2018 Unibet Premier League Darts – Peter Wright vs Mensur Suljovic Preview

AT A GLANCE

When? Thursday 8^th March

Where? First Direct Arena, Leeds

What channel is it on? Sky Sports Action

Where can I stream the match? Sky Sports subscribers can stream the match online via Sky Go

Are tickets still available? www.eventim.co.uk

THE STATISTICS

THE LOWDOWN

CAREER HEAD-TO-HEAD
Peter Wright 7-4 Mensur Suljovic

PETER WRIGHT

• Peter Wright sits in fourth place in the table with four points from his opening four matches. In his last Premier League match he saw a potential win against Gary Anderson snatched from his grasp when he lost the final three legs having earlier led 6-3.
• His average of 104.65 against Anderson was his highest of the Premier League season so far. Wright has now averaged over 100 in each of his last three Premier League matches and his match average has improved each week during the season. Wright’s checkout percentage has been an impressive 47% over the last three Premier League weeks combined - a huge improvement on the 28.6% he managed during week one.
• Last weekend at the UK Open, Wright fell at the first hurdle in a huge shock result, losing 10-9 to Northern Irish youngster Nathan Rafferty, therefore failing in his bid to retain the title he won last year.

MENSUR SULJOVIC

• Suljovic defeated Gerwyn Price 7-3 two weeks ago in Berlin to pick up his first win in the Premier League at the fourth attempt, having lost his opening three matches of the campaign. Suljovic took control of the match against Price from the start, winning the opening leg against the throw and he never looked back in what was a dominant performance.
• His match average against Price was 106.2, which was the highest overall on the night. His overall tournament average of 101.15 is second only to Michael van Gerwen’s tournament average in the 2018 Premier League.
• Suljovic had a very impressive checkout percentage of 64% in his win over Price, and his tournament checkout percentage of 44.2% is the third highest of all ten Premier League competitors.

THE PREDICTION

This has the potential to be a high-quality tussle, backed up by the fact that both players have averaged over 100 in three of their four Premier League matches this season. Despite those high averages, they have won just one match each from those four games and both are very much in need of a win to try and gain some momentum.

It remains to be seen if Wright shows any effects from his early defeat in the UK Open, though to be fair the conditions weren’t ideal with the event being played behind closed doors and Wright was on one of the outside boards so that may have affected his motivation levels. Although Wright has the overall winning record over their previous head-to-head meetings, Suljovic has won four of their last seven encounters with some of those wins coming in major TV tournaments, so the Austrian will certainly know he has what it takes to defeat Wright on the big stage.

It is highly likely that this match between the pair could go the full 12 legs with nothing separating them at the end of it.