Premier League Darts 2024
Week 11 Preview by Shane McArdle
The Premier League season continues this week, Thursday (April 11th), with the action coming from The Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
The tournament sees 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.
Quarter-Final Match Betting and Predictions:
Thursday, March 11th
(Prices correct as of 5 pm on April 9th)
(7:15pm) (16/5) Peter Wright v Luke Humphries (1/5) (Prediction – Luke Humphries, Peter Wright put in possibly his best performance of the Premier League in Manchester last week and still ended up on the wrong side of a 6-4 result to a bang in form Gezzy Price.
Wright averaged a whopping 109.52 in that quarter-final defeat to the Welsh No.1. Luke Humphries on the other hand put in his worst performance of the campaign, looking flat and out of sorts from the get-go in a disappointing 6-3 quarter-final loss to Michael Smith.
With all this considered, this could be closer than many would imagine. However, I fully expect Luke Humphries to return to his usual high standard of form and prove just too good for Peter Wright in this contest.) Correct Score Prediction – 3-6
(8pm) (19/10) Rob Cross v Luke Littler (2/5) (Prediction – Luke Littler, Rob Cross seems to have really gone off the boil in the last number of weeks, having been playing well up until week 8 in Dublin. He again was far from his best when losing 6-3 to Nathan Aspinall in Manchester last Thursday.
On the other hand, Luke Littler made it back-to-back nightly wins in his hometown of Manchester last week, enjoying wins over Michael van Gerwen (6-3), Nathan Aspinall (6-4) and Gerwyn Price (6-3) helping him to successive nightly victories which put him on top of the Premier League table. Therefore, it’s going to be a win for Luke Littler in this match for me.) Correct Score Prediction – 3-6
(8:45pm) (6/10) Gerwyn Price v Michael Smith (6/5) (Prediction – Gerwyn Price, Gerwyn Price was back to his usual self in Manchester last week, where he looked to have sorted out his woes on the other ring and continued with his usual power scoring, which led to him producing a perfect 9-darter in his semi-final win over Michael Smith.
He then looked like he was not the same player right from the very start of the final against Luke Littler, which he later blamed on the boisterous actions of the Manchester crowd. Michael Smith was on the receiving end of that perfect leg from Price in a 6-3 semi-final loss to the Welshman, having beaten Luke Humphries 6-3 in his opening quarter-final match.
In a repeat of last Thursday’s semi-final, there is no reason to expect a different result, so therefore it’s a win for Gerwyn Price in this contest for me.) Correct Score Prediction – 4-6
(9:30pm) (11/20) Michael van Gerwen v Nathan Aspinall (11/8) (Prediction – Michael van Gerwen, Michael van Gerwen suffered another quarter-final loss to man of the moment Luke Littler on Thursday last, where he found himself in the unusual situation of not being the fan favourite. His performance was probably the worst of this year’s campaign in a one-sided contest.
Nathan Aspinall is now third in the overall standings, one place ahead of his rival here as MVG now finds himself fourth in the league standings. Aspinall was a comfortable 6-3 winner over Rob Cross in his opening quarter-final in Manchester before losing out 6-4 in a cracking match to eventual winner Luke Littler.
MVG will be looking to leap-frog back over his opponent here and back into third place in the league with a win over The Asp and that is what I see happening, with a win for MVG in this contest.) Correct Score Prediction – 6-4
Week 11 Nightly Winner (Birmingham) Prediction: Gerwyn Price @ 11/2
Tournament Outright Betting:
Luke Littler 13/8 – Luke Humphries 13/8 – Michael van Gerwen 9/2 – Nathan Aspinall 10/1 – Michael Smith 14/1 – Gerwyn Price 16/1 – Rob Cross 28/1 Peter Wright 200/1