CAN SNAKEBITE SNIPE DOWN THE LEAGUE LEADER
World Number 2 Peter Wright faces top of the table Michael Smith in a huge match in the 2023 Premier League, with the darting roadshow making its annual visit to the 3Arena in Dublin for Night 4.
Wright has not yet registered a win in this year’s competition, losing to Chris Dobey, Nathan Aspinall and Dimitri van den Bergh on the first three nights of action. Wright will face his biggest test yet in a repeat of the 2022 World Championship Final, a battle in which the colourful Scot won at the Ally Pally.
Smith won his first night last week in Glasgow, claiming a 6-4 victory over Dimitri van den Bergh in the Final with an average off 109.42. Wright has won the one night since the Premier League format changed, averaging over 113 in a 6-1 win over Jonny Clayton to win the opening night of last year’s tournament.
Cardiff’s winner Gerwyn Price will hope for a bounce back win this week in Ireland, after suffering an early exit a few days ago against eventual winner Smith. ‘The Iceman’ sits third in the table, just ahead of Chris Dobey on head-to-head, with the pair both winning a night so far and having the same number of matches won.
The Markham player will face last week’s losing finalist Dimitri van den Bergh, as the pair prepare to meet for the first time in this year’s Premier League. Price has reached two Finals on the World Series stage already in 2023, and showed in the recent Players Championship events that he has the capability to come back and win matches.
The World Number 4 recovered from 2-0 to beat Scott Williams before producing another comeback win in beating Andrew Gilding 6-5 in the Quarter Finals of Players Championship 3, coming from 5-3 down to beat Goldfinger and reach the Last 4 at the Barnsley Metrodome.
Price lost to eventual winner Kim Huybrechts 7-3 in the Semi Finals but achieved his best finish of the Pro Tour this year, as he looks to beat the two events, he won last year.
Reigning Premier League champion Michael van Gerwen suffered an early exit last week in Glasgow, falling to a last leg decider against second placed Nathan Aspinall in the opening Quarter Final.
The Dutchman lost 6-5 in the Final on Night 1 against debutant Chris Dobey before losing by the exact same scoreline against Gerwyn Price a week later, despite averaging 14 points more than the Welshman at the Cardiff International Arena.
MVG will face Hollywood again in Ireland, as he looks for revenge against the Bedlington thrower after what happened between the pair in the Northern Irish capital.
Van Gerwen whitewashed Dobey in the Quarter Finals of the recent World Darts Championship but will know the size of the task this time, with the Englishman since adding the Masters to his list of honours, claiming his maiden televised PDC title.
Jonny Clayton got off the mark last week, winning his first Premier League match of 2023 after he beat Chris Dobey 6-1 with an average of 101.56, including three 180s in Glasgow.
The Ferret topped the Premier League table last year with 40 points, claiming four nightly wins in venues such as Liverpool, Birmingham, and Aberdeen. The Pontyberem born thrower sits three points behind Michael van Gerwen in seventh place, reaching the Semi Finals for the first-time last week.
Clayton will face Nathan Aspinall at the 3Arena in a tough encounter, with the Asp unbeaten so far in Premier League Quarter Finals after three nights played.
The tungsten drama will start at 7pm live on Sky Sports with arguably the biggest match of the night between Peter Wright and Michael Smith first up in the Irish capital.
By Harry Masterson
Premier League Night 4: Order of Play
Quarter Finals:
Michael Smith v Peter Wright
Gerwyn Price v Dimitri van den Bergh
Jonny Clayton v Nathan Aspinall
Chris Dobey v Michael van Gerwen
Semi Finals:
Smith/ Wright v Price/ Van den Bergh
Clayton/ Aspinall v Dobey/ Van Gerwen
Final:
Winner of SF1 v Winner of SF2