He might be a seven-time Premier League Darts champion, but Michael van Gerwen has been told to ‘buck up his ideas’ if he’s to make it to finals night this time around. ‘MVG’ begun the campaign in dominant fashion, winning consecutive meetings in Berlin, Glasgow and Newcastle to soar to the top of the table.
But suddenly, his prospects of being involved in the finale at the O2 Arena on May 23 are hanging by a thread. Van Gerwen has won just once in six weeks, and in Manchester last Thursday was beaten at the first-round stage by man of the moment Luke Littler, the teenager proceeding to record the overall win and become the new league leader.
The Dutchman is now down in fourth, just two points ahead of Michael Smith behind him, and will almost certainly lose that spot if he’s beaten by Nathan Aspinall first up in Birmingham this week. And to make matters worse, there was no return to form at the Players Championship 7 on Monday, losing to world No.65 Ian White.
And Sky Sports commentator Dan Dawson has taken aim at the former world No.1, implying he’s confused by his current displays and casting doubt on his hopes of an eighth Premier League crown. “He is in danger. If he doesn’t buck his ideas up, he might miss out on the play-offs – which has happened before but is a rarity,” he told the Love the Darts podcast.
“Van Gerwen was poor (against Luke Littler on Thursday). Neither of them were that good in that game, Littler was just a bit better. I don’t really know what’s going on or where he’s at. He was doing things in that game with Littler that I don’t really understand.”
Despite Van Gerwen ending up champion in both 2022 and 2023, Dawson also noted his tendency to fade as the campaign draws on, and questioned whether he could turn things around to secure a top-four finish. “If you look at the last two years in the Premier League, his second half of each campaign has not been good,” he continued.
“He only won four games in the last seven weeks last year and he only won six in seven the year before. He dropped down the league. It’s Rob Cross and Michael Smith that are closer to that top four, and right now it’s Van Gerwen sat on the precipice. Luke Humphries is playing brilliantly, Littler is playing brilliantly and Nathan Aspinall has leapfrogged him.”
Van Gerwen, 34, now has six events to get his campaign back on track. Following the meeting at the Utilita Arena this week, he’ll head to home Premier League event in Rotterdam, where he’ll face a potentially pivotal clash with world champion Luke Humphries.
He remains ranked no.2 in the world, but has now not captured a PDC World Championship win since his third crown in 2019. His latest Ally Pally campaign was ended in suprising fashion, beaten 5–3 by unseeded qualifier Scott Williams in the quarter-finals.
