Premier League Darts 2023 | Night Eight Newcastle Preview and Order of Play
Premier League Darts hits Newcastle on Thursday night as debutant Chris Dobey makes his eagerly-anticipated homecoming.
The league phase reaches the halfway stage as the elite eight head to the Utilita Arena in pursuit of crucial points towards the table and the £10,000 weekly winner’s bonus.
The fixtures for Night Eight have been determined by the league standings, with the same four Quarter-Final ties from Night Seven in Nottingham set to be replayed in the North East.
All eyes will be on Bedlington ace Dobey as he steps out in front of an adoring sell-out crowd in a quest for glory on home soil.
Dobey got his first taste of the Premier League stage as a ‘Contender’ here in 2019, holding Mensur Suljovic to a 6-6 draw.
Now a televised title holder, Dobey returns as a permanent fixture in the elite invitational and made a dream start by winning the opening night in Belfast.
However, a run of five straight Quarter-Final defeats followed despite a trio of ton-plus averages, before he ended the drought in Nottingham last week by reaching the final – where he was denied by Gerwyn Price.
Dobey defeated Michael Smith 6-4 to return to winning ways and will be eyeing back-to-back wins over ‘Bully Boy’ to raise the roof on Tyneside.
Smith comes into the night in third position with 12 points, having won Night Three in Glasgow and finished runner-up on Night Six in Liverpool.
The world number one and World Champion has been struggling with both injury and illness in recent weeks, missing the ProTour double-header in Hildesheim, but will look to spoil the party by avenging last week’s loss in which he trailed 5-0 before reeling off four consecutive legs to threaten a miraculous comeback.
Meanwhile, reigning champion Michael van Gerwen looks to extend his lead at the top of the table by securing a fourth weekly title in his last five outings.
Van Gerwen went unbeaten from Night Three to Night Six before being emphatically halted in the Semi-Finals by Dobey – who inflicted the Dutchman’s first ever whitewash defeat in ten years as a Premier League player.
Nonetheless, he remains nine points clear at the summit and is all but assured of a place in May’s play-offs at The O2.
Van Gerwen, who picked up his first Players Championship title of the season on Sunday, starts out against struggling Peter Wright for their third meeting in as many weeks.
Their last two encounters have ended in resounding 6-1 wins for the Dutchman, with an experimental Wright using bulbous darts to little effect.
Wright finds himself five points adrift at the foot of the table and in desperate need of results in the second half of the campaign if he is to have any chance of making the play-offs.
Welsh World Cup stars Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton face off again as ‘The Ferret’ bids to avenge last week’s 6-4 defeat in Nottingham.
Clayton, who finished top of the league table last season, remains in search of a first weekly title of the campaign, having come closest on Night Five when he finished runner-up in Exeter.
Clayton has just seven points to his name, six fewer than Price, and has averaged below 95 in six of his last seven Premier League games.
Price picked up his second weekly title of the season last time out to move second in the table and bolster his hopes of reaching the play-offs for the first time.
The world number four registered back-to-back ton-plus averages in last week’s Semi-Final and final and will be keen to pick up from where he left off.
Nathan Aspinall aims to stop the rot against his nemesis Dimitri van den Bergh when the pair collide for the second week running.
Van den Bergh has incredibly won their last nine consecutive meetings in all competitions and battled his way to a 6-4 success last week despite an average of 91.
A 126 checkout on the bull clinched Van den Bergh’s latest victory before he was denied by Price in the Semi-Finals, taking his tally to nine points for the season so far.
Aspinall is currently holding down fourth spot with 11 points, and like Van den Bergh, is chasing his first weekly title after one runner-up spot earlier in the competition.
Night Eight of 2023 Premier League Darts gets under way in Newcastle from 7pm GMT, with all matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs.
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Premier League Darts 2023 Night Eight Schedule
Thursday March 23
7pm-11pm
Quarter-Finals
Michael van Gerwen v Peter Wright
Nathan Aspinall v Dimitri van den Bergh
Gerwyn Price v Jonny Clayton
Michael Smith v Chris Dobey
Semi-Finals
Van Gerwen/Wright v Aspinall/Van den Bergh
Price/Clayton v Smith/Dobey
Final
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