Van den Bergh on achieving highest tournament average during Premier League: "I deserved to reach the play-offs"

Dimitri van den Bergh only just failed to qualify for the Premier League play-offs in his debut year but statistics show he would have felt aggrieved not to move through.

Van den Bergh was the only player who had an average of more than a hundred after sixteen days (see table below). However, he failed to qualify for the play-offs. “For some reason, every player threw their best against me. That's too bad. But that also means that my opponents know what to do to beat me," he said to HLN.

"I myself also missed a few opportunities," continued the 26-year-old. "Often it came down to one dart, which just missed the double. Like that 81 finish on the bull against Peter Wright. Or that double 16 to break against Jonny Clayton. If that dart went in, I was therefore disappointed that I did not qualify for the play-offs, but the realization quickly came that I have had a very nice trajectory. Now I have the feeling: there is more in store and next year I want to participate in the Premier League again.”

Erik Clarys, co-commentator on Belgian television, praised Van den Bergh and considered him the best player in the Premier League. “If you look at the statistics, it is true,” Van den Bergh agrees. “I threw the highest average, thanks in part to a lot of 180s. So Erik is right about something. I deserved to make it to the play-offs, but so did Michael van Gerwen, Jose de Sousa, Nathan Aspinall and Jonny Clayton.”