World Champion Michael Smith looks to extend his lead at the top of the Premier League in Dublin tomorrow night (February 23rd) as he clashes with rock bottom Peter Wright.
The St Helens man was champion last week with victories over Welsh duo Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton, and Belgian Dimitri van den Bergh.
Smith averaged 109.42 in last week’s final which is his best performance of 2023.
SMITH LEADS THE WAY 🔢
Michael Smith goes top of the table after Night Three of the 2023 Cazoo Premier League…
Here's how the League Table shapes up! #PLDarts pic.twitter.com/zQJ37hrROE
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) February 16, 2023
Wright is in desperate need of points after losing his opening three league matches.
“Snakebite” has met Smith once this year and defeated the World Number One 11-8 in the Nordic Darts Masters semi-final.
“The Bully Boy” has lost seven of his last ten matches against Wright.
Both players should be well-rested after withdrawing from last weekend’s Players Championship events.
The winner of this tie will face either Gerwyn Price or Dimitri van den Bergh.
Price sits third in the Premier League after a mixed start.
The “Iceman” fell at the first hurdle on both night one and night three but sits on five points after he won night two on home soil.
Van den Bergh sits just outside the play-off places in fifth place.
“The DreamMaker” has lost his last two meetings against Price including a 10-7 defeat at the Nordic Darts Masters – the pair’s only meeting this year.
In the other half of the draw, last year’s table-topper Jonny Clayton clashes with Nathan Aspinall.
Clayton won his first game of this year’s campaign last week against Masters Champion Chris Dobey.
He took eventual champion Michael Smith to a last leg decider in the semi-final but couldn’t get over the line.
Aspinall also fell at the semi-final stage last week.
“The Asp” sits second in the table and level on points with Smith.
He beat reigning Premier League Champion Michael van Gerwen in the quarter-final last week 6-5 before being thrashed 6-1 by van den Bergh.
The pair are evenly split in their last five meetings with two wins each and a draw.
In the remaining quarter-final, van Gerwen takes on Chris Dobey in a repeat of night one’s final.
MVG lost 6-5 to Aspinall last week in the quarter-final after a horror last leg.
“The Green Machine” sits sixth in the table heading into night four and is yet to win a night.
Dobey was the outsider heading into the tournament but beat van Gerwen to become champion in week one.
Back to back defeats to Price and Clayton though have not seen him add to his points tally as he clings on to fourth place.
Dobey has won two of the last three against MVG after failing to win any of his first ten meetings against the six-time Premier League champion.
You can watch the PDC Premier League Thursday, February 23rd at 7pm on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Action.
(Featured pic with permission from Taylor Lanning/PDC)
