Wade Scrapes Through To Meet MVG, Barney Will Face Taylor Once Again

After 14 fantastic weeks, the league phase of the 2013 Premier League has come to an end and the line-up for next week's semi-finals in the O2 has been confirmed. A convincing victory for Michael Van Gerwen over Robert Thornton was enough for him to win the league in style. Two wins for Raymond Van Barneveld means he finishes second by a point and the veteran Dutchman will face his old nemesis, Phil Taylor, in the play-offs in his bid to make it to his first Premier League final. A draw against Taylor was just enough for James Wade to scrape through and book his place against Van Gerwen in the final four.

The night began with a dead rubber as Andy Hamilton took on Adrian Lewis. Lewis looked to be in his best form of the league and he managed to gain three points from his two matches to make it double figures for the campaign. Lewis had a great chance to break in the third leg but he hit double five instead of double-12 before missing his next two darts at the double. Hamilton weighed in with a fantastic Shanghai 120-checkout before Lewis again missed two darts to take the fourth leg, allowing Hamilton to find the first break of the match. The score soon became 4-1 before Lewis managed to find a bit of fight. Jackpot reeled off the next three legs to level the scores before Hamilton again edged ahead at 5-4. But Lewis would then take the remaining three legs to steal the match 7-5 and ensure that Hamilton's campaign ended with a defeat.

At the start of the night, Robert Thornton had an outside of chance of nicking fourth place from Wade but he knew he had to at least beat Van Barneveld or Van Gerwen in the process while hoping Wade lost to Taylor. As for Van Barneveld, two wins for him and defeat for Van Gerwen would have put him on top of the league. There was obvious nerves at the beginning for Thornton as he missed a dart to take the opening leg. But the Scot replied with a 115-checkout before going 2-1 in front. Thornton then missed two darts to level the match in the sixth leg and a colossal 161-checkout from Barney moved the Dutchman 4-2 ahead. Van Barneveld almost followed that up with a 151-checkout but he missed the double and Thornton managed to take the leg to move to within one of the Dutchman. But the Scot missed his opportunity to level in the eighth leg with another five missed doubles. It was deja vu in the tenth leg when Thornton missed another three darts to make it 5-5. Van Barneveld would then put Thornton out of his misery by winning the 11th leg to win the match 7-5.

Like Thornton, Simon Whitlock also had an outside chance of stealing fourth place but because of his awful leg difference, he knew he really had to beat Lewis. It was a very nervy beginning as Lewis missed three darts to win the first leg before Whitlock missed three darts to take the second. Lewis then had a chance to go 4-2 in front but he missed his dart at the double and Whitlock levelled the score. Lewis missed another dart in the seventh leg and Whitlock pushed on to make it 5-3. But, like against Hamilton, Lewis was in a fighting mood and a fantastic 170-checkout levelled the match for Jackpot before a lowly 25-checkout ensured the point that took him to double figures. A defeat would have ended Whitlock's hopes there and then but the Australian managed to win the final leg to force the draw which, mathematically, just about kept his hopes alive.

A win for Wade over Taylor would have guaranteed The Machine's place in the top four, although a draw put him just one leg away from it. The pair met in week four and the points were also shared on that occasion. Wade looked businesslike as he moved in to a 2-0 lead but a missed dart in the fourth leg allowed Taylor to level the match. The next eight legs all went with throw to mean the pair left the stage with a second draw. The result meant that Whitlock was now out of the running and Thornton had to beat Van Gerwen 7-0 to cause a huge upset.

The top four places were official in the very next leg of play as Thornton missed a dart to win it, allowing Van Gerwen to take it to guarantee Wade's place amongst the elite. Van Gerwen was in a ruthless mood as a victory secured top spot and he reeled off the first six legs in no time. The Dutchman then missed a dart to take the first whitewash of the competition but he was quick to avenge it with seven perfect darts in the eighth leg. Unfortunately Van Gerwen missed the final treble-20 to leave himself a shot at double-12 for the nine darter but the Dutchman made it a 12-darter to win the match 7-1.

With everything all sorted, Whitlock versus Van Barneveld turned out to be an exhibition finish to what has been a brilliant league phase. The first six legs went with throw before Van Barneveld missed a chance to break in the seventh leg. Throw was held by the Dutchman in the eighth leg to make it 4-4 before Van Barneveld managed to take the four legs to win the match 7-4 and really put him in good stead to face his nemesis in the O2 next week. Final table:

1. Michael Van Gerwen        24 +34

2. Raymond Van Barneveld  23 +24

3. Phil Taylor                        20 +22

4. James Wade                     17 +6

5. Robert Thornton                15 +1

6. Simon Whitlock                 15 -6

7. Andy Hamilton                  12 -8

8. Adrian Lewis                     10 -25