Premier League Snooker – Night Six from the EIS, Sheffield, SkySports1, 7:30pm
Night six of the Premier League promises to be the most exciting yet as not only do we have the all-Scottish duel between Stephen Hendry and John Higgins, but we have a mouthwatering clash between the two form players in the game at the moment, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby. Please note that I will be attending the matches so my usual reviews will be delayed until Thursday morning.
Match One: Stephen Hendry v John Higgins
If ever a player needed a good win to regain some confidence then surely it is Stephen Hendry this week who has really struggled to get going so far this season. I had hoped that last week against Joe Perry we would see Stephen play some good snooker, but he is visibly so short on confidence at the moment that it is hard to see him beating anyone right now.
Still though you don’t win seven world titles without being able to recover from setbacks and perhaps it will be this week that Hendry manages to show some form.
Up against him will be fellow Scot John Higgins, fresh from his victory in the Grand Prix a couple of weeks ago. Indeed on his way to that success he managed to beat Hendry 5-2 in what was a very scrappy match, hopefully it won’t be that way tomorrow and we will see the big breaks that both are more than capable of.
A win for Higgins would take him up to four points, going a long way to cementing his place in the top four and effectively leaving him needing just one more win to secure his place in the play-offs. Hendry desperately needs the win to stand any chance of making the top four, but on current form Higgins has to be the clear favourite for this match.
Match Two: Ronnie O’Sullivan v Mark Selby
The second match of the evening has the potential to be the best match of the tournament so far as league leader Mark Selby comes up against the four-time defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Selby has been absolutely brilliant so far during his début season in the Premier League and deservingly sits in top spot having won all of his match so far. Having adapted his game to the shot clock with no problems at all, it will certainly be interesting to see how he copes with O’Sullivan in what should be his biggest test of all in Sheffield.
O’Sullivan himself has not been in the best of form recently, but he always seems to perform in this competition as the shot clock and the one night format to it really suits his game and his personality.
This match could genuinely go either way so I will take the easy option and predict a draw!
I will be back tomorrow with photos from the venue and hopefully from the Crucible if I get time to stop by. It will be interesting to see how the redevelopment is going there…