Preview Premier League Darts Night Four Belfast: Josh Rock's homecoming as Clayton faces up and down Littler

It’s Thursday evening and time for week four of the Premier League Darts. This week the elite head to the Northern Irish city of Belfast, which means a home night for debutant Josh Rock.

The Premier League Darts once again uses the now familiar mini-tournament format this year. Each league night is played as a knockout with quarterfinals, semifinals, and a final. Players earn points each night based on their results. After sixteen regular rounds, the top four in the standings qualify for the play-offs at the end of May.
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In Belfast, a weekly bonus of £10,000 awaits the night winner, along with five points towards the table. The runner-up receives three points, and the losing semifinalists get two points. Players who only win their opener take one point, while first-match losers leave empty-handed.

Across the past four editions, Northern Irish fans have seen a different night winner each time in Belfast. Gerwyn Price capped a sensational evening in 2022 with the nightly title after throwing two nine-darters earlier in the night. Dobey began his 2023 Premier League debut season in Belfast by beating Michael van Gerwen in the final, while Luke Littler was best in 2024 at the expense of Nathan Aspinall. Last year Luke Humphries went unbeaten after seeing off Dobey in the final.

Last year Luke Littler made a patchy start to the Premier League Darts, and this year “The Nuke” has not opened much sharper. After three league nights the 19-year-old Englishman sits a disappointing sixth with just four points, and he has yet to reach a nightly final. There is no need for Littler to panic, of course, as there are plenty of nights left to collect points, and the world number one knows exactly when to peak. He did so just last weekend at the Poland Darts Open, where Littler was dominant and won the first Euro Tour event of the season for the third year running.

Littler faces the surprise Premier League Darts leader after three nights in Jonny Clayton. After a two-year absence, “The Ferret” returned to the prestigious competition, and with a nightly title last week in Glasgow, Clayton has already justified his invitation. On that night in Scotland, Clayton also beat Littler convincingly 6-1. That will boost Clayton’s belief, but could just as easily fire up Littler’s desire for payback.

This will be the seventh meeting between Littler and Clayton. The latter won their most recent clash, but Littler still leads the head-to-head 4-2 overall.

So far the Premier League Darts looks a lot like last season for Stephen Bunting. After three nights, “The Bullet” is still on zero points. Last year it took until night nine for Bunting to shake off that unwanted duck. If Bunting keeps playing like he has over the opening three nights, the first points should not be far away. His tournament average of 98.99 is the third highest among all competitors.

In Belfast, Bunting meets a player who also hasn’t put together a stellar campaign yet. After three nights, Humphries also has no nightly finals. He has collected four points, though, placing him fifth. Two of his matches were narrow 6-5 defeats. “Cool Hand Luke” will be concerned by the frequent misses on doubles. Once Humphries tidies up his finishing, he should quickly return to the top four in the standings.

History points to Humphries. The former world champion has won 16 of their 24 prior meetings, including the last four. They also met at the Poland Darts Open in Krakow last weekend. The world number two won that one comfortably, 6-1.

After a week out, Michael van Gerwen returns to the Premier League Darts. The 36-year-old from Vlijmen began the season superbly with a nightly title in Newcastle and a final in Antwerp, but had to miss the third night in Glasgow for medical reasons. Van Gerwen has stated that he is not yet fully fit, but fit enough to play again on Thursday night. His absence last week cost Van Gerwen the lead in the table, which has passed to Clayton.

Gerwyn Price has made a patchy start to the Premier League. “The Iceman” won the night in Antwerp by beating Van Gerwen in the final, but at the other two rounds the former rugby player was knocked out straight away. In general, the Welshman has been inconsistent in 2026. Price regularly fires in very high averages, yet he has also suffered a few surprise defeats in matches where it hasn’t quite clicked. A steady Price can once again contend strongly for the nightly title in Belfast.

After all these years Van Gerwen and Price have no secrets left for each other, as the two have met 58 times over the years. In most cases Van Gerwen won, with the Dutchman walking off the stage as the winner 38 times.

The clash between the two Premier League Darts debutants. Gian van Veen has certainly started the campaign much better, as “GVV The Giant” reached the final on each of the first two nights. One point of criticism is that the player from Poederoijen lost both, just like the final of the Poland Darts Open last weekend in Krakow. But Van Veen is at least collecting his points almost every week, and if the Dutchman keeps this trend going there is a good chance we will see him in the play-offs at the end of the season. You don’t necessarily need a nightly title for that.

Josh Rock is still empty-handed after three rounds. The low point came on the second night in Antwerp, where “Rocky” averaged only 79. On Thursday evening he will at least feel the support of the crowd, as Belfast is a home fixture for the World Cup champion. It would be a fine place for Rock to get his first points of the campaign on the board.

The head-to-head between Van Veen and Rock is a curious one. They split the first two meetings, before Van Veen beat Rock six times in a row. However, Rock has won each of the last four encounters. The ledger therefore stands at 7-5 in Van Veen’s favor.