Preview Premier League Darts Night Six: Price-Littler, Van Gerwen-Clayton headline in Nottingham

On Thursday, March 12, the sixth night of the Premier League Darts 2026 is on the schedule. This time the elite circuit touches down in Nottingham, a city that has featured on the calendar almost every season since 2007. In the Motorpoint Arena, eight of the world’s best players face off, with crucial points at stake in the race for a play-off spot.

Over the years, Nottingham has not only secured a permanent place on the Premier League route, but also built a reputation as a venue for spectacular matches. The city, famed for the tales of Robin Hood, has often provided the stage for memorable clashes. The meeting between Michael van Gerwen and Luke Littler two years ago produced one of the most striking matches in the competition’s history. Van Gerwen averaged an impressive 110.94, but still had to bow to Littler, who posted a phenomenal 114.00 average in a convincing 6-2 win.

This will be the fifth time the Premier League visits Nottingham under the current format of weekly mini-tournaments. Looking at recent years, we can conclude that Gerwyn Price has been particularly successful in the English city.

In both 2023 and 2025, “The Iceman” claimed the nightly title. Gary Anderson was the best performer in Nottingham in 2022, and in 2024 Luke Humphries went unbeaten in Nottingham.

After five nights, the clash between Josh Rock and Stephen Bunting can fairly be called the basement battle. Josh Rock is still the only player without a point in this Premier League Darts, while Stephen Bunting has one nightly title but lost all his other matches.

For Rock, this is the ideal chance to get his first points, and perhaps “Rocky” will settle once he finally gets off that dreaded zero. Last weekend the Northern Irishman performed well at the UK Open by reaching the semi-finals, but he did let a big chance for a major final slip. He led Luke Littler 5-1, but could not convert that hefty margin.

On his way to the semi-finals, Rock had beaten, yes, Stephen Bunting in the last 16. The stakes are high for Bunting too, as “The Bullet” needs points to keep in touch with the top four. Last year the Englishman got going far too late in the Premier League Darts, leaving him quickly out of contention for a play-off spot.

The head-to-head stands at 5-2 in Bunting’s favor, but that statistic doesn’t tell the whole story. The former Masters champion won the first five meetings, but the last two encounters both went to Rock.

Jonny Clayton is showing so far that he fully merits his place in this Premier League Darts. After being left out of the line-up to his great frustration last year, “The Ferret” is letting his darts do the talking this edition. After five nights, Clayton has already collected fourteen points and is by some distance the leader in the standings. Clayton is also the only player in the competition who has not yet lost his opening match.

Michael van Gerwen, by contrast, has made it through his opening tie only twice. However, “Mighty Mike” did claim the nightly title in Newcastle, something he failed to do throughout the entire Premier League last year. With eight points, Van Gerwen sits in a provisional fifth place, but the gap to second is only one point. Last weekend the Vlijmen native had a patchy UK Open. A fine display against Nathan Aspinall was followed by a disappointing match against Kai Gotthardt. Van Gerwen did win that tie, but then sloppiness cost him dear against James Wade in the last 16.

Against Clayton, Van Gerwen cannot afford slip-ups, because with a checkout rate of 46.21 percent, the best of all participants, the Welshman shows he takes his chances. Clayton also enjoys a relatively strong record against Van Gerwen. Of their previous 43 meetings, he won no fewer than nineteen.

It is certainly not yet the Premier League Darts of Luke Humphries. With six points he is only sixth in the standings, and that is too low for the world number two. It is also not the case that Humphries is playing poorly, because his league average of 100.79 is the highest of all participants. However, the Englishman is struggling badly on his doubles. His checkout percentage is just 33.93 percent, and that is far too low. It is something Humphries has been battling for a while, and it also cost him last weekend against Danny Noppert in the UK Open last 16. Once Humphries starts finding the doubles again, the points will come quickly.

Gian van Veen is enjoying a fine Premier League Darts debut so far, but the ultimate reward is still missing. In the first five nights the Dutchman reached three nightly finals, yet each time Van Veen missed out on the nightly title. With nine points, “GVV The Giant” is currently fourth in the table and is firmly in the hunt for the play-offs.

The darter from Poederoijen goes into his clash with Humphries knowing he has won seven of the last eight matches against “Cool Hand Luke.” Humphries gave Van Veen a thrashing at the World Masters in early February, but since then Van Veen has already beaten his rival twice.

At the start of March we noted that Luke Littler had not really hit sharp form to begin the season, but a week later the cards have been reshuffled. Last week in Cardiff, Littler took the nightly title, and this past weekend he struck again—without hitting top gear—with a second consecutive UK Open title. With the five points from last week, “The Nuke” is back in the top four of the ranking and can set his sights on top spot again.

Gerwyn Price has fond memories of Nottingham, as he captured the nightly title on two of his four previous visits to the English city. In this Premier League, “The Iceman” is also in fine form, with a nightly title in Antwerp and two semi-finals. Last weekend the Welshman also reached the last four at the UK Open.

Price once held an excellent head-to-head record, but that has changed drastically over the past six months. Of the last ten meetings, nine have gone Littler’s way, which puts the world number one 14-8 ahead in the head-to-head.