Michael van Gerwen accused of 'giving up' as Premier League Darts rival twists knife

feels that 'gave up' during their match on Thursday. Van Gerwen needed to beat Aspinall and then take his first nightly win of the season to stand any chance of making it to finals night at The O2 next week.

But he couldn't even clear the first hurdle as Aspinall thrashed him 6-2, with 'Mighty Mike' averaging less than 89 and missing a string of doubles. Van Gerwen didn't win a single Premier League Darts night this season and has missed out on the play-offs for only the second time in his career. As if that wasn't a bitter enough pill to swallow, 'The Asp' rubbed salt into his wounds by claiming MVG lost all belief before the match-winning dart was thrown.

"I don't know what is going on but he didn't look himself again," he told . "Even on that stage, he was giving up."

Aspinall threw three maximums and averaged 98.72 against Van Gerwen to book his spot in the play-offs. The 33-year-old took deep breaths before big darts, maintained a laser focus throughout and came out with pride about how he dealt with the pressure.

He added: "There was a lot of emotion after walking off stage. I had to take myself away. I spoke so highly of Michael all week and to go and win tonight... I have got to look at myself and I thought I put in a fantastic performance under that pressure.

"It was an amazing performance and I am just so proud of myself. It has been a stressful six weeks but I think I can now relax and enjoy this next game against Luke [Humphries]."

Van Gerwen is still third in the PDC's Order of Merit but his standards have slipped in recent years. Sky Sports pundit Wayne Mardle agrees with Aspinall in that something doesn't look quite right with the three-time world champion.

"I feel for Michael," "The man is a champion, a winner. It is only the second time he has not made the play-offs. He has said it, he has not been good enough at times. I don't know how he feels within, he has just looked off.

"To not have won a week, he won four last year, that is a real blow for him. He came into this as the third favourite behind the Lukes and it was all going okay. Then it kind of took a turn for the worst."