Gerwyn Price believes Nathan Aspinall has more ‘determination’ and ‘fight’ than Michael van Gerwen in a brutal assessment of the Dutchman. Aspinall and Van Gerwen meet in a huge Premier League quarter-final tomorrow.
Van Gerwen is fourth in the Premier League leaderboard but sits only a point above his upcoming opponent. They will meet in the penultimate night of the league phase in Aberdeen. The winner will put themselves in a strong position to make the play-offs at the O2 on May 29. Fellow Premier League star Price has already booked his spot alongside Luke Littler and Luke Humphries. There is only one more place up for grabs, but the Welshman has questioned whether Van Gerwen has the mentality to hold off Aspinall.
He said ahead of night 15: “It’s a big game between Nathan [Aspinall] and Michael [van Gerwen] … At the minute, I think Nathan’s got a little bit more determination and a little bit more fight. He’s a dogged player who will grind out results, no matter if he’s 5-1 behind or 5-0 behind. If I had to put my cards on the table, I’d probably say Nathan. But you can never write Michael off.”
Van Gerwen has endured a tough year. The 36-year-old could fail to reach the Premier League play-offs for only the second time since making his debut in the competition in 2013. Only in 2020 has he not made finals night.
Close friend Vincent van der Voort also questioned Van Gerwen’s ‘belief’ after the former World No. 1 skipped Players Championship 16.
“When I see how things are going, the belief just isn’t there,” Van der Voort told the Darts Draait Door podcast. “His presence is lacking, there’s no aggression or passion in his game. It’s just about throwing at the board and hoping for the best.”
Van Gerwen is also set to snub the World Cup of Darts next month in favour of a trip to Ibiza. That did not go down well with Van der Voort, who said: “Sometimes he plays really well, but then he can’t keep it up. He’s going to have to train hard.
“He needs to put in the effort or he’ll never find consistent form again. You can’t just take a holiday and expect things to fall back into place. It doesn’t work like that.”