Price and Clayton's quest for all-Welsh showdown

Amid talk of another blockbuster 'Luke v Luke' final, two men are bidding to set up a showdown of their own.

Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price are both being touted as underdogs for their Premier League semi-final match-ups with defending champion Luke Humphries and reigning world champion Luke Littler respectively.

'Cool Hand' and 'The Nuke' faced off in the past two finals, with Humphries winning in 2025 after he had been trumped by Littler a year earlier.

But with the Premier League trophy and a £350,000 top prize at stake at The O2 in London on Thursday night, Clayton and Price are aiming to make the final an all-Welsh affair.

"It would be great to have an all-Welsh final. We're Welsh and proud," Clayton said.

"We've got two very hard Englishmen to beat if we're going to have that final."

As for Price, he commented: "Maybe an all-Welsh final, it could be an all-English final, who knows."

Before the 2026 Premier League, Clayton was the firm outsider with bookmakers to win the competition.

'The Ferret' made a mockery of those pre-tournament odds as he extended his 100% record of reaching finals night in the showpiece event by finishing second in the league phase.

The 51-year-old - who won the tournament on debut in 2021 - has taken huge pride from silencing his doubters.

"I was gutted to hear that," he said of discovering in early February that he was the least-fancied to taste glory in the Premier League.

"Being world number five, having not won any big majors to get me up there, so I'm pretty consistent, and then they reckon I'd finish bottom.

"Obviously they weren't drinking the same tea as I was drinking. But to be fair, I've put a lot of people quiet.

"I think being out of the Premier League last year, that really hurt when I should have been in.

"But I've proved my point, I'm back in the top four. Look out. Hopefully I can win tomorrow."

The darting world was left stunned earlier this month as it was confirmed Price would not feature at the World Cup in June.

Alongside Clayton, the 41-year-old has twice led Wales to glory in the competition but has been replaced by Nick Kenny for this year's tournament in Frankfurt.

It is one of a number of events - including the UK Open Pool Championship - that Price has withdrawn from of late due to unspecified health issues.

On the eve of Premier League finals night, Price confirmed he had received positive news regarding his health.

"It frees me up to go back and play a lot more ranking tournaments," he said.

"After the Premier League's over, I'm going to take the next European event off and Pro Tours next week and have a little bit of a holiday which I haven't had for quite a while and then after that, it sets me back up to hit the ranking events.

"I pulled out of a couple of darts events and to go and play in a pool event would have been a little bit naughty."

Price is the only semi-finalist yet to win the Premier League in his career, although having had more time to recuperate of late, the Welshman feels primed to do the business this time around.

"I'm feeling like I'm in a good place. I think my game's in a good place," he said.

"It's one of the ones that I haven't won, so just to tick that off and get that one in the bag, it would ease the pressure.

"But until you win a major then it's always added pressure every year."

Despite his disappointment at having to pull out of the World Cup, Price says Wales are in safe hands with Clayton and Kenny wearing the red jersey.

"Nick's a fantastic player and he wears his heart on his sleeve," added former world champion Price.

"He's similar to me. He's a proud Welshman and I know him through the BDO and he still plays county so he'll give 110%.

"For Jonny to be playing with Nick, there's no better partner that could have slotted in there.

"I wish them all the best and I think they'll play for Wales and carry the badge well. Fingers crossed they can go on and win it."