Premier League 13 - Fourteenth League Day, Newcastle
We discuss desire, will it be a major factor on who lands the last place for the 02?
Have Sky come up with a catchy name to advertise the darts on Thursday night? Judgement Night 2 perhaps? The relegation battle was interesting but this is the night all the players who set out 13 weeks ago have been working towards. This is the last chance to book the one remaining berth for finals night at the 02. It is set up to be an intriguing night.Last week The Machine contrived to lose both of his games. We highlighted The Hammer to have enough about him to win the handicap betting market against Wade with a 2.5 leg start. With a slug of hindsight we should have been more bullish and taken the 4/1 about Hamilton as he finished off Wade in double quick time. Wade's body language and demeanour appeared to become increasingly more bizarre as the evening unfolded. Bearing in mind the publicised issues The Machine has been dealing with hopefully it was just a "bad day at the office".
Barney and Mighty Mike on the other hand had a very good day at the office, both winning. I also enjoyed their interviews afterwards. They have a similar analytical approach to summing up their performances. They both talk about wins as points, another small step towards whatever points total they have set themselves if you like, it is a small thing, but important!
Barney also demonstrated why he is a dart player and not an actor. In his interview Dave pointed out that if Barney won both his games this week and MVG slipped up he could finish top of the pile. Barney feebly attempted to pretend that this thought has not ever occurred to him. I don't believe that for a second. Team Barney would have worked out all the potential scenarios, especially the one where Barney finishes top and puts his "old pal" The Power against Mighty Mike in the semi final at the 02.
The jostling for position on the gird is the sub plot of the night. The main focus is who is going to grab 4th spot?
The fixtures have been tweaked to ensure that the evening has a chance to run until the last game of the night and there are dozens of possible endings. For example, if Thorn wins both of his games then it is irrelevant what Wade and Whitlock do. Thornton is up against Barney first though but Barney will still have the desire and motivation to win too, because of the reasons already discussed. Thornton's other game is against Mighty Mike!
We saw how desire can play a key role in sport at the weekend with United "rolling over" to Chelsea in a lacklustre display by the champions for example. Will Taylor have the desire to beat Wade? Probably, but if Wade wins then Whitlock is out! But, the player that could benefit most (if other results go his way) from having opponents playing a "dead rubber" is The Wizard. Potentially his second game against Barney could have nothing riding on it for Raymond.
This also leads us to our first tip of the night. Whitlock is playing Lewis in the third match of the night. The Wizard has performed brilliantly the past few weeks; his most impressive trait has been winning darts matches under the pressure of knowing he couldn't afford to lose. Thursday will not be an exception to that but his opponent, Jackpot, is firmly rooted to the bottom of the table and is playing for pride as well as for the second time that night. At 10/11 for The Wizard to win and keep the excitement running is a fair price!
Our checkout bets have worked well this season and we had another two winners last week. Sticking with Whitlock for this tip too, the market for him to hit a higher checkout that Jackpot is worth considering. He is only 8/11 but last week Whitlock took out 4 ton plus finishes in his 7 winning legs against Wade.
Another option is the Barney/Thorn match. Twice last week the commentators claimed that Thornton was second to MVG in the most 180's hit race. According to my stats Barney was second then and still is now! It is close though: Barney has 50 and The Thorn 49. With the two of them virtually neck and neck the 11/8 Victor's office is offering on Thornton hitting the most in their match looks well worth considering