2026 PL Darts Night 12 Preview

This week we head to Liverpool where Stephen Bunting will have home advantage. James Punt’s 2026 PL Darts Night 12 preview and tips are below.

Night 11 Reflections

Night 11 was another bad one, six bets, five losers and a -2.83 loss. That brings the tally so far to – 8.32. We now head to Liverpool for Night 12.

Gian Van Veen vs. Gerwyn Price

Van Veen is out of form and has lost five of his last six quarter finals and overall, he has lost seven of his last ten matches. Gerwyn Price has lost his last two quarter finals but his form is fine as he proved by winning the European Darts Grand Prix on Sunday night.

They have played four PL matches in 2026 and Price has won three. The first two matches were before Van Veen lost his form and both required a deciding leg and it was 1-1. The last two were more recent and Price won them both, 6-2 and 6-1.

Price is the 1.62 favourite, Van Veen 2.40. Given their recent form, Price looks the value bet.

2026 PL Darts Night 12 Tip: 1 point Gerwyn Price to win -1.5 legs @ 1.95 generally available

Stephen Bunting vs. Jonny Clayton

Home advantage for Bunting tonight. It didn’t do him much good last year and he lost 1-6 to Rob Cross. Bunting’s form sees just four wins from his last ten matches. In the PL, he sits in 7th place and is slowly being reeled in by Josh Rock in the unwanted battle for the wooden spoon.

He hasn’t completely lost it and he can still bang in a ton plus average, but his seasonal win rate has dropped to just 56%, which is not the level of an elite player.

Jonny Clayton won in Rotterdam last week, his fourth fortnightly win from the first eleven nights and he sits at the top of the league again. The pressure is off him now. He will just be playing for the bonus money and preparing for the playoffs.

In-Form Ferret

His overall form is seven wins from his last ten matches. He is not normally a really heavy-hitter and not all of his recent performances have been that convincing, but wins are wins. Clayton is winning ugly, Bunting is losing in style.

Their H2H record is 12-10 to Clayton and in this year’s PL 2-2. Bunting is scoring better than Clayton, but Clayton is a lot better on the doubles. Bunting’s checkout rate is just 35.45% and Clayton’s a league best of 46.47%

Clayton is the 1.75 favourite, Bunting 2.10. Neither player is quite banker material. Clayton deserves to be favourite and the match odds look about right to me.

These two have played seventeen best of eleven matches and twelve have ended under 9.5 legs, including the last three (and six of the last eight). Another one-sided match?

2026 PL Darts Night 12 Tip: 1 point under 9.5 legs @ 1.91 with Hills

Josh Rock vs. Michael van Gerwen

Rock is back to playing well, if still lacking a bit of consistency. He has won six of his last ten matches and in the PL has won four quarter finals in a row but has yet to progress any further. His last three defeats have all ended 5-6, so he is more competitive than he was earlier in the year.

MVG is blowing hot and cold in the PL, reaching two finals but losing two quarter finals in the last four weeks. His overall form sees just four wins from his last six matches and he is hard to call.

Their H2H record is 10-4 to MVG and he is 2-0 in the PL. MVG is the 1.85 favourite, Rock 2.00 and it is a hard one to call. MVG was far from impressive on the Euro Tour at the weekend and right now, Rock looks the better player, but there isn’t much in it. He isn’t quite value at 2.00 so I will leave this alone.

2026 PL Darts Night 12 Tip: No Bet

Luke Humphries vs. Luke Littler

Humphries got a couple of much needed points last weekend but he remains outside of the playoff places in 5th place and three points behind MVG in 4th. He is one of the three players yet to win a night and has been a bit off the boil all year, results wise, but scoring wise he is still right up there.

It is all about his doubles. It was good last week, with 46.15% in his 6-2 win over Van Veen, and 71.43% in a 5-6 loss to Luke Littler. If he can keep that up, he has a good chance to reverse that recent loss to Littler.

Luke Littler managed to keep his head in a hostile environment in Rotterdam, and he made the final, losing to Clayton. He needed a good performance as his antics against Van Veen in Manchester had put the crowds on his back, and he had suffered back to back quarter final defeats. Coming to Liverpool might be another hostile environment for a big Man Utd fan.

Their H2H record is 20-11 to Littler and they have played three times in this year’s PL, with Littler winning two. All three required a deciding leg, as did their only other match in 2026. Eight of their eleven league stage matches in the PL have been over 9.5 legs and five ended 6-5.

2026 PL Darts Night 12 Tip: 1 point over 9.5 legs @ 2.10 with Betfair, Unibet

2026 PL Darts Night 12 Tip: 0.5 point Luke Humphries to win 6-5 @ 8.00 generally available

-JamesPunt