2026 PL Darts Night 7 Preview & Tips – JP
2026 PL Darts Night 7 Preview
This evening’s instalment of PL Darts comes from Dublin’s Fair City. Jonny Clayton overcame a foot injury to win last week, James Punt’s 2026 PL Darts Night 7 preview and tips are below.
Night 6 Reflections
Night 6 was our first wipeout of the PL season and a -3.00 loss. That means we are -4.05 points down so far.
It is a short shift this week as there are just three quarter finals to preview. Gian van Veen has been hospitalised due to a gallstone problem. He’s bit young to be getting gallstones, but just like Jonny Clayton’s gout attack last week, a lot of these darters have terrible diets. Too many pies and ales.
Bye For MVG
His withdrawal means that MVG gets a bye into the semi-finals and a free two points, which is very lucky for him as he was on a run of three straight defeats and down in sixth place. I suppose there is some natural justice, as MVG himself was force to miss Night 3 due to illness.
Jonny Clayton hopped his way to victory on Night 6 and is now eight points clear at the top of the table. Littler has moved up to second place, followed by Price Humphries and the absent Van Veen tied on nine points. MVG will now be on a minimum of ten points. Bunting is in seventh place on seven points. Josh Rock is still win less.
Stephen Bunting vs. Luke Littler
Littler is finally picking up a head of steam and he will want to bag as many points as possible before heading off to his beloved Germany next week for Night 8 from Berlin. It is very likely that these two players will meet there as well, as Night 8 sees top play bottom, second plays seventh and so on.
Their H2H record is 8-4 to Littler and in last year’s PL it was 4-1 to Littler. It was Littler who won all four of their quarter final matches: 6-3, 6-0, 6-5 and 6-1.
Littler has won eight of his last ten matches, hitting seven ton plus averages. Bunting has won six of his last ten matches, hit three ton plus averages, but is not playing at his best, and not as well as Littler. I might fancy Bunting to beat Littler in Berlin, but while Littler may not be the crowd favourite in Dublin, he should be fine.
It is always hard finding any decent odds in a Littler match, unless you are opposing him, but an unders bet just about gets the nod.
2026 PL Darts Night 7 tip: 1 point under 9.5 legs @ 1.62 with Boylesports
Josh Rock vs. Gerwyn Price
Rock is still looking for his first points of his PL campaign. He is trying to keep his head up, but it looks like he isn’t enjoying it very much.
Rock might have one thing going for him this week, and that is Price being a bit knackered. He ran out of juice in the final of the European Darts Trophy on Sunday night, losing 3-8 to Nijman and averaging just 92.38. Price has played 49 matches already in 2026 and said after that match that he might need a break.
The Iceman is keen to play a lot of events in 2026 as he isn’t defending much ranking money, and that means he can make headway in the world rankings. However, the PL part of the season means a lot of travelling, as does playing on the Euro Tour.
No Home Comfort
One thing Rock won’t have going for him is any semblance of ‘home advantage’. Cast your minds back to Night 3 in Glasgow, when Rock did his whole Glasgow Rangers schtick. He tried to wind up the Celtic fans, and failed, losing 2-6 to Humphries.
This weekend the crowd won’t be 50-50 Celtic/Rangers, but 99% Celtic. He nailed his colours to the Unionist flagpole, and he is likely to get some payback in Dublin. Even Superchin, Daryl Gurney, never got much ‘home’ support in Dublin, and he was more circumspect, politically.
Price will have had a couple of days to recharge his batteries, which isn’t very much, but it might be enough to see him through to the quarter final.
Their H2H record is 6-4 to Price and their best of eleven leg matches have seen five over 9.5 leg matches, and one under. However, looking at Rock’s PL record makes for grim reading. He has lost four matches 2-6, one 1-6 and one 4-6. Ironically, his best performance came against Luke Littler.
Price is the 1.50 favourite, Rock 2.75.
2026 PL Darts Night 7 tip: 1 point Gerwyn Price to win -1.5 legs @ 1.92 with Livescorebet
Jonny Clayton vs. Luke Humphries
Luke Humphries’ tweak to his darts setup last week seemed to do the trick, until the final. He beat Van Veen 6-4, beat Littler 6-5, and then got stuffed by hop along Jonny Clayton in the final. He lost the final because his doubling went out of the window. Humphries said the changes were to improve his doubling, at a possible cost to outright scoring, but he realised that it was his doubling that was a problem.
It seemed to work. 43% vs. Van Veen, 46% vs. Littler, and then just 12.5% in the final. That suggests that the doubling demons were laughing at his set up change. It’s never the darts. Half of his last ten matches have seen sub 33% checkout rates, and he lost all of them.
Humphries took last weekend off to have a rest, but will that fix his double troubles? He is very hard to back right now. If his doubling radar is off, he is likely to lose, and right now that is a 50-50 chance.
In Pain
Jonny Clayton was in a fair amount of pain last week but just got on with it. He said that if he sat down for a rest, the pain was worse, so actually playing darts kept him going. This weekend he should be fine, feeling very good about having scored 19 points and having an eight-point lead in the league table. He has one gouty foot in the play offs already.
Their H2H record is 8-5 to Clayton, in 2026 3-1and in this year’s PL 2-0, including that 6-1 win in last week’s final.
That final saw Humphries’ head drop very quickly once he missed a couple of doubles. If you are backing Humphries right now, you will be having kittens every time he goes for a double. His whole game is dependent on how he feels about the outer ring, and his confidence is very fragile.
Wrong Fav?
Luke Humphries is the 1.53 favourite. I just don’t get that. Clayton has won their last three matches, two of them in the last two weeks. Yes. Humphries is the better payer, but right now? Who is top of the league? Who is ten points clear of Humphries?
I have to go with Clayton, but with what stake? Clayton is 2.75 favourite, and that is tempting me to have a strong bet, but after a bad week last week, I will have to stick with a 1 pointer.
