The Premier League caravan reaches Grimsby

Grimsby, here we are!

Believe it or not the Premier League caravan will make its penultimate stop tonight in the beautiful town of Grimsby, England. One more stop and qualified players will be ready to hit over to the semi-finals and the big final which will reveal the new champion! Exciting times ahead! :-)
Tonight, the people of Grimsby will have the chance to see the likes of Shaun Murphy, Mark Williams, Ronnie O`Sullivan and Neil Robertson fighting for more points. Since this is the 9tn round things are getting hotter and players can’t afford the luxury to lose a match...not even to make a draw.


The evening will start with the clash between the defending champion, Shaun Murphy (4 points) and the prodigal son, who didn’t play for five years in the Premier League, Mark Williams (6 points).
For Mark, this is his last chance to qualify into the next round, for he won’t be playing the next week. He has 6 points and he needs more to secure a place in the final stage, so he needs a victory. Of course, a draw will bring him 1 points, which will make the 7 points earned enough, but this is no time to be taking risks.
"The Welsh Potting Machine" has had just one victory, in the match played against his namesake Mark Selby (4-2), he registered one defeat against Ronnie O`Sullivan (2-4) and scored three draws with Ding Junhui, Marco Fu and Neil Robertson.
We can’t say he’s had a bad run, or a good one, but he has hang on there, trying to make a difference in the next match. Here’s your chance, mate! Go get your second victory!

Shaun Murphy will take on Mark Williams

Shaun Murphy has 4 points, but unlike his opponent, he will have the chance to play one more match, next week...so although he is also desperate for more points, he is not as pressured as Williams is.
He recorded just one victory, that amazing 5-1 result over China’s Ding Junhui, lost 2-4 to Marco Fu and drew with Ronnie O`Sullivan and Mark Selby.
Defending champion or not, "The Magician" won’t sleep tight without making at least a draw tonight, so this will be a tough match for both players. Mark will try to win, Shaun will try to make anything he can to avoid that...in the end, snooker will decide. ;-)


The second match will see Ronnie O`Sullivan taking on Neil Robertson. This should definitely be interesting, since the two haven’t seen each other since this year’s World Open, when Neil defeated Ronnie.
"The Thunder from Down Under", has three points in his pocket and will play in the 10th round also, but after that crushing defeat he suffered last week, I think he’ll be trying to win this. Robertson has one victory, gained in the match played against Ding Junhui (6-0), a defeat with Mark Selby and Marco Fu (4-2) and a draw with Mark Williams. Not a very pretty picture for the world champion. Although this format is not his favorite way of playing snooker, he is still very eager to compete and to win anything that has a shiny trophy. :-P

Two world champions: Ronnie and Neil

On the other hand “The Rocket" has five points, after he finally scored a victory against Mark Williams (4-2) two weeks ago. Until that point, he was the uncrowned king of draws, as he’s had three: with Marco Fu, Ding Junhui and Shaun Murphy.
He is to play next week also, but a victory now will secure him a place into the semi-finals so he needs to work real hard and stay focus, for it will be a real pity not to have "The Rocket" playing in the final stage of this wonderful tournament. The format suits him like a glove so the fans expect him to go all the way! :-)


So please, don’t forget to set your clock for 7:30 pm (UK time) and tune in on SkySports 2 tonight for some class snooker!
Below, you have the links:
1st link
2nd link

In the end, I would like to remind you that Marco Fu is the first semi-finalist (with 8 points) so there are only 3 spots left! Things are getting hot in here, so don’t miss your weekly share of snooker. See you tomorrow for comments! ;-)