Premier League Darts 2023 | Night 12 Rotterdam Preview and Order of Play
Premier League Darts returns to Rotterdam Ahoy on Thursday as the race to reach Finals Night intensifies.
Just five league nights remain before the top four in the league table will head to London’s O2 Arena to compete for the sport’s most prestigious invitational title.
Whilst the top two look all but assured of a place in the play-offs, it remains all to play for amongst the chasing pack, with five of the field having now picked up at least one weekly title.
Michael van Gerwen is set for a roof-raising reception in front of his adoring Dutch public, and the reigning champion opens up with a clash against play-off chasing Nathan Aspinall.
Van Gerwen has seen his lead at the top of the table slashed to just two points and will be keen to restore daylight between himself and nearest rival Gerwyn Price.
Winner of three consecutive weekly titles from Nights 4-6, Van Gerwen was runner-up on Night Eight and has recently suffered successive Semi-Final exits.
He has led the way at the top of the pile since Night Four and has won two of his three Premier League meetings with Aspinall this season, as well as a Quarter-Final at the UK Open.
Aspinall had spent the opening nine weeks inside the top four, but back-to-back Quarter-Final defeats have seen him drop out and fall two points adrift.
The 2020 Premier League runner-up reached his first European Tour final on Easter Monday and will be determined to atone for last week’s disappointing defeat to Peter Wright, having raced into a 4-0 lead.
Former World Champion Price could move to the top of the table for the first time this season if he can better MVG’s run, but the Welshman faces a formidable opener against world number one Michael Smith.
Price picked up his third weekly title of the campaign in Brighton last time out, registering a ton-plus average in each of his three matches, including a sensational 115.97 in his Quarter-Final win over Chris Dobey.
The world number four is 12 points clear of fifth spot and well on course to reach the play-offs for the first time, but will look to do so in style by winning the league phase.
Smith, meanwhile, is sitting pretty in third position, three points clear of Aspinall, and is targeting a second weekly title of the season, having triumphed on Night Three before finishing runner-up on a further three occasions.
The reigning World Champion will be keen to avenge last week’s 6-3 defeat to Price in the final in Brighton.
The opening match of the night sees 2021 champion Jonny Clayton take debutant Chris Dobey for only their second meeting of the campaign.
Clayton coasted to a 6-1 victory when the pair met on Night Three in Glasgow and has since gone on to secure a brace of weekly titles to climb in to the top four.
The Ferret, who has reached the play-offs in each of his two previous Premier League appearances, will be keen to keep destiny in his own hands by adding to his points tally in the Netherlands.
Dobey will get his first taste of the cauldron atmosphere at a sold-out Rotterdam Ahoy as he vies to mount a late play-off challenge.
The Masters champion has gone three weeks without a Premier League win, leaving him seven points adrift of the top four and knows another early exit here could be fatal to his chances.
The bottom two in the league table go head-to-head in a desperate search for points as Dimitri van den Bergh faces Peter Wright.
Van den Bergh heads in to the contest on the back of a four-match losing streak, leaving his faint play-off hopes hanging by a thread, but will aim to stop the rot by recording a second win over ‘Snakebite’ this season.
Having mustered just one win in the opening nine nights, Wright has since registered three victories across his two most recent outings, but remains rooted to the foot of the table on seven points.
The 2017 finalist, however, could leapfrog his former lock-down lodger Van den Bergh if he were to win by four legs or more.
Night 12 of 2023 Premier League Darts gets under way in Rotterdam from 7pm BST, with all matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs.
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Premier League Darts 2023 Night 12 Schedule
Thursday April 20
7pm-11pm
Quarter-Finals
Chris Dobey v Jonny Clayton
Michael Smith v Gerwyn Price
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Peter Wright
Michael van Gerwen v Nathan Aspinall
Semi-Finals
Dobey/Clayton v Smith/Price
Van den Bergh/Wright v Van Gerwen/Aspinall
Final
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