Cross takes on home favourite in Belfast

Rob Cross will be aiming to continue his tremendous run in darts' Unibet Premier League tonight (Thursday).
Rob Cross celebrates during his victory over Gerwyn Price in Glasgow last week. Picture courtesy Steve Welsh/PDCRob Cross celebrates during his victory over Gerwyn Price in Glasgow last week. Picture courtesy Steve Welsh/PDC
Rob Cross celebrates during his victory over Gerwyn Price in Glasgow last week. Picture courtesy Steve Welsh/PDC

The St Leonards-based world champion will be targeting a sixth straight victory in the 16-week roadshow event when he faces home favourite Daryl Gurney at The SSE Arena in Belfast.

“It’s going well and I’ve turned around the two losses at the start of the season,” said Cross, who consolidated third place in the 10-man league table with a 7-1 win over Gerwyn Price in Glasgow last Thursday.

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“It was good to win again last week and I’m still feeling good. I want to win every week and you can’t always do that, but I’m in a good place and I’m playing well and I want to keep that going.”

Northern Irish ace Gurney followed up four previous draws in the event by claiming his maiden victory last week by seeing off Mensur Suljovic.

Having moved up to six points, Gurney sits four points clear of bottom-placed Price and two clear of Suljovic and Peter Wright.

Tonight’s match will be Gurney’s first televised appearance in his homeland and the 32-year-old said he can’t wait to play in Belfast.

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“As soon as we get picked, the first thing we look forward to is playing in front of our home crowd and I hope the place is bouncing,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to playing Rob. I want to play the best and beat the best, and he’s world champion, so I can’t wait.”

The best-of-12-legs match is the fourth of five on the schedule and Cross is rated a 4/7 favourite with the competition sponsors, with Gurney and the draw 18/5.

Tonight’s games will be broadcast live on Sky Sports from 7pm and shown worldwide through the PDC’s international broadcast partners.

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Unibet Premier League standings (all played seven matches): 1st Michael van Gerwen 12pts (+24 leg difference), 2nd Michael Smith 10 (+13), 3rd Rob Cross 10 (+9), 4th Raymond van Barneveld 8 (+3), 5th Gary Anderson 7 (+1), 6th Simon Whitlock 7 (+1), 7th Daryl Gurney 6 (-4), 8th Mensur Suljovic 4 (-8), 9th Peter Wright 4 (-19), 10th Gerwyn Price 2 (-20).

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