Jonny Clayton vs. Michael Smith: Can Jonny Clayton Continue his Winning Streak?

Jonny Clayton and Michael Smith, two well-known professional dart players, compete in a match scheduled on February 10, 2022. The venue for the game is M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England. This game is a part of the 2022 Premier League Darts.

One of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events players Jonny Clayton, also named The Ferret, joined PDC in 2015, before which he was a part of the British Darts Organization (BDO). In 2017, he played at the PDC World Championship for the first time, where he, unfortunately, lost the second round to Ian White 4-1. In a similar year, he also made it to the finals of the Players Championship for the first time. Clayton was the first Welsh player to win the PDC European tour in the following year and made his appearance on the PDC Order of Merit. He gained a win at the Players Championship against Gabriel Clemens 8-4 in 2019. Another victory lined up when Jonny won the PDC World cup 2020. Being at the top of his game, Clayton won four PDC events during 2021, namely World Grand Prix, Premier League, Masters, and the World Series Finals.

Another known PDC darts player since 2008, Michael Smith, won the PDC World Championship in 2013. His excellent performance has led him to be awarded eight titles on the Pro Tour. Smith made it to the semifinals in UK Open 2019, European Championship 2019, and Grand Slam 2021. Moreover, he was a runner-up at the Premier League 2018, World Matchplay 2019, The Masters 2020, and the World Championship 2022. Michael is currently ranked 5th in the PDC Order of Merit.

The head-to-head of the last five years involves 6 games, and Smith is leading with twice as many wins as Clayton with a ratio of 4 to 2, respectively. The lead might make Smith more confident, but Clayton is likely to fight in order to gain the upper hand. Moreover, out of the last three matches Jonny played, he won 2 against James Wade 6-4 and Joe Cullen 6-2. On the other hand, Michael hasn’t been lucky recently and has had a single victory against Krzysztof Ratajski 10-6.

Jonny Clayton surprisingly defeated Joe Cullen and James Wade in the ongoing Premier League. It is expected that Clayton would defeat Michael Smith, who also has been carrying the winning momentum under his belt. The upcoming contest would certainly be a nail-bitter encounter, with Jonny Clayton having greater chances of winning.