Our guide to the Unibet Premier League Darts Play-Offs featuring Gary Anderson, Peter Wright, Glen Durrant and Nathan Aspinall includes tournament statistics, head-to-head records, and betting tips.
A week is a long time in darts, let alone the six it's been since Glen Durrant topped the regular season table.
I don't know about you, but I think it feels even longer ago than that when you consider we've had the five-event Autumn Series, the World Series of Darts Finals, a European Tour event and the week-long World Grand Prix.
Back at the start of September, Duzza made history by becoming just the third different player behind Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen to finish at the summit - and deservedly so - while Peter Wright, Gary Anderson and Nathan Aspinall all sealed their play-off spots by virtue of great runs of form during the condensed finish to the campaign.
Few players can maintain purple patches for that kind of timespan and one man that certainly can right now - Gerwyn Price - didn't even qualify after his late burst of form after a sloppy restart came just too late to sneak in.
Ordinarily, of course, Finals Night is just a week later than the regular season conclusion so don't put too much validity on their Premier League results in terms of picking a winner because so much has happened since then.
Just for starters, Wright and Anderson have both been changing their darts, Duzza has been indecisive over his flights while Nathan Aspinall hasn't set recent tournaments alight in the way we expect from him these days.
As Paul Nicholson alluded to in his Sporting Life column, these Play-Offs are arguably the toughest to predict in Premier League history but nevertheless, I'll still attempt it...
Scroll down to the bottom for season results, table and statistics
Glen Durrant may well have sparkled for most of the Premier League's resumption in Milton Keynes as he brilliantly topped the standings but his form line has dipped the most having won just 15 of his last 27 matches, which include two draws and two defeats at the end of the regular season.
Duzza also failed to go beyond a quarter-final of any of the eight events since earning his place in the history books while he also performed against Dave Chisnall in the opening round of the World Grand Prix.
His changing of flights didn't go unnoticed and you just wonder if there's some indecisiveness in his game right now as desperately tries to peak once more in the Premier League and get his hands on a maiden televised PDC title.
Anderson opted to miss every event between the Premier League and the World Grand Prix, where he became one of Dirk van Duijvenbode's victims in the quarter-final, so a potential lack of sharpness is his biggest question mark as well as his changing of darts.
The Flying Scotsman didn't play to his best when faced with Durrant's slower, methodical approach and even when he got himself into a big 7-3 lead in their most recent meeting, he was still ground down and forced to settle with a 7-7 draw.
I'm going to give the edge to Duzza here but I'll add Anderson to hit the most 180s into a match double given he was far more prolific during the regular season.
If all four players perform to the best we've seen from each of them in 2020, then Peter Wright wins the title, no questions asked.
Snakebite initially got off to a slow start way back in February after losing to both MVG (7-5) and Gerwen Price (7-1) as well as drawing with Gary Anderson in his opening four games but he kicked into life emphatically one week later with that incredible 110 averaging during his first of two regular season wins over Nathan Aspinall.
The world champion averaged over 100 more times than any other player with nine and four of those came during the eight matches in Milton Keynes, while two of the other four post restart were in the 99s.
One of his 100+ averages included his first ever televised nine-darter but remarkably he still went on to lost 8-6 against Daryl Gurney.
🙌 NINE-DARTER! 🎯
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) August 29, 2020
🐍 Peter Wright hit a brilliant perfect leg in the Premier League tonight! Shame it was only greeted by piped-in crowd noise though.pic.twitter.com/vqe8PBgFwM
Had the Play-Offs been a day or week after the end of the regular season, I'd probably be siding with Wright overall ahead of table-topper Durrant because he finished it strong, but now there's just two many nagging doubts over everyone to cloud the picture.
That said, Wright, who famously missed six match darts to beat MVG in the 2017 final, has been in better form than Duzza and Aspinall since the regular season thanks to winning one of the Autumn Series events that took his 2020 title tally to four, while he also reached the semi-finals of the World Series of Darts Finals before losing to Gerwyn Price.
He was then outplayed by Ryan Joyce in the first round of the World Grand Prix - where shock results are almost par for the course - and now he's unsurprisingly tinkering with his darts.
Aspinall may not have won a fourth title of his season but he's still managed to reach the semi-finals of one event and a pair of quarter-finals so he's fallen off a cliff by any means.
We saw how much it meant for him to qualify for the play-offs during his victory over Durrant and I just feel he has the least pressure on his shoulders and more inclined to revel in the opportunity. Wright is still trying to vanquish the demons of 2017, Anderson knows his time is running out to add to his CV and the same is true of Duzza, who is desperately chasing his first PDC major in the twilight of his career.
So as far as this match is concerned, I'm going for Aspinall to win but also feel his Player Performance targets below are very tame in the event of him reaching the final.
Also, I'm throwing in more than 10.5 180s given they were two of the most prolific maximum men during the regular season, finishing second and third (Wright, 62, Aspinall 59) behind Michael Smith's mammoth tally of 73.
Sky Bet Title Odds: Wright 13/8, Anderson 11/4, Durrant 10/3, Aspinall 10/3
As you can see from the betting, even the bookies are effectively branding these Play-Offs the most wide open in Premier League history and I doubt anyone would be surprised at any of the possible final line-ups.
I'm predicting a Durrant v Aspinall final, which is regarded as the most unlikely at a not so whopping 7/2, and if that proves to be the case then I'd perhaps give the nod to the Stockport star who not only did the regular season double over Duzza, but also has that confidence of winning two televised PDC titles.
The three-time BDO world champion has granite mental strength to deal with every situation but you just wonder if he'd want it just that little bit too much, and that could play into Aspinall's hands.
Predicted champion: Nathan Aspinall at 10/3
Sky Sports will broadcast tonight's play-offs from the Ricoh Arena in Coventry from 7pm.
