Peter Wright is relishing the prospect of being world number one as he prepares to take on Jonny Clayton in the latest edition of the Premier League, where the weekly roadshow heads to The Brighton Centre on Thursday night.
Reigning World Champion Wright went top of the Order of Merit after Gerwyn Price was knocked out in the quarter-final of the recent UK Open, a tournament where the Welshman had to reach the final to maintain top spot.
Wright plays defending champion Clayton in the pick of the quarter-final ties on Night 5, with both players already taking wins in Nights 1 and 2 respectively. They also met in the final of the former, with Wright coming out on top 6-1 in Cardiff last month.
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Wright spoke of his delight to tick off another milestone in his career. “It is a nice feeling (to be world number one) and it’s another bit of history I’ve made,” said Wright.
“I wanted to become world number one by beating Gerwyn in the final in Minehead. Unfortunately that didn’t happen but here I am, number one in the world!
“I showed all those people, the doubters out there. All the belief that my wife Jo and my family have got to get me to number one in the world.
“It’s been really hard and now I’ve got to keep hold of it. I travelled back from Minehead, and since I got back I’ve just been on the dartboard.
“It will be a good match between Jonny and me. He doesn’t like playing me anymore, I know how to beat him!”
Michael Smith, who made his eighth major TV final at the expense of Price on Sunday, will be hoping to bounce back from yet another failure to win the first big event of his career when he plays Gary Anderson in the first match of the night.
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The man from St Helens, who also lost in his second World Championship final in January, has recently hit out at “trolls” online, defending his record and ability as a dart player.
In an Instagram post, he said: “For all the trolls with the messages of abuse I’ll let you into a little secret of my life.
“Yes it hurts bad losing finals and still not having that major in my locker. But nine years ago my sister had to pay for flights for me to go see dags (Dagmara, Smith’s wife) or get home because I couldn’t afford it.
“One day I’ll get what I’m worth and one day this post will be irrelevant.”
Michael van Gerwen, winner of the previous night in Exeter, will be hoping to show more promising signs as he attempts to get back to the form that saw him keep the world number one spot for almost a decade. He clashes with James Wade, who put up a valiant defence of his UK Open title at the weekend, in his quarter-final.
Colin Lloyd, who held the number one spot in the PDC from 2005-2007, is convinced ‘The Green Machine’ is on the right track, telling Sky Sports’ The Darts Show Podcast: “Michael is throwing some good stuff but there’s that odd little game here and there and he’s getting punished for it so he’s going out of tournaments early.
“I just think Michael just turns up now and he wants to win everything that he enters. But you can never write off MVG. Last week in the Premier League, he played fantastic.”
Meanwhile the final tie in the last eight sees Joe Cullen play Price, who is the second joint-favourite to win the whole event alongside van Gerwen, behind Wright who is listed at 10/3.
