Premier League

Michael van Gerwen has won the Premier League of Darts for the fifth time in his career. The world number one crowned himself champion after an 11-5 win in the final against world number two Rob Cross.

The Premier League started on February 7 in Newcastle. Just before the start Gary Anderson had to withdraw due to a back injury. The PDC decided to replace him with nine so called ‘contenders’. This resulted in nine regular Premier League players: Michael van Gerwen, Rob Cross, Peter Wright, Daryl Gurney, Mensur Suljovic, Gerwyn Price, James Wade, Michael Smith and Raymond van Barneveld. And nine contenders: Chris Dobey, Glen Durrant, Steve Lennon, Luke Humphries, John Henderson, Nathan Aspinall, Max Hopp, Dimitri van den Bergh and Jeffrey de Zwaan. All These contenders played one match, but could not pick up points for the league table. The regular players were able to pick up points in their matches against one of the contenders.

In week one, the recurrence of the World Championship final was scheduled on the first night in Newcastle. World champion Michael van Gerwen took on ‘The Bully Boy’ Michael Smith. ‘The Green Machine’ showed his class and won 7-5. After sixteen rounds of competition Van Gerwen topped the league table, but the 2019 edition of Premier League was not a walk in the park for the Dutchman. Players Championship Finals winner Daryl Gurney did beat Michael van Gerwen twice and also James Wade did not lose against Van Gerwen. This resulted in an intense battle for the number one position in the Premier league between Rob Cross and Van Gerwen. The Englishman was on pole position for the number position and 25.000 GBP, but because he lost his last match against James Wade Van Gerwen was able to top the league just before the playoffs. James Wade and Daryl Gurney also secured a spot for the playoffs just before Gerwyn Price and Austrian ace Mensur Suljovic.

Peter Wright, Michael Smith and Raymond van Barneveld experienced a disappointing Premier League campaign. Van Barneveld relegated after nine weeks with just four points. The five times champion of the world only won in Berlin against Max Hopp and managed to pick up one point against Price and Suljovic. Especially his performances in Rotterdam were disappointing. In front of his ‘Barney Army’ Van Barneveld lost 7-1 twice. Afterwards an emotional Van Barneveld announced his immediate retirement. After a couple of days the Dutchman said that this decision was made in the heat of the moment and that he will keep on playing darts for one more year. Peter Wright never reached his A-game. ‘Snakebite’ lacked confidence and experimented way too much with his equipment. Last years runner up Michael Smith could not live up to the expectations. ‘Bully Boy’ ended seventh in the competition, nine points beyond a play-off spot.

In London, Michael van Gerwen, Rob Cross, James Wade and Daryl Gurney battled for the Premier League title. Although Daryl Gurney did beat Van Gerwen twice during the regular competition, in London he did not manage to give the world number one a hard time. Till 6-6 ‘Super Chin’ managed to stay close to Van Gerwen, but missed darts on the double resulted in a win for Van Gerwen. Rob Cross had an easy semi-final as well. James Wade had a strong start, but he could not keep up his level. After the break ‘The Machine’ lost all his believe in a clash with Van Gerwen and Cross won 10-5.

The final between Cross and Van Gerwen did not live up to the expectations. Cross played really well during his Premier League campaign, but once again ‘Voltage’ did not manage to play his A-game against Van Gerwen. ‘MVG’ broke the Cross throw in the first leg and went 5-1 up. Cross came back and made it 5-4, but missed three darts on the double to level the match. The Dutchman nicked the leg to make it 6-4. This was the decisive moment in the final because Cross was not able to put pressure on the Van Gerwen Throw anymore. With a 130-finish Van Gerwen crowned himself once again Premier League champion, his fourth Premier League title in a row.