrian Lewis in Nottingham last week was also outstanding. He’s registering high averages but also hitting his doubles and is a tough cookie to beat.
If Kim is going to get anything out of this game he’ll have to hit a few ton-plus finishes. He missed a few crucial doubles against Wright last week and cannot afford to do that here.
Dave Chisnall is one of the most likeable guys on the tour. My son Ryan gets on really well with him; mind you, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t. He just goes up there and plays the dartboard; there’s never any gamesmanship. He didn’t play well against Stephen Bunting last week but he was playing really well prior to that.
This is a tough game for Dave. He has got the game to beat Van Gerwen and if he starts hitting the treble, we could be in for a cracker. Against Bunting in the UK Open he missed so many doubles, and then reacted by hitting something ridiculous like nine 180s in 10 legs. If he gets on a run like that then Michael is going to have to stay really focused, like he did against Taylor last week.
For some reason, everyone ups their game a little when they play Taylor. But in previous weeks Michael has had little dull periods. If Chisnall can jump on them then he’s got a great chance of a nicking a draw or even a win, but given Van Gerwen’s form in the Premier League you have to go with the Dutchman.
Watch Premier League Darts live on Sky Sports 1 on Thursday from 7pm
Michael van Gerwen will join Betway Premier League rivals Gary Anderson and Stephen Bunting at a special PDC Fans' Forum in Glasgow on Wednesday evening.
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