Premier League Darts: Paul Nicholson looks ahead to the resumption of the season in Milton Keynes

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Glen Durrant has been sitting top of the table since the PDC’s prestigious roadshow came to a shuddering halt like the rest of the world’s sport back in March after just six rounds of fixtures but it looks set to be a sprint finish to the end of a crazy season.

There will be six successive nights of Premier League darts behind closed doors in Milton Keynes from Tuesday until Sunday, including Judgement Night on Thursday, and the players will then return to the Marshall Arena on September (3-6) for the final four rounds of regular season matches.

The Play-Offs Night is still pencilled in for the O2 Arena in front of fans on October but if that’s not possible, a further night behind closed doors will be added in Milton Keynes on Wednesday September 2, with Sunday September 6 becoming the climax.

Here, the Asset shares his thoughts…

Fast and furious

We’ve had to endure a baron spell without darts since the World Matchplay finished – and it certainly feels longer than the three weeks it has actually been!

Despite all the uncertainty about the rest of the calendar, at least we have the Premier League to look forward to and this cluster of action will be very enjoyable.

During golf majors we often talk about ‘moving day’ but this is more like ‘moving week’, with six rounds of action condensed into just six days.

There will be a seasons worth of fluctuation in the table across a matter of days and those players who are out of form will quickly find themselves in a lot of trouble.

Staging the rest of this regular season like two week-long tournaments – rather than on Thursday nights - is realistically the only viable option when you consider the cost and logistics of setting up these events, especially when there are no fans buying tickets to attend.

Turning the tables

Glen Durrant is enjoying the longest table-topping run in history (!) but he’s got Michael van Gerwen on his tail, with Michael Smith and Nathan Aspinall with him in the top four.

A bad week for any of them could see them plummet out of the top-four picture, but it’s the other end of the table which is most intriguing for me.

Daryl Gurney is bottom on just two points and three adrift of Rob Cross and may now feel like he’s got more of a chance of dragging himself up than he would have done at this point of a normal season.

If you look at how Cross and Gerwyn Price, who also has five points, performed in that very same room for the World Matchplay they won’t be feeling 100% confident.

They will have doubts about digging themselves out of this sticky situation and if they start this run of fixtures badly over the first couple of nights, then they’ll be looking over their shoulders at Gurney.

Whereas Duzza has been able to jokingly boast about being top of the table for all this time on social media, the likes of Gurney, Cross and Price will have been stewing on their situations.

However, this scenario gives them a chance to go full throttle at the rest of the season and if it goes badly, then at least it’s a quick plummet so to speak rather than an arduous one over many weeks.

The top six might not feel under pressure over the first two days, but the congestion of fixtures will mean their mentalities change very quickly depending on their starts, and that’s what makes this first week back fascinating to watch.

Remember, if Duzza loses his first two games and Cross wins his first two, then they’ll be on the same points almost immediately!

Looking to the future

Sports organisations around the world have been forced to become more flexible during the Pandemic and they’re probably all taking notes about what new ideas they’ve had to introduce that actually have mileage in a normal world.

You have to look at the positives and in darts, the PDC stumbled across the Summer Series format and also more efficient ways of staging the Players Championship events.

During this Premier League run, they’ll be equally keen to assess how a week-long league tournament works as a product because they are an organisation that constantly looks at ways they can evolve the sport.

This is an opportunity for them to learn – not just in-case another Pandemic happens but also if something new crops up that they can use going forward.

Contenders ready?

The Contenders may well be missing out on the big entrance and crowd support they’d initially be excited about, but they can at least revel in the role of a spoiler.

Chris Dobey in particular will have the bit between his teeth coming into this first night because he failed to qualify for the World Matchplay. The Pandemic had a negative impact on his rankings because he didn’t get the opportunity to defend the £10,000 of points he’d won from a European Tour event in Denmark 12 months earlier and that ultimately proved costly.

He faces rock-bottom Daryl Gurney on opening night and will really fancy his chances even though he doesn’t have the experience of playing in this Milton Keynes stage set up previously.

Chris is a really good self-motivator, which was evident to see by the amount of online tournaments he got himself involved with during the height of the Pandemic, so he shouldn’t have any problem getting himself up for this.