Night 1, February 6
P&J Live, Aberdeen
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
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Night 2, February 13
Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
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Night 3, February 20
Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
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Night 4, February 27
Motorpoint Arena, Dublin
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
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Night 5, March 5
Westpoint Arena, Exeter
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
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Night Six, Thursday March 12
M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
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Night Seven, Tuesday August 25
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
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Night Eight, Wednesday August 26
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
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Judgement Night, Thursday August 27
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
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Night 10, Friday August 28
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
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Night 11, Saturday August 29
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
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Night 12, Sunday August 30
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
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Night 13 - Wednesday September 2
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
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Night 14 - Thursday September 3
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
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Night 15 - Friday September 4
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
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Night 16 Saturday September 5
Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
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Play-Offs - Thursday October 14
Ricoh Arena, Coventry
TV Channel: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
Semi-Finals (Best of 19 legs)
Finals (Best of 21 legs)
Top 10 High Averages:
Nine-Dart Finishes
Winner in caps & bold, runner-up in bold.
Top four each year made the play-offs (Top would play fourth)
Points in brackets
Season 2005
PHIL TAYLOR (23)
Colin Lloyd (16)
Peter Manley (12)
Roland Scholten (9)
Mark Dudbridge (8)
John Part (8)
Wayne Mardle (8)
Play-off final:
Phil Taylor 16-4 Colin Lloyd
Season 2006
PHIL TAYLOR (23)
Raymond van Barneveld (21)
Roland Scholten (10)
Colin Lloyd (9)
Ronnie Baxter (8)
Peter Manley (8)
Wayne Mardle (5)
Play-off final:
Phil Taylor 16-6 Roland Scholten
Season 2007
PHIL TAYLOR (25)
Raymond van Barneveld (17)
Terry Jenkins (15)
Dennis Priestley (13)
Colin Lloyd (12)
Peter Manley (11)
Adrian Lewis (10)
Roland Scholten (9)
Play-off final:
Phil Taylor 16-6 Terry Jenkins
Season 2008
PHIL TAYLOR (21)
James Wade (20)
Raymond van Barneveld (18)
Adrian Lewis (12)
Wayne Mardle (12)
Peter Manley (11)
Terry Jenkins (9)
John Part (9)
Play-off final:
Phil Taylor 16-8 James Wade
Season 2009
Phil Taylor (18)
JAMES WADE (17)
Raymond van Barneveld (13)
Mervyn King (12)
Terry Jenkins (9)
John Part (9)
Jelle Klaasen (6)
Play-off final:
James Wade 13-8 Mervyn King
Season 2010
PHIL TAYLOR (26)
Simon Whitlock (16)
James Wade (14)
Mervyn King (13)
Ronnie Baxter (13)
Raymond van Barneveld (11)
Adrian Lewis (11)
Terry Jenkins (8)
Play-off final:
Phil Taylor 10-8 James Wade
Season 2011
Phil Taylor (26)
Raymond van Barneveld (18)
GARY ANDERSON (17)
Adrian Lewis (14)
James Wade (13)
Simon Whitlock (11)
Terry Jenkins (8)
Mark Webster (5)
Play-off final:
Gary Anderson 10-4 Adrian Lewis
Season 2012
PHIL TAYLOR (24)
Simon Whitlock (16)
Andy Hamilton (13)
James Wade (13)
Raymond van Barneveld (13)
Adrian Lewis (12)
Kevin Painter (11)
Gary Anderson (10)
Play-off final:
Phil Taylor 10-7 Simon Whitlock
Season 2013
MICHAEL VAN GERWEN (24)
Raymond van Barneveld (23)
Phil Taylor (20)
James Wade (17)
Robert Thornton (15)
Simon Whitlock (15)
Andy Hamilton (12)
Adrian Lewis (10)
Wes Newton (5)
Gary Anderson (5)
Play-off final:
Michael van Gerwen 10-8 Phil Taylor
Season 2014
Michael van Gerwen (24)
RAYMOND VAN BARNEVELD (20)
Phil Taylor (20)
Gary Anderson (20)
Peter Wright (17)
Adrian Lewis (15)
Dave Chisnall (10)
Robert Thornton (9)
Wes Newton (6)
Simon Whitlock (5)
Play-off final:
Raymond van Barneveld 10-6 Michael van Gerwen
Season 2015
Michael van Gerwen (23)
Dave Chisnall (22)
GARY ANDERSON (20)
Raymond van Barneveld (19)
Phil Taylor (15)
Adrian Lewis (14)
James Wade (12)
Stephen Bunting (11)
Peter Wright (6)
Kim Huybrechts (4)
Play-off final:
Gary Anderson 11-7 Michael van Gerwen
Season 2016
MICHAEL VAN GERWEN (26)
Phil Taylor (24)
Gary Anderson (20)
Adrian Lewis (19)
Peter Wright (17)
James Wade (16)
Raymond van Barneveld (12)
Robert Thornton (6)
Dave Chisnall (3)
Michael Smith (3)
Play-off final:
Michael van Gerwen 11-3 Phil Taylor
Finals Night Results
Semi Finals (Best of 19 legs)
Final (best of 21 legs)
CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE 2017 SEASON RESULTS & WEEKLY REPORTS & STATS
Play-Off Night Results
CLICK HERE FOR PLAY-OFF REVIEW & STATS
CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE RESULTS FROM THE WHOLE SEASON
Play-Off Night Results
Semi-Finals (Best of 19 legs)
Finals (Best of 21 legs)
CLICK HERE FOR FINALS NIGHT BLOG AND HIGHLIGHTS
CLICK HERE FOR FINALS NIGHT REPORT
CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE RESULTS FROM THE WHOLE SEASON