Premier League Darts 2020 Judgement Night preview and order of play: Trio battling to avoid elimination

Rob Cross, Daryl Gurney and Gerwyn Price face a battle for survival on Judgement Night of the 2020 Premier League in Milton Keynes on Thursday.

The elite invitational reaches its halfway stage, with the player finishing bottom of the table following Night Nine exiting the competition.

The scramble to avoid elimination is set to go down to the wire, with the bottom three players separated by just two points heading into Judgement Night.

Gurney has enjoyed a timely resurgence since the Premier League resumed at the Marshall Arena this week, recording back-to-back wins to climb off the foot of the table.

The Northern Irishman had gone six games without a win before the enforced break in play since March, but a 7-2 rout of Chris Dobey and a 7-5 success over Nathan Aspinall means destiny is now in his own hands.

Gurney goes into his clash with Peter Wright knowing that he can ensure his safety by equalling or bettering Cross’ result against Glen Durrant later in the evening.

Gurney has won three of his last four meetings with Wright, including notable triumphs in the 2019 World Matchplay and 2020 UK Open.

Wright occupies third position in the table with ten points, just two adrift of league leader Durrant, having claimed three points from a possible four so far this week.

The reigning World Champion averaged 102.2 in a 7-1 demolition of Challenger Jeffrey de Zwaan on Wednesday and will look to pick up from where he left off.

A draw for Gurney would leave Cross needing to beat Durrant 7-0, while a win would seal the 2019 finalist’s elimination with a game to spare.

Cross will be hoping for a major favour from ‘Snakebite’ before his crunch clash with man of the moment Durrant in the final game of the evening.

Cross, who surrendered his World Matchplay title at the first hurdle last month, has endured a nightmare season so far and is without a win in his last six Premier League outings.

He has gone down 7-2 to Michael van Gerwen and 7-3 to Michael Smith so far this week, averaging just 89 and 93 in the process, and knows he requires a vast improvement if he is to deny Duzza.

Durrant is riding the crest of a wave having recorded a third consecutive win over MVG last night to go two points clear at the top of the table in his memorable debut campaign.

The tenacious Teessider has lost just one of his opening eight fixtures and has registered ton-plus averages in each of his matches so far this week.

Meanwhile, Price faces the simple equation of having to win just one leg against Challenger Jermaine Wattimena in order to secure his place in the second phase of the competition.

The back-to-back Grand Slam champion eased his elimination fears by thrashing a below-par Gary Anderson 7-1 on Wednesday to claim only his second victory of the campaign.

The Welshman will look to build up a head of steam and press on towards the top four by overcoming quick-fire Dutchman Wattimena – the last of the eight Challengers to take to the stage.

Wattimena has already sampled the unique, behind closed doors conditions in Milton Keynes, having featured in the World Matchplay – losing 10-4 to Krzysztof Ratajski in Round One.

He reached his first major Quarter-Final at the World Grand Prix last October and was a semi-finalist at the World Cup of Darts alongside Van Gerwen for the Netherlands.

Undoubtedly the pick of the night’s matches sees multiple World Champions Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson collide.

Van Gerwen and Anderson go head-to-head (Photo by Lawrence Lustig/PDC)

Both players will be chomping at the bit to rectify heavy defeats last night and get their campaigns back on track at the first opportunity.

Van Gerwen was uprooted from top spot by Durrant and was made to eat his words after declaring in the build-up that he “would win” the game.

The world number one has now lost three of his first eight Premier League fixtures for the first time since making his debut in 2013 and only once (2018) has he ever lost more than more in an entire round-robin phase.

However, his recent head-to-head record against Anderson makes for strong reading, having won each of their last seven meetings stretching back to November 2018.

A night to forget for Anderson saw him suffer a 7-1 hammering at the hands of rival Gerwyn Price, just 24 hours after averaging 109 in a ruthless win over Smith.

The two-time Premier League champion has dropped to sixth in the table, and with a legs difference of minus three, knows he can ill-afford another heavy defeat if he is to avoid becoming cut adrift of the top four.

The Flying Scotsman has long relished this box office battle with the world number one – whose similarly rapid pace and relentless scoring power so often brings out the best in him.

The opening match of the night sees fourth take on fifth in the table as Michael Smith comes up against Nathan Aspinall.

Smith was beaten 7-3 by Gary Anderson on Tuesday despite a 107 average but bounced back in style by reversing that scoreline against Cross last night.

The 2018 Premier League runner-up has landed 12 maximums so far this week, underlining his prolific scoring power, and has won seven of his ten previous meetings with Aspinall.

Aspinall began the week by defeating Price 7-4 but went down 7-5 to Gurney on Wednesday – a result which saw him drop out of the top four on legs difference.

The 2019 UK Open champion has the second highest tournament average of 98.4 and has landed 28 maximums, one short of Smith’s leading tally.

The action gets underway from 6.30pm BST, with all matches to be contested over the best of 12 legs.

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Premier League Darts 2020 Match Schedule

Thursday August 27 – Judgement Night

Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes

6.45pm Nathan Aspinall v Michael Smith
7.30pm Michael van Gerwen v Gary Anderson
8.15pm Jermaine Wattimena v Gerwyn Price
9.00pm Peter Wright v Daryl Gurney
9.45pm Glen Durrant v Rob Cross