Premier League

The nineteenth edition of the Premier League Darts was held from February 2 to May 25. After seventeen weeks full of tension and struggle, Michael van Gerwen managed to win the Premier League title for a record breaking seventh time.

Just like last season, the PDC opts for an eight-player format and a knockout tournament during each round. This year the following eight names are participating: Michael Smith, Peter Wright, Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price, Jonny Clayton, Nathan Aspinall, Dimitri van den Bergh and Chris Dobey.

Chris Dobey earns a last minute spot after winning 'The Masters' just before the start of the season. The Englishman takes his good form to the Premier League and therefore manages to win the first night in Belfast. In the end it will be a season of ups and downs for Dobey: 'Hollywood' plays very well at times, but can’t win a lot of games. In the end, it remains for him to win that one evening in Belfast and he finishes in seventh place in the final standings.

Michael van Gerwen is off to a good start to the season. In addition to a lost evening final on the first day, he managed to get the full five points in weeks 4, 5 and 6. As a result, the title holder seems certain of a place in the playoffs at an early stage. In the remainder of the season, the Dutchman would not be able to win an evening, but he eventually scores enough points to go to the last evening in London as number three in the ranking.

The best player of the regular season is Gerwyn Price. 'The Iceman' manages to reach the finals on nine evenings. He eventually manages to win four, but that turns out to be enough to finish at the top of the ranking. It will be the first time that the Welshman has qualified for the play-offs. Price regularly records high averages and in week 11, he beats Chris Dobey 6-2 with an average of 115.97. World champion Michael Smith starts the season a bit slowly, but manages to secure his play-off spot by taking the evening win in weeks 13, 14 and 15. He beats Price twice and Jonny Clayton once in the final.

Peter Wright and Dimitri van den Bergh have had a disappointing season. 'Snakebite' only takes his first win in week 6 and only manages to reach one final (which he loses to Clayton). Van den Bergh throws disappointing, especially in the second half of the season and only wins 1 out of nine games. Out of the blue, the Belgian manages to take an evening win on the last evening, so that he just jumps to sixth place in the ranking. Wright finishes bottom of the table with nine points.

The final playoff spot will go to either Jonny Clayton or Nathan Aspinall. Clayton took the evening win in weeks 9 and 10, while Aspinall was the best during the round in Rotterdam. On the last round of play, Aspinall manages to beat his big competitor, but in the end he is one win short to advance to the last four. Both men finish on 24 points, but Clayton's two evening victories are the deciding factor.

On the final night in London, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Michael van Gerwen and Jonny Clayton will compete for the title. The big question beforehand was: is Van Gerwen fit enough? The Dutchman injured his shoulder a week earlier, but ultimately appears to be perfectly capable of playing the play-offs. In the first semi-final, Price shows why he finished as number 1: he beats Clayton 10-2 and throws an average of 107.54. His opponent in the final will be Michael van Gerwen, who quickly takes a big lead against Michael Smith and does not give it away: 10-8.

The final for the Premier League title between Van Gerwen and Price is decided in a few moments: initially both men throw a good game, but Van Gerwen manages to throw a high finish twice (170 and 128) to steal Price's leg. As a result, he again runs out to a big lead. Price still tries, but is no match for 'the king of the Premier League'. Van Gerwen wins the game 11-5 and can be crowned Premier League champion for the seventh time. With that he also passes Phil Taylor: 'The Power' won the biggest darts competition in the world six times.