Night five of the Premier League takes place this Thursday night at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.

We are almost a third of the way through the campaign as Michael Van Gerwen sits firmly at the top of the Premier League table, with a 6 point lead over World Champion Michael Smith.

Can Peter Wright end his losing streak?

Peter Wright is currently without a win in five attempts in this year’s Premier League. The 2021 World Champion is in massive danger of being cut adrift at the foot of the table. He takes on Gerwyn Price, who sits in fourth place in the table having won in Cardiff on night two.

This is the first meeting between the pair in this year’s Premier League, and Price will be looking to prolong Wright’s misery in the tournament. Wright’s record in this competition is rather bleak for his own high standards. In the last 9 years, he has only reached the knock-out stages on two occasions.

The winner of Wright v Price will play either Michael Van Gerwen or Jonny Clayton. The pair met in last week’s final in Exeter, with MVG running out a 6-3 winner. The Green Machine also beat him the week before in the Semi-Finals. However, Van Gerwen’s winning streak was ended after a shock defeat at the hands of Andrew Gilding in the UK Open final at the weekend.

Clayton’s form has improved steadily in recent weeks, as he looks to improve on a disappointing year in 2022. Clayton has never failed to make the knock-out stages in his two previous appearances and will be looking to move into the play-off places with a couple of wins in Liverpool.

All-English affair between Chris Dobey and Nathan Aspinall

Chris Dobey and Nathan Aspinall will meet for the second time in this year’s Premier League. Dobey beat Aspinall in the Semi-Finals on his way to the title in Belfast in week one, for a dream start to his campaign. However, Dobey has failed to pick up a win in four attempts since his triumph in Northern Ireland.

Aspinall sits third in the Premier League and has won all but one of his opening ties in the last five nights in the Premier League. Similar to Clayton, he has always reached the knockout stages in his two previous appearances  in 2020 and 2021.

The winner of the this tie plays Michael Smith or Dimitri Van den Bergh. The World Champion Michael Smith, sits second in the league table and beat Van den Bergh in the final in week three in Glasgow, with a stunning 109 average. Smith will be aiming to close the gap between himself and Michael Van Gerwen at the top of the table.

Van den Bergh currently finds himself outside of the play-off places. However, he had a good run to the UK Open Semi-finals and he will believe that he can claim his first title in this year’s Premier League.

Night Six – Thursday March 9^th

M&S Bank Arena Liverpool

Quarter Finals

Gerwyn Price v Peter Wright

Michael Van Gerwen v Jonny Clayton

Chris Dobey v Nathan Aspinall

Michael Smith v Dimitri Van den Burgh

Semi-Finals

Price/Wright v Van Gerwen/Clayton

Dobey/Aspinall v Smith/Van den Bergh

Final

Price/Wright/Van Gerwen/Clayton v Dobey/Aspinall/Smith/Van den Burgh

 

All matches the best of eleven legs