Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton are both aiming to set up an all-Welsh final at the Premier League Darts finals night on Thursday, 28 May at London's O2 Arena. The pair face tough semi-final opponents, with Clayton taking on defending champion Luke Humphries and Price meeting reigning world champion Luke Littler. The winner of the tournament will pocket a £350,000 top prize.
Clayton, who finished second in the league phase, was the pre-tournament outsider with bookmakers but has silenced his doubters. 'I was gutted to hear that,' he said of the low expectations. 'Being world number five, having not won any big majors to get me up there, so I'm pretty consistent, and then they reckon I'd finish bottom. Obviously they weren't drinking the same tea as I was drinking. But to be fair, I've put a lot of people quiet.' The 51-year-old, who won the Premier League on debut in 2021, added: 'I think being out of the Premier League last year, that really hurt when I should have been in. But I've proved my point, I'm back in the top four. Look out. Hopefully I can win tomorrow.'
Price, the only semi-finalist yet to win the Premier League, has been dealing with unspecified health issues that led him to withdraw from events including the World Cup in June, where he has been replaced by Nick Kenny alongside Clayton. On the eve of finals night, Price confirmed positive health news: 'It frees me up to go back and play a lot more ranking tournaments. After the Premier League's over, I'm going to take the next European event off and Pro Tours next week and have a little bit of a holiday which I haven't had for quite a while and then after that, it sets me back up to hit the ranking events.' He added: 'I'm feeling like I'm in a good place. I think my game's in a good place. It's one of the ones that I haven't won, so just to tick that off and get that one in the bag, it would ease the pressure.'
Despite missing the World Cup, Price backed the Welsh duo of Clayton and Kenny: 'Nick's a fantastic player and he wears his heart on his sleeve. He's similar to me. He's a proud Welshman and I know him through the BDO and he still plays county so he'll give 110%. For Jonny to be playing with Nick, there's no better partner that could have slotted in there. I wish them all the best and I think they'll play for Wales and carry the badge well. Fingers crossed they can go on and win it.'
