Phil Taylor Beats Peter Wright In Final Of The Melbourne Darts Masters

Phil Taylor Beats Peter Wright In Final Of The Melbourne Darts Masters

Phil Taylor Wins Melbourne Darts Masters

The Power claimed a second tournament win in as many months after beating Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright 11-8 in the final of the inaugural Melbourne Darts Masters last weekend. As the result suggests, the game was not a close one despite Wright holding the world number three spot.

The score was the same result as when the pair met in Blackpool last month. That was the night Taylor won his 16th and final World Matchplay crown, making it quite the farewell season for the Stoke-born legend. With recent results, Taylor is looking like his former self more and more each week, meaning additional trophies between now and the season’s end should not be dismissed.

Taylor strong all weekend

His form was apparent throughout the weekend, first eliminating Aussie star of the future Corey Cadby 10-9 on Saturday before dropping another Aussie, Simon Whitlock, 11-4 at the semi-final stage.

Daryl Gurney had overcome his match with world number two Gary Anderson for a third successive time, met his end when he came up against Peter Wright, who had beaten Michael Smith in the Quarter finals.

It all meant that Wright, the UK Open champion, lined up as the short odds favourite against World Matchplay champion Taylor in the final, which for the first 16 legs was tight enough to read 8-8.

57-year-old Phil Taylor then moved up several gears on Wright, despite Snakebite landing an impressive seven 180s to Taylor’s 0. At 47, the Scotsman is ten years younger than his rival but couldn’t keep up with the pace as Taylor took down the next ten legs straight, averaging 98.88 and achieving a double rate of 40.74% and earning yet another title.

A look ahead to Perth

Taylor is now at a best price of 7/2 at betway to win again this weekend as the action relocates to Perth on Australia’s western coast. Taylor, who has previously won four times in Australia — twice before in Perth and now twice in Melbourne — clearly enjoys taking his game Down Under and with Taylor in such great form has to be in consideration once again.

Beaten Melbourne finalist Peter Wright should again be Taylor’s closest challenger, but his tendency to drop crucial doubles will continue to blight his progress until it’s addressed. Snakebite joins Taylor at 7/2 at betway.

The same bookmaker is also showing a decent 16/1 on Aussie starlet Corey Cadby, while Simon Whitlock, who will receive the benefit of home support, can be picked up for 14’s with Bet365.

The favourite at Bet365 with odds of 5/2 — although heaven knows why — is Gary Anderson, who despite being number two in the world looks increasingly soft at the moment. He has failed to capitalise on the absence of Michael van Gerwen in recent tourneys. Instead, The Power — in his retirement year — has stepped up and in his current form is well worth sticking with again this week.

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Champions League Of Darts Field Confirmed

Champions League Of Darts Field Confirmed

Phil the Power Taylor Returns for Champion League of Darts

While most players are currently in New Zealand and Australia, next month welcomes the latest major Darts tourney when the Champions League of Darts makes its return to Cardiff. The lineup for the event was recently announced and will be begin in the Welsh capital on 16th of September.

Details of the Unibet Champions League of Darts Lineup

There are no real shocks in the lineup with reigning champion Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor once again involved, allowing him to resume his rivalry with Michael van Gerwen, who will inevitably be the favourite. The pair fell out during last month’s World Matchplay — also won by Taylor — and haven’t attended an event together since.

Also making an appearance in Wales next month will be Raymond van Barneveld, Dave Chisnall and Mensur Suljovic, all of whom will be making their debuts in the Cardiff event. Barney will play in Group A alongside Taylor, MVG and Adrian ‘Jackpot’ Lewis, while Group B will host Chizzy, Suljovic plus Scottish pair Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright and Gary Anderson.

Anderson will be looking for an upturn in form, as the World number two hasn’t posted a very successful season so far. His loss of form was again made apparent last week in Auckland when he went out on day one in an event won by Aussie namesake Kyle Anderson. This weekend, players are in Melbourne with Gary ‘The Flying Scotsman’ Anderson installed as a pre-tournament favourite of 5/2 at bet365. We shall see what shape he is in when the tour resumes in Perth next week.

Much the same can be said for van Barneveld who was eliminated in Melbourne on Friday by 22-year-old Aussie starlet Coady Cadby — available at 8/1 with Betway if you’re speedy.

Back in Cardiff, the BBC have announced a new deal with the PDC to broadcast the event for the next three years following last year’s inaugural BBC-televised tournament from which Taylor emerged victorious.

Following his success in the World Matchplay, Taylor rose to fourth on the PDC Order of Merit leading to his allocation in Group A for this year’s Champions League.

For Welsh fans of Taylor, who is due to retire at the end of the season, the Champions League will provide one last chance to see the 32-time World and Matchplay Champion in competitive action. Prices won’t be available for a week or two yet, so watch this space for more information.

