The race for the BetMGM Premier League Play-Offs intensified after Night Thirteen in Aberdeen, with just five points separating four players from 3rd-6th. Qualified: Luke Littler, Jonny Clayton.In the race: Gerwyn Price, Michael van Gerwen, Gian van Veen, Luke Humphries, Stephen Bunting, Josh Rock.Out the race: None. Luke Littler and Jonny Clayton have secured their […]
The race for the BetMGM Premier League Play-Offs intensified after Night Thirteen in Aberdeen, with just five points separating four players from 3rd-6th.
Qualified: Luke Littler, Jonny Clayton.
In the race: Gerwyn Price, Michael van Gerwen, Gian van Veen, Luke Humphries, Stephen Bunting, Josh Rock.
Out the race: None.
Luke Littler and Jonny Clayton have secured their Play-Off places and can play the remaining three weeks with a reduced weight on their shoulders.
The pair had already qualified for The O2 coming into Aberdeen after reaching the final on Night Twelve in Liverpool, before Littler scooped back-to-back nightly triumphs in Aberdeen to reclaim top spot from the Welsh number one.
The world number one now has five nightly wins, threatening to match or better his own record of six nightly wins from last year across the 16-week long league phase, and has his eyes firmly set on finishing at the summit of the standings for a third consecutive year.
“Obviously I always want to be top of the table,” confessed the World Champion, who hadn’t occupied top spot since Night Nine.
“I know Jonny [Clayton] says he wants to get to The O2 and we’ve both qualified, so now I want to chase and hopefully break my own records.
“I can definitely say I’m relaxed now. I saw before play that me and Jonny had the Q [on the table] so I knew I was going back to The O2 for the third consecutive year.
“Now I can go chasing my records. Three nights left, I’ll try and grab as many nightly wins as I can.”
Clayton’s Play-Off fate is also sealed, despite facing a rare opening-match defeat at the hands of a resurgent Gian van Veen in Aberdeen.
The 2021 Premier League champion is the only player in this year’s competition to have continuously occupied a Play-Off position in the league standings, and sits in 2nd with 32 points from 13 weeks.
The Welshman’s rampant campaign has propelled him to a 16-point gap over Van Veen in 5th and an 11-point gap on fellow Welshman Gerwyn Price in 3rd.
The 51-year-old has qualified for Finals Night on all three of his previous Premier League appearances, a record that now stands at four out of four as he plans to top the league phase for the second occasion.
Finishing 1st in the league phase, other than being an immense darting accomplishment, also gives an advantage on Finals Night over finishing 2nd in the Play-Off spots.
The league leader will play in the first semi-final at The O2, giving them more time to rest and reset for the final if they were to win and progress to the showpiece, as opposed to the league runner-up playing the second and later semi-final.
Finishing 1st and 2nd also secures these players the darts in their semi-final matches, meaning they are holding the throw in the first leg of the match and, crucially, in a last-leg decider should it come down to one.
Price secured a much-needed quarter-final win against Stephen Bunting to bolster his position in 3rd.
The Welsh number two – who suffered three consecutive opening match defeats prior to Night Thirteen – battled back from 5-3 down to pip Bunting and pick up two points.
As a result, Price maintained his five-point buffer from 5th, as he hopes to make Finals Night for a third time in his last four Premier League appearances.
Luke Humphries picked up two pivotal wins over Michael van Gerwen and Van Veen in Aberdeen, to ignite his Play-Off pursuit with just three weeks to go.
Although the defending champion remains in 6th, he reduced the gap to Van Gerwen in 4th to a mere two points, whilst he drew level on 16 points with Van Veen after triumphing in the semi-final.
Seven-time Premier League champion Van Gerwen is the only player from the trio to have tasted nightly success this year, as a five-point haul could change the complexion of the race to The O2 entirely.
Van Gerwen will take on Littler in his opening match in Leeds, while Van Veen is pitted against Stephen Bunting.
Bunting occupies 7th and has 11 points to his name, having faced three consecutive quarter-final defeats, but could still qualify for the Play-Offs with a late surge.
The same can be said for Josh Rock, who has been bottom of the table since Night Two and faces Humphries in the world number two’s Leeds homecoming.
The Northern Irishman has just eight points from 13 weeks, and would need a remarkable late burst – at minimum two nightly wins – to qualify for The O2 on his debut campaign.
Ranking points will be awarded per night – with five to the winner, three to the runner-up and two to the semi-finalists – to form the league table from which the top four players will progress to Finals Night at The O2 in London on Thursday May 28.
The 2026 BetMGM Premier League is being broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK & Ireland, through the PDC’s worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV for Rest of the World Subscribers (outside of the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria & Switzerland).