Premier League Darts Night 9 Preview in Manchester: Blockbuster World Championship rematch between Luke Littler and Gian Van Veen headlines

On Thursday evening, April 4th in Manchester, the ninth night of the 2026 Premier League Darts is on the schedule. It features a rematch of the recent World Championship final between Gian van Veen and Luke Littler. Michael van Gerwen is also in action again and opens the night against Stephen Bunting.

Manchester has been a fixture on the Premier League Darts circuit for years. In fact, during the inaugural edition in 2005, the final was played there at the G-MX Centre. Unsurprisingly, Phil Taylor took the title.

Even as the competition grew and the format changed, Manchester remained a constant on the calendar. The AO Arena is now the permanent Premier League home in the English host city.
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Last year, Nathan Aspinall won the night in Manchester, his hometown, in front of his own fans. “The Asp” beat Rob Cross in his opener, then was too strong for Michael van Gerwen in the semi-finals with a 6-2 win. In the final he faced Luke Humphries, whom he also defeated 6-4.

We open the night in Manchester with Michael van Gerwen against Stephen Bunting. The Dutchman’s Premier League campaign has been inconsistent. He started strongly with a nightly title and a final, but withdrew through illness in week three, after which the engine began to sputter. Across nights 4, 5, and 6 he failed to win a match, and gradually slipped down the table. On Night 7 in Dublin he benefited when Van Veen had to withdraw due to kidney stones, handing him two free points. Last week he finally reached another final, which he lost to Luke Littler. That run, however, lifted him back up to fourth on 13 points.

For Bunting, reaching the play-offs looks a tall order. “The Bullet” will now need to produce consistently. He started disastrously with zero points from the first three weeks, but out of nowhere claimed the nightly title on Night 4 to bank five points. Over the past four weeks the gears ground again and he won his opening match just once. As a result he sits seventh with only 7 points.

Van Gerwen and Bunting also met on the opening night of the Premier League, when the Dutchman proved too strong for “The Bullet” with a 6-2 win. The Englishman will struggle to draw confidence from the head-to-head, as across 30 meetings he has beaten “MVG” only five times.

Next up are Gerwyn Price and Luke Humphries. Both still have a solid chance of reaching the play-offs. Price currently sits third and has delivered relatively steady form throughout the campaign. Of the eight nights so far, “The Iceman” has won his opening match five times. Three times his run ended there, and he made two finals. He even claimed the nightly title in Week 2. That has him third at the time of writing with 13 points.

Luke Humphries has endured a slightly more disappointing Premier League and, in the first eight weeks, failed to win a single night, which is uncharacteristic for the world No. 2. He did reach the final on Night 6, but lost to Jonny Clayton. He also won only his opener four times, which leaves him fifth with 11 points.

Price and Humphries have already faced each other twice in this Premier League, with one win apiece. The overall head-to-head is also extremely close. In 31 meetings, the Welshman has prevailed 16 times, while “Cool Hand Luke” has won 14. One match ended level, during the 2019 Premier League.

The third match of the night features the second Dutchman: Gian van Veen takes on the leader Luke Littler. Van Veen blasted out of the blocks in his debut season this year, reaching three finals in the first four weeks, though he lost them all. It has been tougher since for “The Giant.” After two consecutive first-match defeats, he had to withdraw in Week 7 due to kidney stones, leaving him pointless for three straight weeks. He returned last week, but it proved a touch premature. As a result, he currently sits sixth on 9 points, all collected in the first four weeks.

And then Luke Littler. The teenage sensation started his campaign slowly and managed to win his opening match only once in the first four weeks. Suddenly people began to wonder if he might actually be human and perhaps even miss the play-offs. But then ‘The Nuke’ hit full throttle. The 19-year-old won Week 5, which showed he had truly clicked into gear. After a semi-final in Week 6, he followed up with two titles on the last two nights and now tops the table with 21 points, looking all but assured of a play-off spot.

Still, there are chances for Van Veen. He beat Littler in the opening week of the Premier League, and his overall record against the 19-year-old isn’t bad either. Of their twelve meetings, Van Veen has won five. Even so, on paper Littler will be the favorite, especially given it’s not entirely clear how well Van Veen has recovered from his kidney stones.

Finally, we get a clash between two men experiencing this Premier League in completely different ways. Jonny Clayton takes on Josh Rock, and while ‘The Ferret’ thrives in this competition, it has proved an ordeal for debutant Rock. Clayton may well be the standout man so far outside of Littler. The Welshman came flying out of the blocks and reached three finals in the first six weeks, winning two of them. That put him well clear at the top of the table at that point. However, he lost his opening match in each of the last two weeks, and thanks to Littler’s nightly titles he has dropped to second with 19 points.

Rock’s debut has been disastrous so far. The Northern Irishman failed to win his opening match in the first seven weeks and stayed stuck on that dreaded 0 points. Even so, Belfast still offered a bright spot for ‘Rocky’. Although he lost his quarterfinal 6-2 to Gian van Veen, he threw a nine-darter in front of his home crowd. And Rock’s second moment of joy came last week. He finally won his first match by beating none other than Jonny Clayton 6-3, which gets him off the mark at last and might allow him to play with a bit more freedom.

In this Premier League, Rock and Clayton have already faced each other twice, with one win apiece. Where you might expect Clayton to hold the head-to-head edge, it is actually the Northern Irishman, albeit narrowly. In 13 previous meetings, ‘Rocky’ has won 7 times, while the Welshman has come out on top 6 times.