Darts is a sport that has seen periods of dominance from Eric Bristow, Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen over the last 40 years.
However, since Van Gerwen lost to Peter Wright in the 2020 World Championship final, the PDC’s multi-million pound tour has been at its most unpredictable.
Less than two years after turning pro, José de Sousa has established himself as one of the best players in the world and won his first TV title at the 2020 Grand Slam.
Glen Durrant adapted to the PDC in no time to win the 2020 Premier League, while Dimitri Van den Bergh won the 2020 World Matchplay on his debut.
That’s not to mention Jonny Clayton’s emergence as a top player at the start of this year to win the Masters, not long after his fellow Welshman Gerwyn Price became world number one.
‘The Iceman’ unfortunately tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of this year’s Premier League, but that has allowed the pattern of unpredictability to continue as three of the top five places are occupied by debutants after the first 11 matchdays.
With the league being played in unusual surroundings behind closed doors in Milton Keynes, 2020 runner-up Nathan Aspinall leads the way ahead of Van Gerwen.
The standings reflect a real turning point in the game’s history, with Premier League stalwarts James Wade, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright all at the bottom of the league.
On Thursday night, Aspinall and Van den Bergh played out one of the games of the event so far as they both averaged 103 and hit 56% of their doubles between them.
Van Gerwen’s position in 2nd is something of a false one as his initimidating consistency of 2016 and 2017 is a distant memory, with the Dutchman struggling to string two good performances together.
The three-time world champion may still qualify for the play-offs in his search for a sixth Premier League title, but Van den Bergh, Aspinall, De Sousa and Clayton will all have their eyes on the prize as well.
47-year-old De Sousa looks set to break the record for the most Premier League 180s, and Clayton has arguably been 2021’s best player and has already won three tournaments.
Friday evening sees Clayton takes on Aspinall and Van den Bergh play Anderson in the last day of action before the fans return on Monday, 24 May.
When the punters arrive at the Marshall Arena in two weeks, the landscape of the sport will be entirely different to what it was when they left the Echo Arena in Liverpool in the last Premier League night before the Covid-19 pandemic.
