In what has been a tempestuous and hard-fought season of action, the Premier League Darts tournament has now reached the penultimate week of the regular season.
Later tonight, the eight players will convene at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield for Night 15 of the Premier League and it has been a breathless 14 weeks of action prior to this evening.
Then next week, at P&J Live in Aberdeen, we have the final night of the regular season, when the players will meet again for one final time ahead of the Playoffs on the 25th May when only the top four in the table will make it to the 02 Arena in London.
So there is still plenty to play for and points aplenty to win over the next two weeks that could still see this year’s table change markedly.
You can enjoy a wager on all the remaining nights of action in the Premier League and the Playoffs with bet365 Sport, which has plenty of pre-match betting, alongside extensive In Play betting options.
So before we preview the action taking place tonight, let’s quickly recap how things stand in the tournament at the present.
Outlined below is the schedule for the Premier League this year, together with the player that has won each night of action.
This gives us the following table ahead of the start of action tonight.
| Pos | Player | Points (Leg Diff) | Qualified/Eliminated |
| 1 | Gerwyn Price (Wal) | 33 (+36) | Qualified |
| 2 | Michael van Gerwen (Hol) | 31 (+32) | Qualified |
| 3 | Michael Smith (Eng) | 28 (+12) | Qualified |
| 4 | Jonny Clayton (Wal) | 22 (-10) | To be decided |
| 5 | Nathan Aspinall (Eng) | 22 (-14) | To be decided |
| 6 | Chris Dobey (Eng) | 12 (-18) | Eliminated |
| 7 | Dmitri Van den Bergh (Bel) | 11 (-15) | Eliminated |
| 8 | Peter Wright (Sco) | 9 (-23) | Eliminated |
As can clearly be seen, three of the Playoff qualifiers are already known with Gerwyn Price, Michael van Gerwen and Michael Smith already confirmed as through.
Similarly, we have a trio of players that cannot qualify for the playoffs in Chris Dobey, Dmitri Van den Bergh and Peter Wright.
That means that the main thing to be decided over the next couple of weeks is whether it will be Johnny Clayton or Nathan Aspinall who earns a place at the 02 Arena in the playoffs.
With both players on 22 points so far, we know that this is going to go to the wire so the next two weeks of action will mean a huge amount to these players in particular.
However, those in the top three spots will want to finish at the top of the table over the 16 nights of action, while those at the bottom would love to get enough points to finish as high as possible, so you can be assured of plenty of hard-fought games over the next couple of weeks.
Night 15 takes place at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield and will be played over the usual format of four quarter finals, followed by two semi finals and then a final, all of which are played over the best of 11 legs.
The draw for the night has given us the following games, and we have given you our tips for each of the games, together with the odds from bet365.
If Gerwyn Price were to win this tournament and Michael van Gerwen go out in the first round, then the Welshman would confirm himself as the top player in the league stage.
However, with Nathan Aspinall battling with Johnny Clayton for the final qualification spot for the playoffs, you can expect this to be a very competitive game.
Aspinalll lost at the quarterfinal stage last week and he won’t want to do so again, especially with Clayton drawing level with him after a runner up finish last time out.
This should be a very closely fought game and I am going with Price to just edge out his opponent to land the win here.
Both these players only have pride to play for in this tournament, but they will both know the importance of finding some form ahead of the big tournaments coming up over the summer, including the World Matchplay.
Wright is one of just two players not to win a night of action in the Premier League this year and the Scot has struggled with his form in this event, winning just five matches in total across the campaign.
Dobey won the first night of action but has struggled since, winning just three more matches since in what has been a baptism of fire in his debut Premier League Darts campaign.
The pressure is off a little with nothing riding on this game and so I think Wright’s greater talent should win through here.
Both of these players have already qualified for the Playoffs in a fortnights time, so the pressure is off them in terms of that, but you can be assured that the rivalry between the two, which included this year’s World Championship Final win for Smith, will ensure a fantastic match.
Van Gerwen’s form has been a little patchy in this tournament of late and he has not got past a semifinal since Week 8, so you could argue that he is overdue a good campaign this week.
However, he’ll face a Michael Smith who has won the last two events to ensure he is in the playoffs and who will also have designs on usurping Van Gerwen in second place in the table.
I would not be surprised to see this go to the final leg and if it does, I am going to back Smith to land the win here.
Since Week 7 of the Premier League, Dmitri Van den Bergh has won just one game (on Week 12) and the talented Belgian is a much better player than that form suggests.
He faces a Jonny Clayton who is in a battle with Nathan Aspinall for the final qualification spot for the playoffs and who will certainly be motivated to get the win here.
Ordinarily I’d expect a close battle between the two here but the form of Van den Bergh means that I feel backing Clayton is the only sensible option for me here.
Join me again in a couple of weeks time when we preview the Playoffs and round up how the Premier League season finished ahead of the decisive week at Wembley.
*All odds shown in this article were from bet365 and were correct at the time of writing but may have changed in the meantime.
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