Jonny Clayton ends Premier League drought to win in Berlin

Jonny Clayton has boosted his Premier League playoff hopes with a stunning victory on Week Nine in Berlin.

The Welshman went into Thursday's competition almost cut adrift from the top four, a result of only reaching one final during the opening eight weeks.

However, Clayton turned things around in remarkable fashion, defeating Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith to catapult himself back into contention.

A week on from only averaging 80.89 in a quarter-final defeat, Clayton produced averages of 97.16, 101.43 and 91.79 to secure three notable wins.

BRILLIANCE IN BERLIN! 💥

Jonny Clayton clinches a first nightly win of the 2023 Premier League, defeating the world number one Michael Smith 6-4 in the final!

MvG ✅
Price ✅
Smith ✅

What a night of darts for The Ferret! 🔥

📺 https://t.co/kx9ccUMQvU | #PLDarts Final pic.twitter.com/hvJOfmQPn2

— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) March 30, 2023

Each of the matches went deep, Clayton edging out Van Gerwen in a last-leg decider before posting 6-4 triumphs over fellow countryman Price and reigning world champion Smith.

As a result, Clayton now sits in fifth position, three points adrift of each of Smith and Nathan Aspinall, with Van Gerwen and Price clear of the rest.

Price is five points behind leader Van Gerwen, who suffered just his second last-eight defeat of this year's competition in losing to Clayton.

Dimitri van den Bergh is now seventh after losing 6-3 to Smith, and the Belgian is now six points behind the top four, with Peter Wright seven points behind Van den Bergh after losing 6-5 to Price.

Chris Dobey has been pushed down to sixth place on the back of succumbing 6-4 to Aspinall in his opening fixture.