Jeffrey de Zwaan and Jermaine Wattimena were obviously looking forward to performing in front of a Rotterdam crowd but instead they head back to the Marshall Arena out of form.

Jeffrey is still in recovery mode after some shoulder problems and couldn’t have asked for a much tougher test against Peter Wright, while Jermaine probably needs what should be a fiery encounter with Gerwyn Price to get his juices flowing.

He’ll want a good stage performance to kick start the rest of the season as he looks to cling onto the Dutch shirt alongside Michael van Gerwen for the World Cup.

Opening night fixtures

Michael Smith v Gary Anderson

A World Matchplay semi-final rematch gets the Premier League season back under way and I think Michael Smith will still be dwelling on how he let that one get away.

Gary Anderson’s magical 116 checkout in the crucial closing stages added to Michael’s stage scarring over the past few seasons and now he has to come back to the same arena and play the same opponent!

Although this is a shorter format, he certainly can’t afford to let Gary make a flying start again! It’s a fascinating game.

Michael van Gerwen v Rob Cross

If Rob Cross needed an extra percent of motivation to kick-start his year then he’s got it by facing Michael van Gerwen, who also had a World Matchplay to forget.

There have been flashes of brilliance from Rob this year but he’s been nowhere near consistent enough and if he’s to get out of the rut he finds himself in, then playing six nights in a row might be ideal for him.

Once he gets a good performance in, he tends to get better and better, so victory over MVG could well be a springboard towards the top four, let alone avoiding relegation on Judgement Night.

On the flip side, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him lose back-to-back games to MVG and Michael Smith, which would potentially land him in huge danger of dropping out.

Nathan Aspinall v Gerwyn Price

Nathan Aspinall had a great start to the Premier League season so it’s a real shame his tournament debut has ended up like this from an experience point of view.

He produces his best performances in front of big crowds so if he doesn’t have that, he needs an opponent who’ll get his motivation levels fired up – so who better for him to play than Gerwyn Price?!

They’ve produced wonderful matches to watch in the past – both on the stage and in floor environments – so we can expect to see a pair of adrenaline-fuelled displays. As for the winner, well it’s a coin flip for me.

Chris Dobey (C) v Daryl Gurney

I’d like to think outside the box with this one because Daryl Gurney is under so much pressure. If he loses then he could effectively be as good as eliminated.

Dobey may well be the lower ranked player and slight underdog, but he can take advantage of Gurney’s worrying situation if he turns up motivated and with the required level of aggression that has helped him on major stages in recent seasons.

It could effectively boil down to how much preparation Daryl has been putting in over the past few weeks and how much belief he has of climbing up the table.

Peter Wright v Glen Durrant

This is another intriguing rematch from the World Matchplay, which Glen Durrant won of course.

Two workhorses from the older generation are defying those who say darts is now a young man’s game and they motivate each other to become even better professionals, even in their 50th years.

I currently think Glen will take some stopping over the rest of the season and the six-night run is ideal for him.

He’s always been great at preparing for one-game-per-day tournaments, as we’ve seen during his days in the BDO and also the big PDC majors, reaching four semi-finals.

Peter is also very strong at doing this too and this is what makes this one so hard to call.

Match of the week?

I think in the scheme of who tops the table by the end of the week – and indeed the season - you have to look at Glen Durrant’s clash with Michael van Gerwen.

He’ll be reliving the memories of what he did to MVG at Blackpool last year when he got in front and kept him at arm’s reach for the rest of the encounter.

He’ll have to do that again in a shorter, faster format and can’t afford to let Michael get a good start. For me, it’ll have a huge bearing on who tops the regular season table.

Top four contenders

I’m nailed on for Glen to be in the top four by the end of the week.

He’s always been a tough nut to crack but I’m also impressed with the way he gets on with the job, never looks back or makes excuses. Glen is someone who takes his opportunities with both hands and rarely squanders them.

I can’t see Michael van Gerwen falling out of the top four, although there is more scope for someone outside these places to climb into third and fourth spots.

Peter Wright, for example, has the same number of points as Michael Smith and Nathan Aspinall so I expect him to find his way into the top four but it’s hard to pick who’ll stay there with him.

Gary Anderson may have reached the World Matchplay final, but if he hasn’t solved those technical issues that were troubling him, he could be the one to have that nightmare week.

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