It was another tough night for Michael van Gerwen in Nottingham (Image: Getty)
It was more of the same – and not in a good way – from on Thursday night in Nottingham. The Green Machine huffed and puffed, but for the sixth consecutive night of action, he was knocked out before the final.
He’s not alone in that sense. The people’s champion, , hasn’t even won a match this year – less titanium and more aluminium. But given the expectation that Van Gerwen carries around, his form in 2025 so far has been a relative disaster.
It felt like he might’ve turned a corner following a mixed 2024 when the Dutchman reached the final of the at the beginning of this year. In retrospect, he didn’t stand a chance against a destined to don the world champion crown.
However, he was at least showing signs of the old Michael. Instead, not just in the Premier League, but other competitions too, Van Gerwen has looked completely and utterly beatable in 2025 so far. It was perhaps the most striking thing on night six, as he trudged through a quarter-final he ought to have lost against before having his backside handed to him by Littler in the semis – Van Gerwen has lost his aura.
Michael van Gerwen has lost his aura – it’s going to take a lot to regain it (Image: Getty)
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That, of course, hasn’t always been the case. Even when Van Gerwen had been beaten in the past, it often took something astonishing to do so. Take his namesake, Michael Smith, hitting the ‘greatest leg of darts’ en route to beating Van Gerwen in the 2023 World Championship final as the prime example.
Maybe it’s a sign that the darting sands are beginning to shift. After all, Van Gerwen has been a fixture on the PDC Tour for close to two decades, having impressed under the BDO banner before making the switch. More importantly, he’s done and won it all. When you have a trophy cabinet like his, losing that added desire to win is only natural.
Not that it means Van Gerwen’s time at the top is done. Form is temporary, and class is permanent, after all. And the man himself has vowed to keep fighting until the last punch.
In an interview with last year, he said: “I’ll definitely be there [among the best darts players in the world five years from now].
“I’m not going to stop in five years, they’ll [Littler and Humphries] need to do really well to keep me off my position and if they want to win as many tournaments [as me] in five years. I can’t see that happening, but you never know.”