Ante-Post prices up for World Championship

For those needing their Darts betting fix in the meantime, satisfy yourself with early, ante-post prices on the World Championships, which is being held this Christmas. Naturally, Mighty Mike VG is the odds-on favourite at 4/6 although Sky Bet are running a three-year long special on the Dutchman winning the next three Championships, worth 11/4 right now.

Gary Anderson is at 6s and Snakebite at 7s, while Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor has been brought right in to 8’s following his Matchplay success in Blackpool. All these prices are currently available at SkyBet where new customers can enjoy a £20 free bet when they sign-up, deposit and wager £5.

This returning promotion is open to players from all countries but deposits made via Skrill and Neteller are excluded.

Unibet Champions League of Darts field

Group A

Michael van Gerwen
Phil Taylor
Adrian Lewis
Raymond van Barneveld

Group B

Gary Anderson
Peter Wright
Dave Chisnall
Mensur Suljovic

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What If These Premier League Managers Were Darts Pros?

What If These Premier League Managers Were Darts Pros?

Premier League Darts

There is little in the way of sporting news in the UK right now other than England Cricket’s rain drenched test match against South Africa and a washed-out World Athletics Championship in London’s Olympic stadium.

Also, there isn’t much in the way of live televised darts until the Champions League gets underway in Cardiff, Wales in September. The line-up for Champions League of Darts was released recently and it boasts the usual names: Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright, Phil Taylor, Adrian Lewis, Dave Chisnall, Mensur Suljovic and Raymond van Barneveld, will all compete for the title.

So, with plenty of darters off on their holibobs, thank god that Premier League Football is back this weekend. Frankly, it couldn’t come soon enough. Normally the beginning of the 10-month season heralds the summer’s decline but seeing as its pretty much been raining since the last season ended in May, it is very welcome indeed.

So, in a dartless week, and in anticipation of the incoming Football season, we wondered which Premier League Football managers are most like our pro darters.

Michael van Gerwen: Jose Mourinho

Michael vn Gerwen = Jose Mourino

Joe Mourinho is very successful, but a bit moody (actually, read: extremely moody). The Manchester United boss is predictably stroppy but more often than not ends up with a trophy or two. In truth, the decorated Dutchman, isn’t as relentlessly angry as United’s Portuguese leader but he did still walk away from his defeat to ‘The Power’ last week without giving a comment to the press following Taylor’s branding of him as “stupid”. Over in Manchester, Jose just walks out.

Jose Mourinho

Peter Wright: Jurgen Klopp

Peter Wright = Jurgen Klopp

While Dave ‘Chizzy’ Chisnall is the biggest Liverpool fan in darts — for pure charisma and eccentricity — Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright’s best match is Liverpool’s nutty German coach Jurgen Klopp. ‘Kloppo’ has enjoyed success, albeit back in his homeland, and has even reached a couple of finals in his short time with Liverpool too. He won neither. Likewise, Snakebite regularly reaches finals, but sadly for the popular Scot frequently walks away empty handed, save for winning the UK Open in March — his only ever PDC televised final victory.

Jurgen Klopp

Phil Taylor: Arsene Wenger

Phil Taylor = Arsene Wenger

As successful as they may be and despite some successes recently, it’s time to retire . There was a time when Phil was unbeatable at the oche. Similarly, Wenger’s Arsenal remain the only ever Premier League team to go an entire season without losing a match. This, of course, was with his team of ‘Invincibles’ back in the 2003-04 season. Alas, the team then went almost an entire decade without a trophy as restless fans lead nightly Twitter campaigns to remove their head coach. And, yet, he nobly soldiers on, even being rewarded with winning three out of the last four FA Cup finals. Likewise, Taylor — who clearly has better timing than Arsenal’s French boss — won a swansong title when he scooped the World Matchplay in Blackpool last week. For Taylor, one last shot of glory remains in North London. The Ally Pally is, after all, less than three miles from Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, where we still expect Wenger to be for a long time.

Arsene Wenger

Raymond van Barneveld: Pep Guardiola

Raymond van Barneveld = Pep Guardiola

Style comes first for Dutch hero Barney, much as it does for Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola. Pep won as manager of his hometown club Barcelona and then repeated his success while in charge of Bayern Munich. However, success hasn’t followed him to Manchester as super style has been beaten by a more a pragmatic approach. Plus, he doesn’t have Lionel Messi in Manchester.

Pep Guardiola

Bully the Bull: Sam Allardyce

Bully the Bull

With the belly and the bling, Big Sam would have made the perfect darter had he not been a pro footballer before his move into management. In fact, he gave Darts a shot, taking part in the early qualifying rounds of the 2003 UK Darts Open at the Reebok Stadium when he was the Bolton manager. Below is a ten-year-old image of Sam during his spell in charge of Newcastle United playing darts with close friend and legend Arsene Wenger, sorry, Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor (Note: Liverpool’s James Milner in also the background). Of course, Allardyce would later manage Toon’s fierce local rivals Sunderland, swapping Black and White stripes for Red and White, like Bully The Bull from 80’s Darts TV show, Bullseye.

Sam Allardyce

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