2026 PL Darts Night 1 Preview & Tips – JP
2026 PL Darts Night 1 Preview
Newcastle is the venue for the opening night of the Premier League of Darts. James Punt has already posted his outright preview and tips, click here to see those. His 2026 PL Darts Night 1 preview and tips are below.
2026 PL Darts Night 1
The marathon event that is the Premier League kicks off in Newcastle tomorrow night. The first day back at school and the cynicism born of repetitiveness hasn’t kicked in yet (give it three weeks), and we can look forward to a decent night of darts. I am going for four bets in the first-round matches. Wildly optimistic!
Josh Rock vs. Jonny Clayton
Debutant Rock kicks off the show against the experienced Jonny Clayton. Will Rock be the more nervous of the two? He might well be, but I guess everyone will be nervous, wanting to get some points under their belt on Night 1.
Rock is good form, winning seven of his last ten matches. He reached the quarter finals of the Masters last week but lost 0-4 to Littler. That was his third major quarter final loss in a row. He was very ropey on the doubles against Littler, as he was in the first round against Scutt. That is a worry as it is a part of his game that is not his best. His 12-month checkout rate is 39.94% (30th, with Clayton at 42.45%, 7th).
Fast Start
Jonny Clayton flew out of the blocks in Milton Keynes, averaging 102.82 average in a 3-1 win over Wessel Nijman in round one, but then lost 3-4 to his nemesis, Gerwyn Price in round two. Clayton just cannot beat Price, so getting close was maybe a decent result. Before that, Clayton reached the quarter finals at Ally Pally, despite not playing his best.
Their H2H record is 6-5 to Clayton. They only played once in 2025, with Clayton winning 6-2 on the Euro Tour, ending a run of four straight wins for Rock. Before that, Clayton had beaten Rock in back-to-back finals on the Euro Tour and Players Championships. They have only played five best of eleven leg format matches and four were over 9.5 legs.
Rock is the 1.67 favourite with Clayton 2.30. Clayton has averaged over 100 in his three previous opening PL matches, but I will go for a close match to open proceedings.
2026 PL Darts Night 1 Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 1.95 with Bresbet
Luke Littler vs. Gian van Veen
A repeat of the World Championship final and they have met again since, in the Bahrain Masters, with Littler winning that 6-4. Littler is in top form, winning nine of his last ten matches and hitting six ton plus averages.
Van Veen has won seven of his last ten matches, losing to MVG, Littler and Humphries. He has hit four ton plus averages but he is just a step below Littler scoring wise.
Their H2H record is 6-4 to Littler, but like he does with so many players who have good records against him, he makes sure to make a point of beating them and getting into their heads as to who is the boss. Littler has won their last three matches, ending a run of three wins for Van Veen last year. Any more of that and Van Veen might have gotten into Littler’s head.
These two have only played three best of eleven leg matches, all ending 6-4, two twins for Littler. This will be Van Veen’s PL debut so it will be interesting to see how he settles in.
2026 PL Darts Night 1 Tip: 0.5 point Luke Littler to win 6-4 6.00 with SpreadEx
Luke Humphries vs. Gerwyn Price
Humphries has lost four of his last ten matches, but it is hard to knock his form. He has hit eight ton plus averages in those ten but just come up against some very good performances from very good players. Like Littler and Van Veen.
He also lost one to Price, and that was a poor performance from Humphries. That was the quarter final of the terrible Saudia Arabian Darts Masters. The atmosphere was as flat as hedgehog on the M1, and it was just a poor match by both players.
Gerwyn Price has won seven of his last ten matches but while he has played some very good stuff, he hasn’t played with the consistency or at quite the same level as Humphries.
Their H2H record is 15-12 to Price, with one PL draw. In the PL it is 5-3 to Humphries with the one drawn match back in 2019. Four of their last five have been over 9.5 legs and the way both are playing, another close one would seem more than possible.
Both players have now played three tournaments in 2026 to prepare for this, so there is no rust in either players’ game.
2026 PL Darts Night 1 Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 1.95 generally available
Stephen Bunting vs. Michael van Gerwen
An interesting match-up. Bunting has not been at his best for a while and has lost five of his last ten matches, including two against MVG already in 2026. Both of those were 4-6 defeats in the two World Series events.
Van Gerwen has won seven of his last ten matches, but they were all in the World Series exhibitions. Van Gerwen was very poor in a 1-3 defeat to an equally poor Damon Heta in the Masters last week.
MVG’s two wins over Bunting in the World Series saw a 97.92 average in Bahrain, but only 87.98 in Saudi Arabia, but it seemed like everyone played rubbish in Riyadh.
H2H
Their H2H record is 24-5 for MVG. He has won twelve of their best of eleven leg matches, seven of them 6-1 and he has covered a -1.5 leg handicap in all twelve of his best of eleven leg match wins. All four of Bunting’s were 6-4 or 6-5.Clearly, MVG wins much more often and very often by a handy margin.
These two are not at their best, but MVG has a very good H2H record over Bunting, including two wins already this year. He is the 1.62 favourite to win, Bunting 2.38.
