Michael van Gerwen roared back to his best form in emphatic fashion as he won the fourth night of the Premier League Darts season for the loss of just three legs.
The world number three, who hasn't won a televised ranking title since 2020, had endured a frustrating run of results this year despite the odd flashes of brilliance but in Exeter he found that all-important consistency that helped him pick up three wins out of three and a maximum haul of five points.
He crushed Jonny Clayton and Michael Smith 6-1 and 6-2 respectively with impressive 100+ averages to storm into his first nightly final of the new-look Premier League season before whitewashing Peter Wright 6-0 to lay down a real marker ahead of this weekend's UK Open.
MVG is one of our pre-tournament tips to win the ITV-4 televised major in Minehead and on this evidence he'll fancy his chances of lifting the trophy for the fourth time in his career.
Van Gerwen is the fourth different weekly winner of the Premier League to follow in the footsteps of Wright, Clayton and Gerwyn Price and he now finds himself second in the overall table behind Snakebite.
“It was really important, tonight I played some good darts and you can build into the rest of the Premier League, it is always hard especially when you aren’t at your best,” he said on Sky Sports.
“I played well, it was good to win the night and I think there is more to come.”
After his disappointing time last year and a sluggish start to 2022, Van Gerwen remained confident things would come good.
“To panic is a weak sign, I am everything but I am not weak. I have been waiting for this for a long time, I know it’s hard because there are so many good darts players, but you have to take your chances.
“You have to believe in your own opportunity, what anyone else thinks you have to do it yourself.
“People think it’s easy to win but that is not how it is. You have to do the right thing at the right moment, week after week, throw after throw.”
World number one Price was brushed aside 6-2 by Wright in another eagerly-anticipated duel between the pair that didn't quite live up to the hype while Michael Smith picked up his first win of the campaign by edging out Joe Cullen 6-5.
Wade chalked up another first-round triumph as he overcame Gary Anderson 6-4 but the Machine could only average 86 during a disappointing defeat to Wright in the semi-finals.
More to follow...
Premier League: Night four results and averages
Night 4, Thursday February 17
Westpoint Exeter
Quarter-finals
- Jonny Clayton (97.39) 1-6 (102.36) Michael van Gerwen
- Michael Smith (97.31) 6-5 (93.89) Joe Cullen
- Gerwyn Price (94.89) 2-6 (101.06) Peter Wright
- James Wade (97.01) 6-4 (99.76) Gary Anderson
Semi-finals
- Michael van Gerwen (104.37) 6-2 (97.14) Michael Smith
- Peter Wright (103.46) 6-2 (85.81) James Wade
Final
- Michael van Gerwen (99.1) 6-0 (87.52) Peter Wright
Premier League Table & Format
NW = Nights won, RU = Runner-up, SF = Semi-final defeats, MW = Matches won
- Wright NW 1 RU 1 SF 2 MW 6 LegD +6 Pts 10
- MVG NW 1 RU 0 SF 2 MW 5 LegD +18 Pts 9
- Clayton NW 1 RU 1 SF 0 MW 5 LegD +0 Pts 8
- Price NW 1 RU 0 SF 1 MW 4 LegD +1 Pts 7
- Wade NW 0 RU 1 SF 2 MW 4 LegD -1 Pts 7
- Cullen NW 0 RU 1 SF 0 MW 2 LegD -6 Pts 3
- Anderson NW 0 RU 0 SF 1 MW 1 LegD -6 Pts 2
- Smith NW 0 RU 0 SF 1 MW 1 LegD -12 Pts 2
Each night will see quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final played over the best of 11 legs (first to six). Each player will meet the other seven players twice over the course of the season in a quarter-final game, plus two further nights (Night Eight and Night 16) will feature additional fixtures in the same format. Those fixtures will be a draw bracket based on how the league table looks at the time. So, whoever is top will face the eighth-placed player in the first round.
- Night Winner - 5 points + £10,000 bonus
- Runner-Up - 3 points
- Semi-Finalists - 2 points
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