Premier League primed for another darting feast

Barney and Taylor

Would it be too much to ask for the excitement to continue in the Premier League?

As predicted the high levels of performance on the opening night carried on into the second week, and as week three approaches will last Thursday night’s serving be repeated?

Throughout his career Phil Taylor has produced some magical moments, and the greatest player to tickle tungsten took centre stage once again by hitting his ninth televised nine-darter in his 8-5 victory over Kevin Painter.

The Power is out for more.

Next up for the 15-time champion of the world is his old rival Raymond van Barneveld, and given the way both players have been playing so far in the Premier League this could be a cracker.

Potentially this match could be the best of all-time, and if the excitement rolls on this week then that is surely what it will end up being.

The world championship of 2007 still claims the tag as the greatest match of all-time, as Van Barneveld beat Taylor in a sudden-death leg to lift his fifth world title. Not since then has Barney been at his best, but he has his swagger back and in his first two Premier League matches the Barney of old is with us again.

Trailing 7-6 in both of his opening matches, Barney rescued a point against Simon Whitlock and then last week checked out 126 on the bull to pinch a point against world champion Adrian Lewis.

Had these games taken place a year ago, the Dutchman would have given in, but he is in the right frame of mind and is proving to be a world beater again, which for darts fans is a great sight.

When it comes to facing Taylor Barney has been on the end of some hammerings. Out of 51 encounters he has only won 11, which is a woeful return.

Beating Taylor has to come sooner rather than later for him, and yet to collect a win his first in this year’s Premier League could be over the master.

Week three sees a repeat of the world championship final between Lewis and Premier League debutant Andy Hamilton.

Lewis has drawn two of his matches so far and quite frankly should have taken maximum points in both. Hamilton on the other hand enjoyed a dream start to the competition by beating former champion James Wade, but fell apart last week to reigning Premier League champion Gary Anderson in front of the Scot’s home crowd in Aberdeen.

Two-time and reigning world champion Lewis beat Hamilton 7-3 at the Alexandra Palace, and unless the former has a meltdown on his doubles and doesn’t get his scoring prowess going, he will pick up his first win in the Premier League this year.

Hamilton has been a tough nut to crack as Wade found out, but against Anderson he went missing. The Hammer will be determined to get revenge over Lewis, but the world champion has been playing like one and Hamilton will find it difficult to get a result from the tie.

Another debutant Painter like Hamilton won on the opening night but was beaten last week. In the case of Painter, he let slip 4-1 and 5-3 leads as he had to stand and watch a Taylor masterclass. The Artist will have to brush off the disappointment and regroup for his game against Whitlock, the player top of the table.

Drawing with Barney and then beating Wade (when he was 7-0 up and eventually won 8-4) Whitlock is doing his play-off credentials no harm at all, and he should keep up his fine start to the competition by keeping his momentum from reaching the semis of the worlds and the World Cup final going.

We haven’t seen the best of Anderson yet he has one win and one loss to his name. The Scot has had trouble on his doubles and hasn’t got going in the 180s department, but it’s only a matter of time before he takes off, and it could be against Wade, the only player in the Premier League without a point.

The Machine wasn’t fully functioning against Hamilton and couldn’t buy a double against Whitlock, only coming back right at the end when it was too late. If he’s not careful then the current UK Open champion is in danger of being the whipping boy of the competition, but the way he tried to fight back against Whitlock last week shows he is up for the challenge, and he should get off the mark this week by getting something out of Anderson.

Predictions: Whitlock to beat Painter, Lewis to beat Hamilton, Anderson and Wade to draw and Taylor to beat Barney

İsmail Vedat- Follow me on twitter

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