'Of course I'm the best player': Michael van Gerwen fires warning ahead of PL Night 13
- Rob McCarthy
- 27 April 2023
Michael van Gerwen is in no doubt that he remains the world's best player, despite Gerwyn Price's position at the top of the Premier League table.
Michael van Gerwen claims Gerwyn Price is picking up results at 'the wrong time of the year' and that he remains the best player in the world ahead of Premier League Night 13 in Leeds.
Price jumped above Van Gerwen at the top of the 2023 Premier League standings despite losing 6-4 to Nathan Aspinall in the final of night 12 in a rowdy Rotterdam last week.
Price rattled off five straight legs to defeat world champion Michael Smith before beating good friend Jonny Clayton in the semis. However, he met his match against Aspinall in the final, with the Englishman also having claimed a final-leg win over Van Gerwen earlier in the evening.
Price and Van Gerwen met in the semi-finals of night 11 in Brighton the week prior, with the Welshman clinching a thrilling encounter 6-5 as both players averaged well over 100.
"Gerwyn is a guy who is in fantastic form, but still he has problems beating me," Van Gerwen said on the latest episode of the
Love The Darts podcast.
"Every time I still get chances. And that's the thing I say, I've been playing well but that's the last little bit that has to click... It's not there yet but it has to be at the finals."
Digging deeper into Price's current form, ahead of what should be another memorable night in Leeds, Van Gerwen joked: "It's good. But at the wrong moment of the year!
"He can be good now. In five to six weeks, that little run is over and then I'm there again."
The final of the 2023 Premier League Darts will be played at The O2 in London on May 25, with the top four all progressing to the play-offs.
And when asked if he still considered himself the best player in the world, despite Price's current status and the fact that Smith is the reigning world champion, Van Gerwen added: "Of course I'm the best player.
"I'm not playing my best and still the best players at the moment have the biggest problems with me. I still get my chances.
"I'm just waiting for that to click and to make sure I am 100 per cent playing well and then that will come.
"You have to work for it. It doesn't come automatically, and you can only do this by winning your games - and that, at this moment of the year in the Premier League, is the most important thing."
