Premier League Darts 2023 | Night 16 Aberdeen Preview and Order of Play
Premier League Darts heads to Aberdeen on Thursday with the fourth and final play-off place set to be decided.
The 16th and final night of league phase action will take place in front of a bumper crowd at the P&J Live, as Jonny Clayton and Nathan Aspinall bid to join Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen in next week’s Play-Offs at The O2.
Clayton comes into his decisive show-down with Aspinall occupying the all-important fourth spot, and knows that a win would secure him a place on Finals Night for the third season in a row.
With Aspinall having lost to Price in last week’s Quarter-Finals, while Clayton reached the semis, the former UK Open champion now has to reach the final in Aberdeen to overhaul his rival and snatch fourth place.
Clayton has picked up two weekly titles this season, going back-to-back in Nights Nine and Ten, while Aspinall’s sole success came in Rotterdam on Night 12.
The Welshman has won both of their previous league fixtures this term, with Aspinall left to rue costly missed doubles in both, and both were beaten in deciding legs in the Quarter-Finals of the weekend’s Czech Open.
Aspinall, runner-up on his Premier League debut in 2020, has spent 12 of the last 15 weeks inside the top four, while 2021 champion Clayton has spent just five.
Meanwhile, the battle for top spot goes down to the wire as Price looks to head to The O2 as only the fifth player to have finished top of the table following the league phase.
The 2021 World Champion is three points clear of Smith in second and would rubber-stamp top spot by reaching his ninth weekly final of the campaign.
Price, who has finished runner-up in three of his last four Premier League outings, is also vying to become the first player to win five weekly titles since the new format was introduced last year.
The world number four kicks off the night against the eliminated Peter Wright – who is aiming to avoid finishing rock bottom of the table for the first time in ten Premier League appearances.
Scottish star Wright will be determined to round-off a miserable campaign with a strong showing on home soil after picking up his first ranking title of the year at the Czech Open in Prague on Sunday.
Wright has mustered only five wins from 20 matches played in this year’s Premier League with a tournament average of 93.7.
World number one Smith will be looking to pounce on any potential slip-up from Price in his quest to snatch top spot as he challenges for a record fourth consecutive weekly title.
The reigning World Champion heads north of the border having gone nine games unbeaten in the Premier League, securing the £10,000 bonus in Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield.
Smith has won all five of his meetings with Van den Bergh so far this year, three of which having come in this competition, including the final in Glasgow on Night Three.
That was Van den Bergh’s first, and so far only, appearance in a weekly final, and his disappointing return to the Premier League has seen him pick up just 11 points.
The Belgian has won just one of his last eight league fixtures and will be keen to end on a high and avoid the possibility of finishing bottom of the pile.
Elsewhere, reigning champion Van Gerwen looks to send out a clear message before heading to The O2, and he takes on Masters champion Chris Dobey in the Quarter-Finals.
Van Gerwen claimed a hat-trick of weekly titles from Nights 4-6 but has not tasted success since, though he could still finish top of the table if he were to win the night and Price and Smith both suffer Quarter-Final defeats.
Ominously for MVG, he has lost his opening match in three of the last four weeks and suffered his first ever Premier League whitewash at the hands of Dobey on Night Seven in Nottingham.
The pair have shared two wins apiece from their meetings in this event so far, and though Dobey cannot finish higher than sixth, he will be out to finish with a flourish in what has been a respectable debut campaign.
The Bedlington ace claimed glory on the opening night in Belfast and was a beaten finalist in Nottingham, and boasts a tournament average of 97.6 having suffered numerous defeats despite registering ton-plus averages.
Night 16 of 2023 Premier League Darts gets under way in Aberdeen from 7pm BST, with all matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs.
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Premier League Darts 2023 Night 16 Schedule
Thursday May 18
7pm-11pm
Quarter-Finals
Gerwyn Price v Peter Wright
Jonny Clayton v Nathan Aspinall
Michael Smith v Dimitri van den Bergh
Michael van Gerwen v Chris Dobey
Semi-Finals
Price/Wright v Clayton/Aspinall
Smith/Van den Bergh v Van Gerwen/Dobey
Final
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