Upsets continue in Minehead: Michael van Gerwen suffers another early exit as Ian White rolls back the years

With Luke Littler and Luke Humphries still to come, the upsets continue at the Players Championship Finals in Minehead as Michael van Gerwen has been dumped out of another tournament early joining Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright scrambling for form ahead of Ally Pally.

It was Ian White who accounted for 'The Green Machine' on Friday night. Formerly a top seed in these tournaments by virtue of his excellence on the ProTour, he now sits fighting for his darting life in 57th spot and could be at Q-School in January.

But he has shown that there is still that Diamond form in a 6-1 demolition job of MVG. He averaged over 102 in closing out a superb win. The Dutch juggernaut has won this title seven times but has not really done much in recent months with early losses in particular at the World Grand Prix and the Grand Slam of Darts adding to the sense that the aura might be petering out.

The World Championship also has not been a happy hunting ground for Van Gerwen in recent years so either he will hit top form ahead of the big one or will be one of many names sitting adrift after Ally Pally wondering what's next.

For White, he will see the next round in his mirrors after producing a sumptuous 170 checkout en route to victory and will be thinking what if as the draw will now open up with the loss of MVG.