Premier League Darts 2026 Night 12 | Liverpool Preview and Order of Play
Premier League Darts heads to Liverpool for Night 12 on Thursday with another crucial set of fixtures in the race for the play-offs.
Five nights of league action remain before the top four players in the table progress to The O2 to compete for the sport’s most prestigious invitational title.
Jonny Clayton and Luke Littler have all but secured their spot in Finals Night next month, leaving the remaining six players to battle it out for the other two places.
Luke Humphries closed the gap on Michael van Gerwen in fourth spot to three points last week, and the reigning Premier League champion faces a crunch clash with rival Littler at a sold-out Liverpool Arena.
Humphries was denied by Littler in a last-leg decider in Rotterdam last week despite averaging 103 and remains without a weekly title to his name this season.
The world number two has found himself outside the top four since Night Seven, with his only nightly final appearance coming in Nottingham back in Week Six.
All three of the Premier League fixtures between Humphries and Littler this season have gone to last-leg deciders, with Littler prevailing on two occasions.
The back-to-back World Champion was beaten in a weekly final for the first time this season in Rotterdam and is now five points adrift of league leader Jonny Clayton, but crucially 11 clear of fifth spot.
The Nuke triumphed in Liverpool in his debut Premier League campaign in 2024 before suffering a quarter-final defeat last year, and will be braced for another mixed reception from the Merseyside crowd.
Meanwhile, local hero Stephen Bunting looks to utilise home advantage when he takes on table topper Clayton.
Avid Liverpool fan Bunting averaged just 91 in a 6-1 rout at the hands of Rob Cross here 12 months ago and will be determined to atone for that disappointment.
He remains within sight of the play-off places, five points adrift, but knows he can ill-afford to leave Liverpool empty-handed if he is to retain any realistic hopes of reaching The O2.
Clayton is already safe in the knowledge that he will be featuring on Finals Night courtesy of a remarkable campaign so far which has seen him rack up four weekly titles.
The 2021 champion is bidding to make it a hat-trick following his triumphs in Brighton and Rotterdam and will be out to spoil the party on Bunting’s homecoming.
The opening match of the night sees in-form Gerwyn Price take on an indifferent Gian van Veen.
Price returns to Premier League action after securing a landmark tenth European Tour title at the European Darts Grand Prix in Sindelfingen on Sunday which saw him climb back up to world number seven.
Price is sitting pretty in third spot in the league table following two nightly wins so far and is out to replicate last year’s terrific triumph in Liverpool which saw him register averages of 106.7, 105.2 and 104.4.
Van Veen’s debut Premier League campaign has proven to be feast or famine, with four final appearances and six quarter-final exits amid his withdrawal through illness on Night Seven.
The Dutchman is without a win in his last two outings and also suffered an opening round exit at the hands of Joe Cullen in last week’s European Grand Prix.
Elsewhere, seven-time Premier League champion Van Gerwen faces a crucial clash against debutant Josh Rock.
Van Gerwen continues to hold down fourth spot in his quest to return to The O2 after failing to qualify last year, but remains without a weekly title since the opening night in Newcastle in February.
The three-time World Champion registered his lowest-ever European Tour average (82.57) in a 6-2 defeat to Wessel Nijman last weekend and will be keen to bounce back against an opponent with renewed confidence.
Since losing his first seven matches of the campaign, Rock has strung together four consecutive quarter-final wins but remains yet to reach a weekly final.
The World Cup of Darts winner, who landed a memorable nine-darter in Belfast, has closed the gap on Bunting to three points in his bid to climb off the foot of the table, and must defeat MVG if he is to have any chance of gatecrashing the play-offs.
The action gets under way from 7pm BST, with all matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs.
WATCH PREMIER LEAGUE DARTS STREAMED LIVE HERE
18+ | Geo Restrictions may apply | Please Gamble Responsibly
Premier League Darts 2026 Night 12 Order of Play
Thursday April 23
7pm-11pm
Quarter-Finals
Gian van Veen v Gerwyn Price
Stephen Bunting v Jonny Clayton
Josh Rock v Michael van Gerwen
Luke Humphries v Luke Littler
Semi-Finals
Van Veen/Price v Bunting/Clayton
Rock/Van Gerwen v Humphries/Littler
Final
