"Me and Nathan will have to put our friendship behind us" - Do or die for Michael Smith as Premier League Darts reaches Sheffield

Michael Smith has fond memories of Sheffield, where the 16th and final round of play in the 2024 Premier League Darts campaign will be played this Thursday night.

Last year, Smith managed to claim the weekly title in Sheffield. This time around, the former world champion will no doubt be satisfied with just one win, as 'Bullyboy' needs one more win to qualify for the playoffs. Indeed, the current world number two is currently 5th in the standings, but is just one point behind number four Nathan Aspinall. Over the past six weeks, Smith has performed strongly too. He survived his opening match five times. Furthermore, the Englishman banked confidence by winning a Pro Tour tournament in Hildesheim last week.

"I'm feeling good. I won a ProTour last week and I feel like my game is coming back," previews Smith in conversation with the PDC. To make the playoffs, Smith will have to face Nathan Aspinall in a shootout for 4th spot. The winner between the two Englishmen is going to make it and join Luke Littler, Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen.

"It's a nice feeling going into Night 16 knowing you've got a chance of qualifying, but me and Nathan will have to put our friendship behind us tomorrow night!" Smith says. "I know last year Nathan missed out on the Play-Offs to Jonny [Clayton] in the last week, so that could add to the pressure on him."

"I've made the Play-Offs twice before, but this is one of the toughest Premier League's I've been involved in," concludes Smith, who lost to Van Gerwen in the final in 2018. "If I can make the top four it will have been a really good season, especially with the line-up this year."