Michael van Gerwen responds to successive defeats with victory over Nathan Aspinall | Darts News

Premier League coverage continues Saturday night starting at 7pm on Sky Sports Action

Michael van Gerwen had lost to Gary Anderson and Glen Durrant in the last two nights of the Premier League

Michael van Gerwen rose to second place in the Premier League table on Friday when he rallied to beat Nathan Aspinall in response to back-to-back losses.

The Dutchman was again far from his formidable best, but turned around a three-stage deficit to give himself a welcome boost of confidence.

0:58

The best of the action from night 10 of the Premier League in Milton Keynes

With 76 PDC titles between them, Gary Anderson and Peter Wright played an entertaining contest, won by the former after he staggered five straight stages after being trailing to win 8-5.

2:57

Wayne Mardle goes over the talking points of night 10 of the Premier League

Glen Durrant produced some outstanding darts once again to strengthen his control at first place with a quiet victory over Gerwyn Price, as he moved one step closer to the play-offs.

Michael Smith continued a night of comebacks with six straight stages en route to an 8-3 win over Daryl Gurney, who remains last after surviving Judgment Night on Thursday.

Follow Sky Sports Darts on Twitter!

Stay up to date with the latest news from around the fast-paced world.

Van Gerwen overtakes Asp to end losing streak

Van Gerwen entered his match outside of the top four and faces the prospect of losing three straight Premier League games for the first time.

It didn’t get off to a good start for the Dutchman as Aspinall made a comfortable opening stretch, before MVG responded through the 25 and the bull. ‘The Asp’ followed up with three successive stages to build a 4-1 lead, prompting a payout of 100 for a 15 dart from Van Gerwen to close the gap.

2:14

Van Gerwen admitted to having a confidence issue after his win over Nathan Aspinall, but thinks he can change his form.

An 11-dart dart from Van Gerwen moved him to one and everything was squared immediately after, as the world’s number one did so in three successive stages. Three soon became four, ‘the Green Machine’ taking advantage of a poor stretch in Aspinall to take the lead for the first time.

The former UK Open winner responded brilliantly with a 5-5 break of his own, but Van Gerwen showed his class to strike back immediately. He built on that by taking advantage of a missed opportunity from Aspinall to guarantee a point, only for Aspinall to thwart him with an 81 out for a timely hold to press.

However, there was no denying Van Gerwen, who found a double top to seal a much-needed victory.

Anderson drops Wright with a magnificent comeback

1:33

Anderson joined Peter Wright on 12 points in third position after beating his compatriot on Night 10

Wright was the first of the two reigning World Cup champions to go off the mark, before doubling his lead with the opening break, courtesy of a 102 outing after putting pressure on a 171 away visit. Anderson then failed take advantage of a Wright error and returned ‘Snakebite’ to go 3-0 forward.

‘The Flying Scotsman’ won its first leg of the night despite nearly aiming for double tops instead of the double 16 it needed. The two-leg deficit returned to three shortly thereafter when Wright produced an 11-dart dart, to which Anderson responded with a major grip.

0:12

Wright hit 127 to take a 5-2 lead over Anderson

Anderson was within a target of a 124 finish for an invaluable shooting break and, after a mistake by Wright, accepted the visit back with open arms to make it 5-4. Then he was allowed to get away with his own miscalculation by setting the flysheet so that everything squared at 5-5.

After finding himself down 5-2 early in the game, Anderson led 6-5 with his second break before making five legs in a row to secure at least one point. He couldn’t find tops to make six in a row, but he took advantage of the return visit to complete an excellent comeback.

Duzza overtakes Price to extend his leadership at the top

2:29

Tension was in the air between Durrant and Gerwyn Price during the final leg of their Premier League tie.

Durrant nervously finished in the first leg to contain his pitch after the pair exchanged three missed visits before the Premier League leader found double one to move on.

‘The Iceman’ responded immediately only for Durrant to regain his lead thanks to a 25 start after taking the lead with a visit of 171 early in the stage. Durrant then produced the first break of the match on double top and came in with 171 others to walk away.

0:16

The price reached 140 to keep the pressure on Durrant

A one-leg cushion turned into two the next as ‘Duzza’ pulled out the double 16 after getting another visit from Price after blowing an opportunity at 106. The Welshman threatened to get going after a slow start with a 116 checkout to cut the deficit to 4-2, followed by a double top to capitalize on a mistake by Durrant to break the shot.

Two successive stages for Durrant were met by Price’s 140 outing 6-4, before the former guaranteed himself a point and then pulled out 50 for the match to extend his lead at the top.

Smith does light work with Gurney

Smith started the final game of the night with a sure throwing grip on 15 darts before Gurney maintained the initial high standards for leveling up.

‘Bully Boy’ then missed nine darts in double to open the door for Gurney to break for the first time, though ‘Super Chin’ was unable to capitalize as Smith won four in a row, including a 112 checkout on the latter to put the 5 -two.

0:19

Michael Smith hit a 112 checkout to extend his lead over Daryl Gurney

Four consecutive stages turned into five and then six in quick succession, the sixth seeing him roll 10 after Gurney turned down a return visit by failing to finish 100.

Gurney kept the game going into his third leg after sinking just his third double of the night, but the 14 he had missed were ultimately punished when Smith cleared 24 to get back on the winning track.

Coverage of the Premier League continues Saturday night from 7pm on Sky Sports Action.