After 16 nights of darts action, the PDC Premier League Darts Playoffs are here. The best eight players in men’s darts have been whittled down to the top four, and these men will fight it out in front of a packed house at the O2 Arena in London this Thursday. With an extended format seeing best-of-19 leg semifinals and a best-of-21 leg final, the Premier League Playoffs 2023 is sure to entertain.
Gerwyn Price has been the man to beat in the second half of the Premier League 2023 season and finishes as the No.1 seed heading into the semi-finals. However, six-time Premier League champion Michael van Gerwen is lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike and claim a seventh title after having done enough to make it through to the playoffs. Who will prevail in this action-packed evening? We break down the latest darts odds and offer up our 2023 Premier League Darts Playoffs betting tips ahead of this final event.
| ℹ️ Tournament: | 2023 Cazoo Premier League Darts, Play-offs |
| 📝 Format: | Top four players from the league stage; Semifinals and Final |
| 🏟️ Venue: | The O2 Arena, London, United Kingdom |
| 🗓️ Date: | 25 May 2023, Thursday |
Who’s the man to back heading into this Thursday night? To answer that question, let’s first take a look at the PDC 2023 Premier League Playoffs odds:
Darts betting sites have Gerwyn Price as the firm favorite in the Premier League Playoffs. The Welshman is paying 2.50 (6/4) to win outright, ahead of second-placed Michael Smith, who is at 3.25 (9/4) in the betting odds. Michael van Gerwen is a close third favorite on 3.50 (5/2), while Jonny Clayton is the only long shot of the evening at 8.00 (7/1).
The 2023 Premier League has been played out over the course of 16 different nights, dating back to 2 February. Each evening counts towards a player’s total points, with the top four qualifying for the playoffs. Here’s how the 2023 standings look after the league stage has been completed:
| Name | Points | Nights Won | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gerwyn Price | 39 | 4 |
| 2 | Michael Smith | 33 | 4 |
| 3 | Michael van Gerwen | 33 | 3 |
| 4 | Jonny Clayton | 24 | 2 |
| 5 | Nathan Aspinall | 24 | 1 |
| 6 | Dimitri Van den Bergh | 16 | 1 |
| 7 | Chris Dobey | 14 | 1 |
| 8 | Peter Wright | 9 | 0 |
It’s no wonder that the bookies’ odds have Jonny Clayton as a long shot, considering the Welshman only just scraped into the playoffs. Price, Smith, and van Gerwen, on the other hand, are all relatively tight on the table.
With Michael van Gerwen winning three of the past five Premier League seasons, including the 2022 edition, can the Dutchman rediscover some form ahead of this Thursday night at the O2? Do so, and he’d go clear of Phil Taylor’s six Premier League wins.
The PDC Premier League Playoffs have a straightforward format. The top four players progress to the semi-finals from the league stage standings. Here, the No.1 ranked qualifier plays the No.4 qualifier, with No.2 and No.3 competing in another semi-final. These matches are best of 19 legs, with the two winners playing a best-of-21-leg final.
Looking for some expert 2023 PDC Premier League Playoffs predictions? Then look no further because we’ve scoured the darts bookies in UK and come up with the best darts predictions for the 2023 Premier League:
In the first semi-final on Thursday night at the Premier League Playoffs 2023, Michael van Gerwen will face off against Michael Smith. The odds for this match are perfectly split, with both men paying 1.91 (10/11). However, we say that van Gerwen will claim this match and move through to his ninth Premier League Final.
On the surface, van Gerwen doesn’t have much going for him. The Dutchman lost his most recent match against Michael Smith two weeks ago, going down 6-4. It’s been two and a half months since van Gerwen won a night at the Premier League, and most recently, he was forced to withdraw from Night 16 in Aberdeen due to injury. However, this is exactly why we say van Gerwen will beat Smith.
Van Gerwen has not been at his best, and yet he’s still qualified third for the playoffs. These kind of big nights are what champions live for, and we expect the Dutchman to rise to the occasion on Thursday.
Wales’s Gerwyn Price has recently been the hottest thing in Premier League darts. In fact, there have only been seven finals this season which haven’t featured Price, with the Welshman making nine finals and winning four nights. Price has been in five of the past six finals and qualifies six points clear of the rest of the pack in the top position.
Backing Gerwyn Price to win the Premier League 2023 is as simple as wagering on the man to continue doing what he’s been doing the past few months.
The one big spanner in the works for Gerwyn Price is a potential final against Michael van Gerwen. This would be an enormous obstacle to overcome and, to be frank, not one that we believe Price will succeed in. Van Gerwen is simply too clinical in the big matches and will likely handle the pressure better.
The fact that van Gerwen withdrew from his latest Premier League match due to injury is actually a sign of how seriously he’s taking the playoffs. Sure, he could have continued on Night 16, but what’s more important is his success here at the O2. Still, it’s better to choose this option at live betting sites after seeing Michael’s face and conditions after the first throws.
Thursday night will bring a fierce evening of professional darts, with the best four men in the world right now fighting it out for the Premier League 2023 trophy. While it will be no cakewalk, we say Michael van Gerwen will find his form from earlier in the season just in the nick of time and beat Gerwyn Price in the final to win yet again.
