2022 Premier League Darts winner predictions, darts betting tips and odds

PDC darts tips, best bets and player analysis for the 2022 Premier League, which starts at the Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff, on Thursday.

When to watch

Live on Sky Sports Arena, from 7pm Thursday

Best bets

Michael Smith to win the Premier League
2pts each-way 13-2 bet365, Betfair, Paddy Power

Michael Smith to hit the most tournament 180s
2pts 5-2 general

2022 Premier League betting preview

Michael Smith has spent 12 long months seething over last winter's Premier League snub so back him to channel his anger into finally breaking his TV duck in this year's revamped edition.

Smith admitted to being "devastated" when he was overlooked for the 2021 Premier League, failing to make a ten-man field which featured four players below him in the rankings.

Fast forward 12 months, a year in which Smith has trousered two floor titles, reached the Grand Slam semis, the final of the worlds and soared to fifth in the rankings, and there was no way the St Helens shooter was missing out.

What it means is that he's got a point or two to prove – and he's playing more than well enough to prove them.

Click here to read Steve Davies's profiles of all eight Premier League contenders

Smith lines up in a new-look Premier League which has undergone the most radical overhaul in the competition's 17-year history.

Ten players have become eight and gone is the round-robin league season, replaced by 16 standalone mini-knockout tournaments, starting in Cardiff and finishing some time in the summer with the dates for the conclusion of the tournament yet to be finalised.

That's four quarter-finals, two semis and a final, all over a best-of-11 distance, every week with two points awarded to the two losing semi-finalists, three for the runner-up and five for that night's winner. The four top points scorers at the end of 16 weeks head to the playoffs.

And this format looks like it plays into Smith's hands. Smith's throw is so silky, so smooth, that he rarely needs time to get up to speed, and you wouldn't necessarily say that of all his rivals.

Bully Boy has reached the final – inevitably, given that the nearly-man of the sport has now reached six major TV finals and lost the lot, most recently to Peter Wright in the worlds last month – unlike the other big name returning after a one-year absence, Gerwyn Price.

Gezzy, a Covid casualty last year, has made three appearances in this event and is yet to make the top four though clearly the world number one is a far better player than when he last took his chance.

Price is disputing favouritism with the desperately inconsistent Michael van Gerwen, closely followed by Wright at 9-2 and defending champ Jonny Clayton at 5-1.

Which all makes Smith merely the best of the rest. But if he's in the mood – and he should be after last year – then he's a whole heap better than that. He is 7-1 to win outright but some firms offering 13-2 have better each-way terms.

It follows that if Smith is a runner in the event, he's a formidable threat in the most tournament 180s market. He's just set a world championship record of 83 and leathers the treble-20 bed for fun.

Not got a William Hill account? Sign up and bet £10 to get £30 in free bets

Open a new account using Promo code H30 only, Min £10 stake, min odds 1/2, free bets paid as 2 x £15, free bets credited after settlement of first qualifying bet, free bets will expire 30 days after the qualifying bet is placed, payment method/player/country restrictions apply. T&Cs apply 18+ begambleaware.org

CLAIM OFFER HERE

MORE FREE BETS

Today's top sports betting stories

Follow us on Twitter @racingpostsport