Gerwyn Price became the third player to record a second nightly win in this year’s Premier League by taking the crown in night six in Nottingham.
The Welshman defeated Stephen Bunting and Michael van Gerwen before preventing Luke Littler from recording a second straight success by winning 6-3 in the final.
Speaking to Sky Sports after his triumph, he said: “The first game is always tough, you’re scraping to get two points. After I get a few then I relax a bit. I did it against MVG and I wanted to get another win over Luke, just to keep on top. He’s one of the best in the world and he’s going to be for the next few years. He’s going to get better and better.”
Price’s run to glory began with a tie against the man rooted to the foot of the table, Englishman Stephen Bunting. The Bullet was still in search of his first points of the season, and kept with the Welshman through much of the game. The pair were consistently trading legs, which included quite a few breaks of throw. One of the notable ones came in the fifth leg, with Price taking a 141 out to put him in front. That began a run of three straight legs with breaks, which when ended left Price sitting pretty with a 5-3 advantage.
Bunting needed a rally, and looked to have found it, taking out a “big fish” 170 checkout to reduce the gap. The Iceman held his nerve well in the next leg however, getting the job done to secure a 6-4 victory, which moved him into the semi-finals, and condemned Bunting to another week without a Premier League point to his name.
In the other quarter-finals, Littler beat Humphries in the battle of the Lukes 6-4, Michael van Gerwen defeated Nathan Aspinall by the same scoreline, and Rob Cross inflicted a fifth straight defeat on Chris Dobey, by winning their match 6-2.
In the semi-finals, Price was to face three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen. Most fans and pundits alike expected a close and enthralling encounter going into it. The match did not turn out that way however, as The Iceman stormed into a remarkable 5-0 lead, scoring two breaks of throw without reply, and recording a nice 128 checkout in the third leg.
MVG prevented a whitewash by winning the sixth leg, but it was only to be a stay of execution. Price wrapped it up in the next leg to secure a quite staggering 6-1 demolition job, and move into his second nightly final of the campaign.
In the other semi-final, it was Littler who once again put on a show, beating Rob Cross 6-3 with 127 and 164 outs in the process, which sent him through to the final in search of a second straight nightly crown.
Price was determined to prevent Littler from going back to back, and surged into an early 3-0 lead. He slowed down a little bit after that, allowing the teenager to take a few legs on throw, though he managed to record a 123 out in leg five and still looked to be in a very good position at 4-2.
The 40-year-old looked like he may have thrown this position away however, as Littler broke him in leg seven, which gave The Nuke the opportunity to level the contest. He was not able to take it however, and The Iceman broke straight back to put him within a leg of the match. He only needed one more leg, and sealed a 6-3 victory with a 100 out, which secured the Welshman a second nightly crown in this year’s Premier League.
Littler’s run to the final was enough for the world champion to jump to the top of the table, with 16 points to his name. A second consecutive quarter-final exit drops Humphries down to second, remaining on 15 points. Price’s nightly win moves him up to third, with 12 points, and the top four is completed by Michael van Gerwen, on 10 points. The roadshow heads across the Severn next week, taking place in Wales’ capital Cardiff.