Premier League week four: betting preview, match tips & TV details

Week four
Sky Sports Action, from 7pm Thursday

Michael Smith, the much-hyped second favourite for this year's Premier League a month ago, is still in search of a first win as he heads for Exeter on Thursday evening – three days after undergoing surgery.

Bully Boy, propping up the nine-man table after taking just a solitary point from his opening three matches, is 8-11 to beat Raymond van Barneveld but is unsure he'll be okay after going under the knife on Monday to remove an abscess.

"I'll be honest I'm not sure how it'll be. I'm on painkillers and antibiotics," said world finalist Smith, who was the 15-2 second favourite behind Michael van Gerwen but is now out to 16-1 with Betfair.

Humphries v Price
Head-to-head: Humphries leads 1-0
Gerwyn Price is playing out of his skin at the moment - Luke Humphries isn't and is the first to admit it.

Much can happen on the oche but on current form Gezzy looks an outstanding price.

Take last weekend. Humphries, a surprise quarter-finalist at the recent World Championship, suffered a pair of first-round exits in Players Championship heats. Price won them both with ten ton-plus averages in the 14 matches he played.

The Welshman is averaging 98.6 in the Premier League, demonstrating he can more than deal with the boo-boys, and this could be quite a daunting exercise for Cool Hand, who is this week's guest competitor in the absence of the crocked Gary Anderson and won't necessarily have the crowd on his side given that he's from Berkshire.

Recommendation
G Price
2pts 14-19 RedZone

Gurney v Cross
H2H: Level at 3-3
Daryl Gurney is outsider against Rob Cross in the more 180s market which seems to underestimate the maximum-hitting potential of Superchin.

The Northern Irishman is a voracious gatherer of 180s which is yet to be witnessed in this year's Premier League, though he's clearly not far away.

Gurney has hit six maxes, two fewer than Cross. Yet Gurney has also hit 31 140-plus scores (seven more than Cross) which tells us he's scoring supremely well.

Last year Gurney topped the Premier League 180s charts with 67, 13 more than Voltage.

The match itself looks a tight one with the draw a real runner at 9-2.

Recommendation
D Gurney more 180s
1pt 6-4 BoyleSports

Suljovic v Wright
Suljovic leads 9-8
All of Peter Wright’s matches have gone the distance and it would be no surprise if he makes it four out of four.

There's nothing in the formbook between Wright and Mensur Suljovic and one or two bookies understandably can't separate them.

Neither man is at the top of his game – Wright has had more poor patches than probably anyone else – though Suljovic should have happy memories of a 7-1 drubbing of the Scot last year, the first of five wins in a row for the Austrian against his week four opponent.

One bet that does look a spot of value is Sky Bet's 15-8 that Suljovic hits more 180s. He's got nine so far in 34 legs compared to Wright's eight in 36.

Recommendation
M Suljovic more 180s
1pt 15-8 Sky Bet

Van Gerwen v Wade
Van Gerwen leads 34-15
There's something ominous about Michael van Gerwen at the moment.

The world champ and world number one hasn't hit top gear yet but he's still won three out of three with the margins of victory getting ever more impressive.

After scraping past Michael Smith, he has beaten Mensur Suljovic 7-3 and Rob Cross 7-2. Something similar is expected, and Van Gerwen has won 16 of his last 17 meetings with James Wade.

Recommendation
M van Gerwen to win 7-2 or 7-3
1pt 7-4 Betfred

Smith v Van Barneveld
Level at 7-7
If Michael Smith has been bothered by an abscess, which he had operated on earlier this week, it would explain his indifferent start to the competition.

And should we really be trusting him at short odds against Raymond van Barneveld if, by his own admission, he's still in pain and doesn't know how difficult it is going to be on stage?

Barney could do with some sort of an edge – twice last year he was whitewashed by Bully Boy, once in the Premier League – and the Dutchman is also in iffy form.

An inconvenienced Smith not to clear a 96.5 average looks a decent shout. He has managed it only once in three weeks and with Barney also struggling these two could bring each other's numbers down.

Recommendation
M Smith under 96.5 average
2pts 5-6 Paddy Power

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