The ninth night of the 2026 Premier League Darts takes place on Thursday, April 4th at the AO Arena in Manchester, headlined by a blockbuster rematch of the recent World Championship final between Gian van Veen and Luke Littler. The schedule also features Michael van Gerwen opening against Stephen Bunting, Gerwyn Price facing Luke Humphries, and Jonny Clayton taking on Josh Rock.
Manchester has been a Premier League fixture since the inaugural edition in 2005, when the final was played at the G-MX Centre and won by Phil Taylor. Last year, Nathan Aspinall won the night in his hometown, beating Rob Cross, then Michael van Gerwen 6-2 in the semi-finals, and Luke Humphries 6-4 in the final.
In the opening quarter-final, Michael van Gerwen meets Stephen Bunting. Van Gerwen's campaign has been inconsistent: he started with a nightly title and a final, withdrew through illness in week three, then failed to win a match across nights 4, 5, and 6. He benefited from Van Veen's withdrawal due to kidney stones on Night 7 for two free points, and reached a final last week, losing to Luke Littler, lifting him to fourth with 13 points. Bunting started with zero points from the first three weeks, won the nightly title on Night 4 for five points, but has won his opening match just once in the past four weeks, leaving him seventh with 7 points. Van Gerwen beat Bunting 6-2 on the opening night, and leads their head-to-head 25-5 across 30 meetings.
Gerwyn Price faces Luke Humphries next. Price sits third with 13 points, having won his opening match five times in eight nights, with two finals and a nightly title in Week 2. Humphries is fifth with 11 points, failing to win a single night in the first eight weeks but reaching the final on Night 6, losing to Jonny Clayton, and winning his opener four times. Price and Humphries have split their two Premier League meetings this year, and the overall head-to-head is close: Price leads 16-14 with one draw in 31 meetings.
The marquee match sees Gian van Veen take on table-topper Luke Littler. Van Veen started strongly with three finals in the first four weeks but lost them all, then suffered two first-match defeats, withdrew in Week 7 due to kidney stones, and returned last week prematurely, leaving him sixth with 9 points. Littler began slowly, winning his opener only once in the first four weeks, but then won Week 5, made a semi-final in Week 6, and claimed two titles on the last two nights, topping the table with 21 points and three nightly titles. Van Veen beat Littler in the opening week, and has won five of their twelve meetings, but Littler is the favorite given Van Veen's recovery from kidney stones.
Finally, Jonny Clayton faces Josh Rock. Clayton has thrived, reaching three finals in the first six weeks and winning two, putting him top early, but he lost his opener in the last two weeks, dropping to second with 19 points. Rock's debut has been disastrous, failing to win his opener in the first seven weeks and stuck on 0 points, though he threw a nine-darter in Belfast and won his first match last week by beating Clayton 6-3. They have split their two Premier League meetings this year, and Rock leads their overall head-to-head 7-6 in 13 previous meetings.
