Premier League Darts 2026 Night Nine | Manchester Preview and Order of Play

Premier League Darts arrives in Manchester for Night Nine on Thursday as Luke Littler bids to make it three in a row.

Littler climbed to the top of the league table last week for the first time this season after making it back-to-back nightly titles in Berlin.

The world number one is now gearing up for his Premier League homecoming as he makes the short trip from Warrington in search of a first hat-trick of weekly titles.

Littler, who has landed five 170 checkouts in the last four league nights, leads the way by two points at the summit and could all but confirm his place in the play-offs with victory at the AO Arena.

The 19-year-old is bidding to join Michael Smith, Michael van Gerwen and Luke Humphries as only the fourth player to win three consecutive weekly titles since the knock-out format was introduced in 2022.

Home hero Littler opens up with a clash against Gian van Veen in a repeat of this year’s World Championship final.

Van Veen notably defeated Littler 6-4 in the quarter-finals on opening night in Newcastle and finished runner-up in three of the first four nights.

However, the European Champion is without a win since Night Four, having recently suffered a setback after undergoing surgery for kidney stones which forced him to withdraw from Night Seven in Dublin.

Van Veen averaged 91.5 in a 6-1 defeat to Price on his return to action in Berlin and has subsequently dropped to sixth in the league table.

Jonny Clayton heads up the chasing pack in pursuit of top spot, and the Welshman is bidding for revenge over debutant Josh Rock.

Rock snapped his seven-match losing streak by prevailing 6-3 over Clayton in Berlin, but remains five points adrift at the foot of the table.

The World Cup of Darts winner has a tournament average of 91 as well as a tournament checkout success of just 24 per cent, but will seek encouragement from last week’s rot-stopping win over the Welshman.

Clayton had topped the table since Night Three, but a second successive quarter-final exit saw him leapfrogged by Littler and still with work to do in order to cement a place in next month’s play-offs.

Reigning champion Luke Humphries finds himself outside of the top four at the halfway stage of the league phase, and he faces a crucial clash against Gerwyn Price.

Humphries is yet to pick up a nightly title this season, with his only final appearance coming on Night Six in Nottingham – where he was thrashed 6-1 by Clayton.

The world number two has been in fine form away from the Premier League, picking up the Belgian Darts Open title a fortnight ago, and continues to hold down a 100.5 average in this tournament, though his 34 per cent checkout success is the second lowest of the field.

Price occupies third spot heading into Night Nine and has not been outside of the top four since the opening night, with a weekly title in Antwerp and a runner-up spot in Dublin.

The opening match of the evening sees seven-time Premier League champion Michael van Gerwen face a struggling Stephen Bunting.

Van Gerwen reclaimed a top four spot courtesy of his run to a third weekly final of the campaign last time out, defeating both Humphries and Rock 6-3 before losing out 6-4 to Littler despite a 103.8 average.

The Dutch icon has won all three of his meetings with Bunting in 2026, including in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, as well as the quarter-finals on Night One of the Premier League.

Bunting has seven points to his name, five of which courtesy of his nightly triumph in Belfast, but successive quarter-final defeats mean he is six points adrift of the play-off positions.

The action gets under way from 7pm BST, with all matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs.

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Premier League Darts 2026 Night Nine Schedule

Thursday April 2

7pm-11pm

Quarter-Finals
Michael van Gerwen v Stephen Bunting
Gerwyn Price v Luke Humphries
Gian van Veen v Luke Littler
Jonny Clayton v Josh Rock

Semi-Finals
Van Gerwen/Bunting v Price/Humphries
Van Veen/Littler v Clayton/Rock

Final