Premier League Darts 2023 | Night One Belfast Preview and Order of Play
The 2023 Premier League Darts season begins in Belfast on Thursday as the elite eight collide in the opening weekly knock-out.
Night One of the 17-week roadshow across the UK, Ireland and Europe sees the star names head to The SSE Arena as they look to hit the ground running.
The format mirrors that of last year’s event, with Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and a final held each night and a £10,000 weekly bonus up for grabs, as well as points counting towards the overall league table.
As has become Premier League tradition, the opening night will feature a repeat of the World Championship final from a month earlier, with Michael Smith taking on Michael van Gerwen.
Smith defeated Van Gerwen by seven sets to four at Alexandra Palace to achieve his darting destiny and be crowned World Champion for the first time, just two months after lifting his first major title at the Grand Slam.
An epic World Championship final featured the greatest televised leg of all-time which saw Van Gerwen miss double 12 for a nine-dart finish, only for Smith to complete a nine-darter of his own.
Smith, who has since added the Bahrain Masters title to his collection, is making his sixth appearance in the Premier League, having finished runner-up in 2018 – when MVG romped to victory with a blistering 112 average in the final.
Since then, ‘Bully Boy’ has twice finished in seventh spot, and missed out on the play-offs again last year, finishing sixth despite winning Night 16.
Van Gerwen is kicking off the defence of his title, having equalled Phil Taylor’s record tally of six Premier League crowns courtesy of his dramatic 11-10 win over Joe Cullen in the final last summer.
The Dutch superstar, an ever-present in the competition over the past decade, has reached the play-offs in all but one of his ten previous appearances, and will be out for revenge for his Ally Pally agony on opening night.
Meanwhile, newly-crowned Masters champion Chris Dobey marks his Premier League debut with a clash against two-time World Champion Peter Wright.
Dobey claimed a fairy-tale first televised title in Milton Keynes on Sunday and was rewarded with a dream debut in this elite invitational, having previously featured as a ‘Contender’ in 2019 and 2020.
The world number 21 defeated two World Champions as well as defending champion Cullen en route to Masters glory and will be determined to continue that winning form into the Premier League.
Wright has featured in every staging of the Premier League since 2014, notably squandering multiple match darts for the title in 2017, with his only other play-off appearance coming three years later.
Snakebite finished fifth in last year’s table, missing out on Finals Night by just two points, but will be out to replicate his perfect start which saw him win Night One in Cardiff.
Nathan Aspinall, the 2020 runner-up, marks his return to the event with a show-down against 2021 World Champion Gerwyn Price.
Aspinall was denied glory by Glen Durrant in the final in Coventry in what was his debut campaign, before losing out to Jose de Sousa in the Semi-Finals a year later.
The former UK Open champion finished runner-up in two majors last season – the World Grand Prix and Grand Slam of Darts – and picked up two Players Championship titles to continue his impressive resurgence following injury problems.
Price, on the other hand, remains the most successful player yet to appear in the Premier League play-offs, but will be desperate to end that wait at the fifth time of asking.
The five-time televised ranking event winner finished seventh in last year’s table despite winning two nights – one of which coming in Belfast with the aid of two nine-darters and consecutive match averages of 108.5, 108.9 and 105.3.
After being thrashed five sets to one by Gabriel Clemens in the Quarter-Finals of the World Championship, Price started the new season with back-to-back runner-up spots at the Bahrain Masters and Nordic Masters, but was beaten 10-8 by Dirk van Duijvenbode in his opener at The Masters amid a bout of illness.
The curtain is raised on the tournament by 2021 champion Jonny Clayton and 2020 World Matchplay champion Dimitri van den Bergh.
Clayton is making a hat-trick of Premier League appearances, having finished top of last year’s league table before seeing his reign as champion brought to an end by Cullen in the Semi-Finals.
The tenacious Welshman stormed to four weekly titles last time out, finishing nine points clear at the top of the standings, but his only silverware of the season came at the New South Wales Masters last August.
Van den Bergh returns to the line-up after a year’s absence, with two World Series titles to his name in 2022, as well as runs to the Semi-Finals of the World Matchplay and World Championship.
The charismatic Belgian finished in fifth position on his Premier League debut in 2021, with his 8-6 defeat to Clayton on Night 16 denying him a place in the play-offs.
Night One of 2023 Premier League Darts gets under way from 7pm GMT, with all matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs.
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Premier League Darts 2023 Night One Schedule
Thursday February 2
The SSE Arena, Belfast
7pm-11pm
Quarter-Finals
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Jonny Clayton
Michael Smith v Michael van Gerwen
Peter Wright v Chris Dobey
Nathan Aspinall v Gerwyn Price
Semi-Finals
Van den Bergh/Clayton v Smith/Van Gerwen
Wright/Dobey v Aspinall/Price
Final
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