Gary Anderson vs. Michael Smith: Smith’s ranking to rise

Gary Anderson will be up against Micheal Smith for the quarter-final of the Premier Darts League on Thursday, 10th March 2022, at Brighton Centre, UK.

The match against Bradford’s Joe Cullen for the Premier League, where Smith won by 6-5, has likely given him renewed confidence. The ease and cool with which he played the game, despite finding himself in tight spots, occasionally shows his growth as well as paints a picture of what the future matches will be like.

While he managed to gain a spot in the semi-final, he lost 6-2 to Micheal van Gerwen – the competition's eventual winner. However, the experience has likely helped Smith in refining his playing strategy.

On the other hand, Anderson won from Micheal van Gerwan but lost the four later matches.

While the Cazoo tournament wasn’t a night to remember for either of the players, it seems that both of them will put up a strong fight to at least reach the semi-finals of the ongoing Premier Darts League.

Gary Anderson experienced a loss of 10-7 and joined champions like Nathan Aspinall, Raymond van Barneveld and Adrian Lewis, each of which lost on Day One of the UK Open as well.

Compared to Anderson, Smith has a much more promising spell in the UK Open. He played six matches in the tournament and won against players like Chris Dobey, Gabriel Clemens, Mensur Suljovic, Gerwyn Price, and Keane Berry before losing to Danny Noppert by a close 10-11.

The previous spell of Micheal Smith is bound to put him in a determined mood. He managed to add two points to the scoreboard with a recent win. His current standing in the Premier League is eight.

While Anderson stands at 7th position, he won four matches ago in the tournament. This goes to show that Anderson’s performance is lacking in current matches.

Apart from current performance, to make a fair comparison of the two dart players, it is important to know how they perform against one another. Over the past five years, the two have come face to face in eleven matches, out of which Smith has been victorious in 6.

The two last battled against one another in November 2021’s grand slam, where Smith beat Anderson by 5-2. Prior to that, Smith had also beaten Anderson in the Players Championship match of July 2021, where he won by 6-4.

Based on the current winning rate of the two players as well as the previous instances where the two have come head-to-head, it seems that Micheal Smith is likely to be the winner in the quarter-final round of the ongoing Premier League.

Anderson is expected to put up a strong fight with his precise performance. However, keeping in mind his recent throws, it is unlikely that he will beat Smith.