Clayton talks to Hopp about the Premier League: ''I'm really exhausted''

The ninth round of the Premier League Darts will be played in Berlin on Thursday night. Jonny Clayton will take on Michael van Gerwen in the German capital.

Clayton is in penultimate place in the standings and will need to perform quickly to avoid seeing the play-offs spots slip further out of sight. Last weekend's European Darts Open showed that the Welshman is currently not in form. He was knocked out by Ryan Meikle (6-3) in his first match.

Max Hopp was at the venue in Leverkusen on Saturday and spoke to some players there in the practice room. On DAZN the next day, he featured as an expert and said there that he had spoken to Jonny Clayton.

"I saw him (Clayton) briefly, had a brief chat with him. He also said: 'I'm really exhausted by the Premier League. You know, from Newcastle straight here....' ", Hopp recounted the conversation.

"You could tell he's a bit exhausted, he wasn't feeling so fresh right now," the Maximizer continued. "And I think that's where an average of 88 comes from. Similar to Chris Dobey. He recorded an average of 80. That's not really what you're used to from those guys in the Premier League.''