Schedule and Preview for Night One of 2023 Premier League Darts as darting roadshow starts in Belfast with Smith-Van Gerwen rematch

Thursday, 02 February 2023 at 18:09

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It is the first Thursday of February and that means the new season of Premier League Darts is about to start again. The SSE Arena in Belfast has been given the honour of opening the darting roadshow.

Compared to last year, there are three other names in the line-up. Gary Anderson, James Wade and Joe Cullen are not returning this year. Chris Dobey is one of the replacements. 'Hollywood' won the Masters last weekend, allowing him to make his debut in Premier League Darts. Nathan Aspinall and Dimitri van den Bergh return to the prestigious darts competition after a year's absence.

Never before has the announcement of the line-up caused such a stir on social media. The absence of Luke Humphries in particular was met with much incomprehension, while Ross Smith and Joe Cullen both publicly felt they should get an invitation. Van den Bergh's selection fell badly with many darts fans.

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The Belgian did not reach a major final in 2022 and, according to many fans, he was only invited because he performs his dance on the walk-on and gives fired-up interviews.

All criticism and discussions notwithstanding, the eight chosen have now travelled to Northern Ireland's capital to begin the 2023 Premier League Darts. The format is unchanged from the previous edition.

A mini-tournament will be played each week, consisting of quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final. Points can be scored with results during the 16 tournaments. A semi-final earns two points, a second place three points and a tournament win five points and a £10,000 bonus. The top four darters will compete for the overall victory in the play-offs on 25 May.

As tradition dictates, the two World Darts Championship finalists will face each other during the first round of play-offs. World champion Michael Smith and runner-up Michael van Gerwen will meet in the second quarter-final.

Dimitri van den Bergh and Jonny Clayton will play first. The winner of that match will therefore play either Smith or Van Gerwen in the semi-final. Peter Wright plays in the third match of the evening against newcomer Chris Dobey. Nathan Aspinall makes his return to this competition against Gerwyn Price.