Premier League Darts 2023 | Night Five Exeter Preview and Order of Play
The 2023 Premier League Darts roadshow enters Exeter on Thursday for Night Five of the competition, with a re-run of last week’s final among the notable ties.
The fifth of 16 weekly knockouts sees the eight stars face off at the Westpoint Arena in pursuit of points towards the league table, as well as the £10,000 weekly winner’s bonus.
The opening four nights of action have produced four different winners and six different finalists, underlining the open nature of this year’s elite invitational.
Michael van Gerwen became the latest player to pocket the £10,000 weekly bonus after he triumphed in dramatic fashion in Dublin last time out.
The reigning and six-time Premier League champion battled back from 5-2 down and survived seven missed match darts from Gerwyn Price in the final to snatch a 6-5 victory and move to the top of the table.
Van Gerwen and Price will go head-to-head again in the opening Quarter-Final of Night Five as the Welshman bids to avenge that defeat in Dublin.
Price had already picked up the Night Two title on home soil in Cardiff but was left to rue what might have been a week ago, despite averaging 104 and 102 in his opening two matches.
The 2021 World Champion, who has failed to reach the play-offs in four previous Premier League appearances, sits third in the table and was incredibly beaten 6-4 by Dave Chisnall in the Last 16 of the Baltic Sea Darts Open on Sunday despite averaging 108.
Van Gerwen, meanwhile, suffered a shock Second Round exit at the hands of Stephen Bunting in Kiel but will be determined to secure back-to-back weekly titles in this event, a feat he achieved on Nights Four and Five last season.
At the opposite end of the table, Peter Wright is the only player in this year’s field yet to register a point, and the two-time World Champion aims to end his four-match winless run by overcoming 2021 champion Jonny Clayton.
Wright, Nordic Masters champion last month, averaged 91.2 in a narrow 6-5 defeat to Michael Smith last week before losing out to Keegan Brown in the Last 16 of the weekend’s European Tour event with an average of just 88.7.
Wright defeated Clayton 10-6 in the Quarter-Finals of The Masters in January, but it was Clayton who won four of their five meetings in last year’s Premier League.
Clayton has just two wins to his name in this year’s Premier League so far, leaving him second from bottom on four points, and has generally been punished for slack finishing, with a tournament checkout rate of just 34%.
World Champion Michael Smith looks to keep the pressure on MVG at the top of the table, but question marks remains over Bully Boy’s physical condition ahead of his clash with Nathan Aspinall.
Smith was thrashed 6-1 by Price in last Thursday’s Semi-Finals despite averaging 100, but subsequently suffered a flare-up in his throwing hand which left him visibly in pain during the weekend’s Euro Tour event.
After a battling 6-4 win over Host Nation qualifier Niko Springer in his opener, Smith was then defeated 6-3 by Dirk van Duijvenbode and may be forced to play through the pain barrier again here.
The match signals a repeat of last November’s Grand Slam final which saw Smith secure his first major title, opening the floodgates for a further two televised titles since, most notably the World Championship.
Aspinall defeated Smith 6-4 in Cardiff three weeks ago to reach the final before losing out to Price, and the former UK Open champion occupies fourth spot on seven points after a solid start to his Premier League return.
Night One winner and reigning Masters champion Chris Dobey comes up against Dimitri van den Bergh in their first televised meeting for more than two years.
Dobey made a dream start to his debut Premier League campaign by claiming glory in Belfast, but has come up dry since with three consecutive Quarter-Final exits.
The proud Tynesider, who skipped the weekend’s Euro Tour event in order to watch his beloved Newcastle United at Wembley, will be keen to stop the rot and add to his early five-point haul.
Van den Bergh also has five points to his name after finishing runner-up on Night Three in Glasgow, as well as the Semi-Finals on opening night in Belfast.
The former World Matchplay champion and two-time World Series winner last season, boasts the highest checkout rate (49%) of the field, as well as a solid tournament average of 97.
Night Five of 2023 Premier League Darts gets under way from 7pm GMT, with all matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs.
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Premier League Darts 2023 Night Five Schedule
Thursday March 2
Westpoint Exeter – 7pm-11pm
Quarter-Finals
Michael van Gerwen v Gerwyn Price
Nathan Aspinall v Michael Smith
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Chris Dobey
Jonny Clayton v Peter Wright
Semi-Finals
Van Gerwen/Price v Aspinall/Smith
Van den Bergh/Dobey v Clayton/Wright
Final
