While it was Gerwyn Price who won the Night Seven title – his second of the season – it was actually Chris Dobey who stole the headlines as he became the first player in Premier League of Darts history to bank a whitewash victory over Michael van Gerwen.
Price put in a superb performance to win the final match 6-4, posting an average of 101 over his last opponent of the evening Dobey’s 95.48. The Iceman, who earlier on in the evening had beaten his Welsh compatriot Jonny Clayton before taking down Dimitri Van den Bergh, both by 6-4 score lines, also threw in all four of the 180s in the match and landed two of the three ton-plus checkouts before finally getting over the line after missing five darts at a double in leg nine.
The win sees Price climb up to second in the table ahead of Michael Smith and one place below Michael van Gerwen.
Having won the title on Night One, Dobey wasn’t quite able to pick up his second nightly title of the season but did put in the performance of the night in winning all six legs against van Gerwen to bring the Dutchman’s three-week winning streak to an end.
Fresh from beating world champion Michael Smith 6-4 in their quarter-final clash, Dobey averaged 101.33 against Mighty Mike while also pinning four 180s, two ton-plus checkouts and landing six of his nine attempts at doubles during a superb display.
The Green Machine, who averaged 100, had been on a ten-match winning run in the Darts Premier League and started off the evening with a 6-1 trouncing of Peter Wright in the quarter-finals. MVG had been looking to win his fourth night in a row but was made to pay for missing a single dart at a double in legs three, four and five and looked stunned by his whitewashing at the hands of Dobey.
Play now moves on to Newcastle, making Night Eight a home fixture for Chris Dobey as he takes on Michael Smith in a repeat of last week’s quarter-final. This week’s fixtures are all based on league table positions following Night Seven.
This means that top plays bottom as Michael van Gerwen once again faces Peter Wright, a man he has beaten 6-1 for the last two weeks. There is also another all-Welsh meeting between Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton while Nathan Aspinall steps out against Dimitri van den Bergh but who will triumph in the North East?
The world number two once again takes on the world number three for the third week in a row. They are not playing only one place in the PDC Order of Merit separates them, however. On the previous two occasions, there has been only one clear winner with Michael van Gerwen winning 6-1 both times.
In fact, Wright has only won one match so far this season leaving him on two points and propping up the table. Mighty Mike on the other hand is the runaway leader of the table. Although even he was humbled last week when whitewashed by losing Night Seven finalist Chris Dobey.
The Dutchman did, however, travel to Germany over the weekend for Players Championship duties and won Sunday’s event, the Players Championship 7 final in Hildesheim.
Wright, on the other hand, remains bottom of this year’s table with only one win to go beside six losses. He looks like a shadow of his former self right now and hasn’t averaged over 93 for four weeks. Even if Snakebite was to finally bank a nightly win, he will still be bottom by the close of play Thursday night.
In all, though, there isn’t any reason not to predict another win for Mighty Mike. Snakebite still can’t settle on a preferred set of darts and is woefully out of form right now. In contrast, van Gerwen’s slip-up was probably a one-off and more of a freak result and he is once again favourite to not just win this match but also the night as well.
In what is a week of repeats, Dimitri van den Bergh once again faces Nathan Aspinall. Last time out, The Dream Maker beat the Asp which really shouldn’t surprise anybody. Incredibly, the Belgian has beaten Aspinall ten times on the spin, a run that includes four Premier League of Darts meetings, two of which have come this season.
One thing that will please Aspinall is that he has thrown in the second most 180s in the competition which should give him some hope as looks to end his abysmal run against van den Bergh. He should break his duck against the Belgian at some point but whether that is this week or not is not so easy to say. The Asp can be backed, however, to pin the most maximums.
This is another repeat fixture from last week where seven days ago we saw Gerwyn Price win against his fellow Welshman Jonny Clayton. Price was brilliant on the two nights he has won so far but has been appalling on every Premier League outing before or since.
Happily, there are signs that he is slowly beginning to win the fans over now which seems to make him a better player. If the boo boys stay away, he could get his swagger back which makes him one of the most dangerous players in the competition.
No one knows him better than Clayton though and The Ferret is one of those players who is incredibly hard to shake off. Former Premier League of Darts champion Clayton is another player who is not enjoying things this year.
It’s far too early for him to worry as everything can change with a few wins, but Clayton is under pressure after a couple of first-round losses and hasn’t won a night yet or even made a final. Last year, he win more than anyone even if he didn’t win the outright campaign.
One win is all can take to catapult him into the playoff places, though, but I can’t see that coming this week if the real Gerwyn Price that we saw in Nottingham last week shows up again in Newcastle.
These two also played each other in the first round a week ago with Chris Dobey upsetting the odds and knocking out the world champion. Of course, Hollywood would then go on to put in the outstanding performance of the season in whitewashing Michael van Gerwen.
Hot on the heels of a wrist injury, The Bully Boy has been hit by a bug sadly which could impact his performance. The world champion is still good enough to win matches with his eyes closed but his consistency levels have dropped right now and suddenly that 97.5 average might be hard to hit.
Smith certainly has struggled to find it in his last four matches, while Dobey, coming off of that thrashing of Mighty Mike should be buoyed going into a match in his home city and could pull off yet another shock result.
| Player | Nights Won | Games Won | Leg Difference | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael van Gerwen | 3 | 12 | +30 | 20 |
| Gerwyn Price | 2 | 8 | +8 | 12 |
| Michael Smith | 1 | 7 | 0 | 12 |
| Nathan Aspinall | 0 | 6 | -7 | 11 |
| Dimitri van den Bergh | 0 | 5 | -1 | 9 |
| Chris Dobey | 1 | 5 | -8 | 8 |
| Jonny Clayton | 0 | 4 | -8 | 7 |
| Peter Wright | 0 | 1 | -19 | 2 |
Venue: Utilita Arena, Newcastle
Dates: Thursday February 2nd – Thursday May 25
Format: Best of 11 legs (First to six)
Current Champion: Michael van Gerwen
Where To Watch: Sky Sports Main Event HD & Sky Sports Arena HD
When To Watch: 19:00 UK