Clayton

Clayton was a significant outsider with bookmakers to win this year’s tournament. He wasn’t even fancied to make finals night.

Given his record, it was something that clearly rankled with the former plasterer.

Speaking at the Premier League media launch in early February, Clayton said: “It motivates me alright because people don’t rate me, obviously they rate the others more. Let’s see on finals night.”

A 6-4 victory against Luke Littler in the Rotterdam final last time out earned Clayton back-to-back night wins for the first time this season.

He now holds a 16-point buffer over defending champion Luke Humphries who is fifth going into night 12 in Liverpool on Thursday.

“He has sewn up a place at the O2 in London,” Sky Sports pundit Wayne Mardle said of Clayton after his triumph in Rotterdam.

“Jonny Clayton will be there, that is certain. He is so far clear of the rest.”

A week earlier, Clayton produced a remarkable comeback to win 6-5 against seven-time champion Michael van Gerwen in Brighton having been 5-2 down in the final.

After his victory against reigning world champion Littler in Rotterdam, Clayton revealed he re-watched his win against van Gerwen from a week earlier.

“I don’t watch many games back, but I watched last week’s game against Michael and it hurt a little bit when somebody said I was favourite to finish bottom. That really hurt,” he said.

“That really annoyed me to be honest. It’s going well for myself and I’ve got a massive smile on my face.

“I’ve been here three times before and I’ve done finals night on each one.”

At 51 Clayton is comfortably the oldest player in this year’s field, although he is consistently proving to be a thorn in the side of the game’s younger talents.

And with the £350,000 Premier League winner’s prize still well within his sights, Clayton can have no doubts that his long-delayed full-time move into darts was entirely justified. And then some.

Jonny Clayton came from 5-2 down to beat Michael van Gerwen 6-5 and claim his third nightly win to move top of the Premier League.

Van Gerwen missed four match darts in total as the Welshman reeled off four straight legs to take the win in Brighton.

Victory takes Clayton, who began the evening in third, three points above Luke Littler after the world champion was beaten by Stephen Bunting in the quarter-finals and failed to add to his points tally.

While Van Gerwen had the edge both in terms of average and checkout percentage in the final, Clayton produced when it mattered as he made the seven-time champion pay for failing to wrap up the match at 5-2 and 5-4 and forced a decider.

Clayton then finished it in style, hitting two 180s in the leg before sealing it on double 16.

“I thought the game was over at 5-2 up for Michael,” Clayton told Sky Sports.

“He missed, he gave me a chance. You’ve got to take chances. That last leg was probably my best of the game.

“I’m back on top of the table, Luke Littler can start chasing me again.”

Despite falling just short of a first nightly win since the opening week in Newcastle, Van Gerwen’s run to the final helped him shore up his play-off place and open up a four-point gap to fellow Dutchman Gian van Veen in fifth.