Premier League

The 17th edition of the Premier League Darts was held from April 5 to May 28, 2021. Due to the current situation surrounding the Coronavirus, the Premier League was played in four blocks in Milton Keynes. After an exciting battle for the semi-final spots, it was debutant Jonny Clayton who managed to take his first Premier League title. He defeated fellow debutant Jose de Sousa in the final.

With ten players, the Premier League started on Monday 5 April. World Champion Gerwyn Price had to cancel at the very last minute, after a positive Corona test. This allowed reserve player James Wade to participate in the competition, which also consisted of the participation of Michael van Gerwen, Peter Wright, Glen Durrant, Nathan Aspinall, Rob Cross, Gary Anderson, Dimitri van den Bergh, Jose de Sousa and Jonny Clayton. For Van den Bergh, De Sousa and Clayton it marked their debut in the biggest darts competition in the world.

The first round was remarkable: only Nathan Aspinall managed to book a victory (over Glen Durrant). The other four games all ended in a draw, making Aspinall the first leader of the season. In the first week, five rounds were completed, so the players had to be on a top level for five days in a row. Glen Durrant was already not in the best shape of his life and ended the week with zero points. Debutant Clayton was on top after five rounds, with seven points. Behind that came Aspinall, Wright, Van Gerwen and Van den Bergh with six points. Both Clayton and De Sousa managed to throw a nine-darter during the first week. This brought the total number of nine-darters during the Premier League to twelve.

The second week had four rounds, after which it would be known which two players would be eliminated. It soon became clear that Durrant would be one of them. The title holder eventually closed the competition with a new record low of zero points. Also for Rob Cross, the curtain fell after nine rounds. Voltage started the competition with five points after four games, but then lost four games in a row. In the ninth round he still took a victory over Durrant, but then the Englishman was already eliminated for a place in the best eight. The leaders after the first half of the competition were Dimitri van den Bergh and Nathan Aspinall with thirteen points. Van Gerwen was provisionally third with eleven points.

On May 5-6-7, the next three rounds were scheduled. It was a great week for Van Gerwen, with three wins and averages of 109.96 and 107.44. Those good games even gave 'Mighty Mike' the lead, because Van den Bergh and Aspinall lost twice. Peter Wright and James Wade appeared to be the first players to drop out for a spot in the playoffs. Gary Anderson was still two points behind number four, thanks to victories over Peter Wright (103.68 average) and Dimitri van den Bergh (107.85 average).

The final week was scheduled from 24 to 28 May. For the first time since the start of the Premier League, the public has been allowed to return to the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes. After four exciting rounds, it came down to the very last game: Dimitri van den Bergh and Jonny Clayton were allowed to decide who would go to the playoffs as the fourth player. Michael van Gerwen, Jose de Sousa and Nathan Aspinall had already qualified for this. In the end it was Clayton who won the battle 8-6, so he managed to conquer a spot in the semi-finals. Michael van Gerwen eventually finished as the leader with 23 points after sixteen games.

On May 28 it was time for the apotheosis of another striking, but beautiful season. In the first semi-final it was a game between leader Van Gerwen and debutant Clayton. The battle went on until 8-8, but by throwing an 11-darter and a 12-darter, 'The Ferret' eventually reached his first Premier League final. The other semifinal was also an exciting one: Jose de Sousa and Nathan Aspinall pushed each other to the limit. After nineteen exciting legs there was a 10-9 victory for De Sousa, which meant that two debutants were in the final for the second year in a row.

So it became a final between the winner of The Masters and the winner of the Grand Slam of Darts. It was clear from the start that Clayton had the most energy and power left to go for the title. Supported by his friends in the crowd, the Welshman managed a big 11-5 victory, crowning him the Premier League winner for the first time in his career.