Van Barneveld chance to leapfrog Wright as duo do battle

Week 10 of Premier League Darts sees title hopes Peter Wright (7/1) and Raymond van Barneveld playing two matches (14/1), with the duo going head-to-head in the final fight of the night in Sheffield.

With Simon Whitlock and Wes Newton eliminated after the last round, just eight men survive for the scrap to make the end of season play-offs.

Van Barneveld opens the evening against one of the previous week’s relegation contenders Dave Chisnall. The pair happen to be the top two in the total 180s table for the competition, with the former on 35 and the latter 12 ahead with 47.

Back Barney (highest individually for the evening at 5/6) and Chisnall (7/1) to record the most maximums on the night at 6/5, and the same price to hit over 7.5 between them.

In his last five matches in the league, RVB has remarkably drawn them all. A price of 4/1 say that will be the outcome again, but back the Dutchman to break that run and finally win at an odds-on 10/11.

Barney is now third in the league, and could possibly overtake Wright into second or even compatriot Michael van Gerwen at the top – if results go his way. He faces the Scot in the evening’s last battle, but back the result to be a draw at 7/2, with both playing an earlier match.

Snakebite Wright’s first fixture is against fellow Scotsman and former Premier League champion Gary Anderson for the second week running. The result in their last match saw the former edge a close encounter 7-5, after winning the last three legs, and Coral put a price of 15/2 for that same outcome, or 6/5 just for a Wright victory.

Old foes Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis face each other in the penultimate fight of the night. The Power is firmly back in form now, having lost just once in his last six in the league, and with his fellow Stoke opponent gaining one victory in five previous matches, back the former odds-on at 10/11 to win.

By beating Lewis, Taylor (who has won 45 times to his opponent’s 11 in their head-to-heads) would move into the play-off places for the first time this season. He is priced at 5/2 to win his seventh league title.

Mighty Mike battles Robert Thornton in the third fixture in Sheffield, and the the Dutch Premier League favourite (11/10) will be looking to further assert his lead at the top. Scotsman Thornton, who suffered an ankle knock in his loss to Taylor in week nine, is bottom of the new table and looks unlikely to get his just his second victory of the season.