As the darting roadshow rolled into Birmingham, Michael Van Gerwen made a welcome return to form to win all five more precious points in this year's Premier League, securing his fourth nightly win of this year's campaign and putting him in a favourable position to reach the playoffs in six weeks time.
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Mighty Mike started his evening with a 6-4 win over Nathan Aspinall, who was looking to overtake MVG in the battle between third and fourth place in this year's table. Then the Dutch legend met Michael Smith and once again prevailed 6-4, but Van Gerwen wasn't looking at his enthralling best, and was looking heavily reliant on individual moments of brilliance to ease himself past his opponents.
Standing between Van Gerwen and overall success in Birmingham was Luke Littler, who after coming through two last leg deciders against Rob Cross and Luke Humphries in his games earlier in the evening, was looking to replicate MVG and 'Cool Hand' in winning three consecutive nights in this year's Premier League. After a slow start in which both players were averaging well below 90 and routinely hitting 1s, 3s and 5s with their visits, Van Gerwen slowly edged his way in front before a quick flurry of big visits and impressive checkouts saw him dominate the second half of the final, winning 6-3.
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The night's results meant that only Aspinall and Van Gerwen moved places, with Van Gerwen ascending to 22 points and breathing down the neck of the two Lukes occupying the top spots. With their respective wins, both Humphries and Littler have passed the fabled 24 point threshold which many see as being the minimum amount needed to qualify for the O2 and the play off stage of the tournament. Van Gerwen would likely need to win just one more match to book his place in London in his search for a record-extending 8th Premier League crown.
At the opposite end of the table, Peter Wright once again couldn't capitalise on some good form as he slumped to his 9th first round defeat of the campaign. It will take a near miracle run of wins, most likely four full nightly wins out of the five remaining to see Snakebite even stand a chance. And for former World Champions Rob Cross and Gerwyn Price, their own first round exits have dealt even further damage to their playoff hopes.
By Jaspar Shepherdson
(@jasparshepmedia on X/Twitter and Instagram)
Four nightly wins up for Michael van Gerwen 🏆🏆🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/FvV62XA8kh
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) April 11, 2024
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