Jonny Clayton moved eight points clear at the top of the Premier League table with his second nightly victory of the season in Nottingham.

Clayton has performed superbly on his return to the Premier League fold, and he continued his dream start to the campaign with another hat-trick of victories at the Motorpoint Arena.

The Welshman defeated Michael van Gerwen, Stephen Bunting and Luke Humphries to claim the £10,000 nightly prize, dispatching Humphries 6-1 in Thursday’s showpiece final.

Clayton kicked off proceedings with a 6-3 success against seven-time champion Michael van Gerwen, winning six of the last seven legs to maintain his 100% record in quarter-finals this season.

The 2021 Premier League champion then defeated Bunting by the same scoreline in the semi-finals, pinning 55% of his attempts at double to cap off a clinical display.

This set up a winner-takes-all showdown against reigning champion Humphries, and Clayton produced another ruthless display to stretch his lead at the Premier League summit.

Humphries defied a quick-fire start from Clayton to halve the deficit with a 121 on the bull in leg three, only for Clayton to respond with a bruising 146 checkout in leg five to race into a 4-1 lead.

That proved to be the defining blow, as Clayton followed that up with a 14-dart hold to move to the cusp of victory, which he duly sealed after Humphries squandered four darts at double to prolong the contest.

“I wasn’t expecting much to be honest. I was suffering from gout in my ankle,” revealed Clayton, who played through the injury.

“It was a little bit difficult, but my arm was okay and that’s all that counts!

“I didn’t expect to be on top of the league after Night Six – I was expecting to have eight points in total! I know what it’s about, getting the points in early. It’s not a bad start, and hopefully it can carry on.

“It’s my favourite tournament, I love it. Hopefully I’m proving why I should be in it, and my darts are doing the talking.”

Humphries’ run to a first nightly final featured impressive wins over Gian van Veen and Luke Littler, catapulting the world number two up to fifth in the league table.

The 31-year-old kicked off Thursday’s play with a hard-fought 6-4 win over Van Veen – just his second victory over the Dutch number one in nine meetings.

Humphries then edged past Littler in a captivating semi-final between the world’s top two, averaging almost 106 and converting 130 and 128 finishes in the latter stages of the tie.

Littler moved up to second in the table with a spectacular quarter-final win over Gerwyn Price, defying consecutive 151 and 152 checkouts from the Welshman by averaging a whopping 108.66 and landing ten 180s.

Bunting, meanwhile, ran out an emphatic 6-1 winner against Josh Rock in the evening’s opener, extending the Northern Irishman’s winless run to six matches.

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