2019 Unibet Premier League Darts – Mensur Suljovic vs James Wade Preview & Prediction
THE FACTS
When is Mensur Suljovic vs James Wade taking place? Thursday 4th April – 19:00 (UK)
Where is Mensur Suljovic vs James Wade taking place? The SSE Arena, Belfast
What channel is Mensur Suljovic vs James Wade on? Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Action
Where can I stream Mensur Suljovic vs James Wade? Sky Sports subscribers can stream the match via Sky Go
Where can I get tickets for Mensur Suljovic vs James Wade? https://www.pdc.tv/unibet-premier-league-tickets
THE LOWDOWN
HEAD-TO-HEAD
All-time meetings: Mensur Suljovic 10-5 James Wade
Previous meeting: Mensur Suljovic 6-2 James Wade
MENSUR SULJOVIC
- Mensur Suljovic saw his winning run come to an end in Rotterdam last Thursday when he was defeated 7-3 by Daryl Gurney. With the match level at 2-2, the Northern Irishman won five out of the next six legs to consign Suljovic to his third defeat of the 2019 Premier League season.
- As a result of his setback against Gurney, Suljovic dropped out of the top four in the table, but he is still only one point behind third-placed James Wade and just three points adrift of Michael van Gerwen and Rob Cross who are level on points at the top of the table.
- Suljovic suffered an early exit at the German Darts Championship last weekend when he lost 6-4 to eventual runner-up Ricky Evans in the last 32.
JAMES WADE
- James Wade produced a high-quality performance in his defeat of Michael Smith last time out in Rotterdam. The Machine averaged over 102 as he came from 3-1 down to win 7-4. He is now third in the table only two points behind first place.
- The ton-plus average he recorded against Smith was his fifth in his last eight Premier League matches. Wade tops the tournament average table with an average of 100.88 across the opening nine rounds of matches.
- On Sunday at the German Darts Championship he hit a nine-dart finish during his 6-5 defeat against Darren Webster – a match in which he averaged over 105 despite being beaten.
THE PREDICTION
With just one point separating Suljovic and Wade in the league table, it could prove to be a crucial match in their race for the play-offs. Suljovic’s performance in his two Premier League matches last week in Rotterdam were not encouraging; he got out of jail against Cross on Wednesday but was well beaten by Gurney on Thursday. Wade continued his impressive standard of play by having the highest average on both Wednesday and Thursday in Rotterdam, and although he lost in the last 16 at the German Darts Championship, the fact that he averaged over 105 and hit a nine-darter in defeat shows what level his game is at right now.
As well as Wade is playing, perhaps it can’t be ignored that Suljovic has a very good record against him, with the Austrian having won seven of their last nine meetings including a 7-3 victory on night six of the 2019 Premier League season. Wade’s performance during that defeat was probably his poorest in the opening nine rounds of the campaign as he seemed to struggle with Suljovic’s rhythm. Mensur followed up that victory with a 6-2 win in a Euro Tour event the weekend before last and he might make it a hat-trick of wins against Wade in this encounter.
