Premier League Darts 2024
Week 16 Preview by Shane McArdle
The Premier League season continues this week, Thursday (May 16th), with the action coming from The Utilita Arena in Sheffield.
The tournament see’s eight of the top darting stars contest across a 16 week mini-event format over the season, with each league night comprising of a quarter-final, semi-final and final format, all of which will be played over the best of 11 legs (first to six).
Each week’s winner will receive a £10,000 bonus.
Ranking points will also be awarded each night, with five going to the winner, three to the runner-up and two to the losing semi-finalists, to form the league table from which the top four players will progress to the Play-Offs at The O2 in London on Thursday May 23.
The action will be broadcast live on Sky Sports from 7pm on Thursday evening.
Quarter-Final Match Betting and Predictions:
Thursday May 16th
(Prices correct as of 3pm on May 15th)
(7:15pm) 2/15 Luke Littler v Peter Wright 5/1 (Prediction – Luke Littler, A repeat of the opening match in Leeds on Thursday last, where Luke Littler was a convincing 6-1 winner over Peter Wright, before being comprehensively beaten by the same scoreline in the semi-finals by MVG. Littler then travelled to the Baltic Sea Darts Open and suffered an opening round 6-3 shock defeat to Wessel Nijman. Peter Wright also lost his opening match 6-2 to Andrew Gilding In Kiel, Germany. With Luke Littler sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League table and Peter Wright finishing rock bottom it’s hard to envisage anything other than a comfortable win for Luke Littler.) Correct Score Prediction – 6-3
(8pm) 9/10 Nathan Aspinall v Michael Smith 9/10 (Prediction – Michael Smith, This is the match we are all looking forward to, as it is a straight shoot-out for a place in Finals night. These two met in Leeds last week, where Smith ran out a 6-3 winner. There were nerves on display by both players in that game and expect even more this time around in Sheffield with so much at stake. Michael Smith didn’t travel to the Baltic Sea Darts Open last weekend, Nathan Aspinall did travel but lost his opening match 6-2 to a very much in-form Ritchie Edhouse. I think the safest way to approach this match is to throw all previous and current form out the window and it will be a case of who handles the situation and nerves the best. I’m going for a narrow win for Michael Smith.) Correct Score Prediction – 4-6
(8:45pm) 1/2 Luke Humphries v Gerwyn Price 13/8 (Prediction – Luke Humphries, Luke Humphries was a happy man having won the night in his beloved Leeds on Thursday last. The World Champ and World No.1 defeated Rob Cross 6-1, Michael Smith 6-1 and Michael van Gerwen 6-5 to gain himself a self-confessed dream come true, winning in front of his home fans. He then travelled to Kiel and was a beaten finalist, losing a sensational final 8-6 to Rob Cross, despite hitting a perfect 9-darter in that thrilling final. Gerwyn Price lost his opening quarter-final 6-3 to Michael van Gerwen in Leeds last Thursday and then pulled out of last weekend’s Baltic Sea Darts Open in Germany. It’s a Luke Humphries win for me in this quarter-final contest) Correct Score Prediction – 6-3
(9:30pm) 13/20 Michael van Gerwen v Rob Cross 5/4 (Prediction – Rob Cross,
Michael van Gerwen defeated Gerwyn Price in last week’s quarter-finals before dishing out a heavy 6-1 hammering to Luke Littler and then lost out narrowly 6-5 in the final to hometown boy Luke Humphries. He beat the conqueror of Luke Littler in Wessel Nijman 6-2 at the Baltic Sea Darts Open and the defeated Andrew Gilding narrowly 6-5 before losing 6-3 to Luke Humphries. Rob Cross was comprehensively beaten 6-1 in his opener in leeds last Thursday to eventual nightly winner Luke Humphries before exacting his revenge by beating Humphries 8-6 in the final of last weekend’s Baltic Sea Open tournament, despite Humphries hitting a 9-darter against him in that sensational final. Taking all of this into consideration, I’m going for a Rob Cross win in this quarter-final.) Correct Score Prediction – 5-6
Week 16 Nightly Winner (Sheffield) Prediction: Luke Humphries @ 12/5
Luke Humphries 6/4 – Luke Littler 7/4 – Michael van Gerwen 7/2 – Nathan Aspinall 12/1 – Michael Smith 12/1