Gurney Chasing Maiden Win

Daryl Gurney - Unibet Premier League (Lawrence Lustig, PDC)

DARYL GURNEY is confident that he can turn around his Unibet Premier League season, as he bids to claim his first win when the tournament visits Berlin on Thursday.

World Grand Prix champion Gurney is one of four Premier League debutants so far this season, and although he has drawn with Raymond van Barneveld and Gerwyn Price the Northern Irish ace has yet to taste victory.

He went down 7-4 on Night Two to Michael Smith, and will now meet world number one Michael van Gerwen when the Premier League makes its first visit to Berlin on Thursday, in front of a record 12,000 fans.

Gurney is hoping to hit his best form in Germany as he targets a maiden Premier League triumph.

"I still haven't played my best yet," said Gurney. "In my own opinion, I haven't been that good.

"I've got to cut out the mediocre stuff, play proper darts - the way I have been practising.

"The way I've played in the last couple of weeks, I've been steady enough, playing okay but I can play so much better.

"I'm putting in the practice and hitting more 100 averages than I ever have, and for some reason I keep wiring doubles on the stage."

Gurney has been ahead in both games which he has drawn, and he conceded that he needs to be more ruthless, especially after allowing a 5-1 lead to slip against Price.

"I got in front and all of a sudden I lost the gas pedal and went on the brake, but it's my own fault," he said.

"Gerwyn got back in the game and for some reason I seemed to get nervous.

"I still got a point - it could be worse. I'm putting myself in a good position but I need to keep my foot on the gas.

"I'm going to have to take it the same way I took the Barneveld game. It was the same thing, but you've got to take it on the chin."

Unibet Premier League
Night Four - February 22    
Mercedes-Benz Arena, Berlin

Michael Smith v Simon Whitlock
Gerwyn Price v Mensur Suljovic
Michael van Gerwen v Daryl Gurney
Rob Cross v Raymond van Barneveld
Peter Wright v Gary Anderson
Tickets via PDC Europe and through Affilitix +49 361 644 189 760 and with email support via ticket@affilitix.de