Van Barneveld and Wade too close to call in Premier League week six

With both players winning six PDC ‘Premier’ events in their careers and taking the Premier League once apiece there isn’t a lot to split the duo of James Wade and Raymond van Barneveld.

Two of the circuit’s longest serving players, they are due to lock horns once again in Nottingham on Thursday night as they bid to rectify indifferent starts to their Premier League campaigns.

But like their career record, picking the better arrowsmith when they clash is also fraught with difficulty.

Ladbrokes have James Wade just shaving favouritism at 6/5 with Barney out at 6/4, but there really is little to choose between them.

That has shown in previous meetings in this very tournament, with four of their last seven clashes in the format resulting in a share of the points.

Such an outcome can be backed to occur at the Motorpoint Arena once again at 7/2 and looks a solid enough price.

In fact, both the Dutchman and ‘The Machine’ are dab hands at delivering for those backing players to share the spoils at the oche.

In three of the last five Premier League seasons Barney has topped the ‘Matches Drawn’ column, while last season that accolade went to the man from Aldershot.

Neither have shared the points with their opponents thus far in the tournament, so what better time to pick up that first draw than now, right?

After spanking Phil Taylor in the opening week things haven’t gone too smoothly for Van Barneveld since, losing three of his four matches while Wade ended his run of three straight defeats with victory over Dave Chisnall in Exeter.

Both could do with the two points to move into the top four, but with their previous record in the tournament it could pay to back them to go another week without a victory.

All odds and markets correct as of the date of publishing.