Premier League Darts 2023 | Night Six Liverpool Preview and Order of Play
Premier League Darts heads to Liverpool for Night Six of the competition on Thursday, with a repeat of last week’s final among the notable fixtures.
The sixth of 16 weekly knockouts sees the eight stars face off at the M&S Bank Arena in pursuit of points towards the league table, as well as the £10,000 weekly winner’s bonus.
The opening five nights of action have produced four different winners and seven different finalists, and just two points separating those from second to sixth in the early standings.
Reigning champion Michael van Gerwen leads the way on 15 points at the top of the pile, six points clear of the chasing pack, and is bidding to claim a hat-trick of weekly titles.
Van Gerwen repeated last year’s feat of prevailing on both Night Four and Night Five as he left Dublin and Exeter with the £10,000 bonus to assert his authority on the competition .
The world number three, however, was on the receiving end of a shock 11-10 defeat to Andrew Gilding in the final of the UK Open on Sunday, having led 9-7, and will be keen to get that painful defeat out of his system at the first opportunity.
Van Gerwen opens up against 2021 Premier League champion Jonny Clayton – the man he defeated 6-3 in last week’s final.
Clayton is out to avoid a third straight defeat to MVG, having been beaten by the same scoreline in Dublin, but will have fond memories of Merseyside after claiming the Night Two title here last year with a Semi-Final win over the Dutchman along the way.
Clayton, who finished top of last year’s league table after picking up four weekly titles, is yet to get off the mark in 2023 and faces a formidable opener this week.
The opening match of the night sees former World Champions Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright go head-to-head.
Wright is facing a desperate scramble for points as the only player yet to register a win in this season’s Premier League and is already in danger of being cut adrift from the play-off places.
The world number two suffered a shock Last 16 exit at the hands of Richie Burnett in the weekend’s UK Open, but his highlight of the season so far saw him thrash Price 11-5 in the final with a 102 average to claim the Nordic Masters title in January.
Price notably picked up the Night Two title on home soil in Cardiff but was left to rue what might have been in Dublin a fortnight later, squandering seven match darts against MVG in the final.
Van Gerwen then got the better of ‘The Ice Man’ again last time out with Price averaging just 89 in a 6-3 Quarter-Final defeat in a chilly Exeter.
Meanwhile, Michael Smith aims to apply the pressure on Van Gerwen at the top of the table by challenging for a second weekly title of the campaign.
The world number one and World Champion, who has been suffering with an injury in his throwing hand in recent weeks, went down 6-3 to Nathan Aspinall in last week’s Quarter-Final and was edged out 10-9 by Luke Humphries in the Last 32 of the UK Open.
Smith makes the short trip from St Helens to Liverpool to take on Dimitri van den Bergh – who has seven points to his name after finishing runner-up on Night Three and reaching the Semi-Finals of Night One and Night Five.
The Belgian star enjoyed a superb run to his first UK Open Semi-Final in Minehead on Sunday, defeating the likes of Mervyn King and Gary Anderson en route, before falling foul to his nemesis MVG once again.
Former UK Open champion Nathan Aspinall looks to consolidate his place in the top four by extending Chris Dobey’s winless run to five weeks.
Aspinall, the 2020 Premier League runner-up, has three weekly Semi-Finals and a final to his name so far this season and continued his strong run of form by reaching the Last Eight of the recent UK Open – where he was dispatched 10-6 by Van Gerwen in a high quality contest.
Dobey made a dream start to his debut Premier League campaign by claiming glory on the opening night in Belfast last month but has since struggled for consistency and is yet to add to his five-point haul.
The reigning Masters champion defeated Aspinall 6-4 in the Semi-Finals en route to the Night One title and will be keen to do the double over his close friend and stop the rot.
Night Six of 2023 Premier League Darts gets under way in Liverpool from 7pm GMT, with all matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs.
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Premier League Darts 2023 Night Six Schedule
Thursday March 9
7pm-10.30pm
Quarter-Finals
Gerwyn Price v Peter Wright
Michael van Gerwen v Jonny Clayton
Chris Dobey v Nathan Aspinall
Michael Smith v Dimitri Van den Bergh
Semi-Finals
Price/Wright v Van Gerwen/Clayton
Dobey/Aspinall v Smith/Van den Bergh
Final
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