Preview Premier League Darts Night 10 Brighton: Table topper Littler faces Bunting with all-Dutch affair between Van Gerwen and Van Veen

On Thursday evening, 04/09, the tenth night of the 2026 Premier League Darts is already upon us. And this could be a crucial week for the two Dutch contenders. Michael van Gerwen and Gian van Veen face each other, meaning one of them can take a big step towards Finals Night while the other will have serious work to do in the closing weeks.

Brighton has been a fixture in the Premier League for years. The PDC first landed at the Brighton Centre in 2007, where it remained a permanent stop on the calendar until 2015. In 2016 and between 2018 and 2020, Brighton temporarily disappeared from the schedule. In 2021, a night was planned here again, but due to COVID the PDC ultimately had to switch to Milton Keynes. Since 2022, however, the English city has once again been a regular part of the tour.

Since 2022, we have seen several familiar winners in Brighton, names that are also active in the Premier League this year. Michael van Gerwen took the night in 2022, having already been successful twice during the first spell between 2007 and 2015. In 2023, Gerwyn Price won the night, before Luke Littler proved the strongest in the last two years. Last year, “The Nuke” beat his compatriot Nathan Aspinall 6-3 in the final. Luke Humphries and Rob Cross, however, would steal the show with nine-darters, sending the crowd crazy on the south coast.

We open the night with a clash between Luke Humphries and Jonny Clayton. For Humphries, this Premier League has not gone quite as he would have hoped beforehand. “Cool Hand Luke” has yet to win a nightly title and has reached only one final. As a result, he sits sixth in the table on 11 points, a position we are not used to from the 2024 world champion. In that one final he faced Clayton, his opponent tonight. On that occasion, “The Ferret” was far too strong in the decider with a 6-1 win.

The Welshman has enjoyed a more successful Premier League campaign so far. He has already captured two nightly titles and reached another final. He also did not lose a single opening match in the first six weeks. However, the last three weeks have been underwhelming, as he suddenly failed to win any of his quarterfinals. Still, with 19 points he holds a solid third place, six points clear of fourth-placed Michael van Gerwen.

Looking at the head-to-head, Clayton also holds a slight edge. The Welshman has won 9 of their 16 meetings and has already beaten Humphries twice in three Premier League encounters this year. Recent weeks have been trickier for “The Ferret,” and Humphries needs a result with Finals Night in mind. That makes this match all the more intriguing.

Next up, we see Gerwyn Price and Josh Rock take to the stage. Price may have delivered the most impressive night ever in the Premier League last week. With averages of 103.54, 112.91 and 105.84, he swept past Luke Humphries, Stephen Bunting and Gian van Veen without any trouble to claim the nightly title in Manchester. It crowned a spell of strong form and lifted him to 19 points and second place in the table, just two points behind Littler.

For Rock, this Premier League is now about rediscovering his touch and rebuilding confidence. The Northern Irishman finally collected his first four points over the past two weeks after a seven-week drought and can already forget about the play-offs. With a rampant Price as his opponent, he is likely to face a very tough task in Brighton.

The head-to-head is also clearly in favour of “The Iceman,” with 7 wins from 11 matches. And judging by their earlier Premier League meeting this year, on Night 7 in Dublin, Rock has little reason for optimism. Price proved far too strong for “Rocky” on that occasion with a 6-0 win.

The third match of the night pits Luke Littler against Stephen Bunting, with most eyes likely to be on the world champion. “The Nuke” drew plenty of attention last week in Manchester for his behaviour on stage during his quarterfinal against Gian van Veen. The 19-year-old lost to the Dutchman in a deciding leg and did not show his best side during that leg, nor afterwards. Hopefully, Littler can put that behind him and focus on the positive, namely that with 21 points and three nightly titles he is back on top of the table after nine weeks played.

Bunting can still quietly hope for the play-offs if he puts together a few good results in the coming weeks. ‘The Bullet’ went out in his opening match in six of the nine weeks, but he also managed to win one night. That puts his total at 9 points, good for seventh place so far. However, he is only 4 points behind fourth-placed Michael van Gerwen, so he is by no means out of the running to reach Finals Night.

Bunting, however, will draw little confidence from his head-to-head with Littler. In fourteen previous meetings, ‘The Bullet’ has beaten the teenage sensation only four times. He has also yet to defeat Littler in this year’s Premier League. They have already met twice, and on both occasions the 19-year-old world champion was too strong for his compatriot, winning 6-3.

And finally, the match all Dutch fans will be waiting for this evening: Michael van Gerwen against Gian van Veen. For both, this could be a key weekend with the play-offs in mind. Whoever loses here will have a gap to bridge in the coming weeks. Both Van Gerwen and Van Veen have had an up-and-down Premier League so far. Each has already missed one night for different reasons, costing them valuable points and leaving them with an inferior leg difference.

Van Gerwen has already won one night, namely the very first night against none other than Van Veen. He also reached two more finals, but lost both to Price and Littler respectively. Beyond that, ‘Mighty Mike’ has, notably, often gone out in his first match. For Van Veen, it has been all or nothing so far. He either reaches the final or loses straight away. Unfortunately, on the three occasions he made the final, he was unable to win the night.

Van Gerwen currently sits fourth with 13 points, with Van Veen just behind on 12. One of the two can therefore make a significant move on the other with Finals Night in sight. They have faced each other only once so far in this Premier League because, at their previously scheduled meeting, Van Veen had to withdraw due to kidney stones. That was in the final on opening night, when Van Gerwen beat his compatriot 6-4.