Premier League Darts Night 3 preview: Nathan Aspinall to lead the way

Premier League Darts is back in Glasgow for Night 3, and the quarterfinals are all exciting again, which is the beauty of the Premier League. With arguably the four favoured players, in the form of Michael Smith, Michael van Gerwen, Luke Humphries and Luke Littler all in separate quarterfinals.

We preview all four of the matches below.

Rob Cross v Michael Smith (19:10)

Night 3 kicks off with rank number six, Michael Smith, taking on rank number three, Michael Smith. Cross lost his quarterfinal match on Night 2 to Luke Littler, but Cross was no pushover, and could be considered as unlucky to depart after the first round.

Cross only lost the game 6-5, with a three-dart average of 95.20 and the highest checkout of 144. This being said, taking on Michael Smith, is once again no easy feat. Based on the stats from Night 2, Smith did have a better evening than Cross, he had a 99.76 three dart average across both his matches with both Van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price, both of which went the full 11 legs.

Michael Smith hit 10 maximums on Night 2, his scoring prowess may prove too much for Cross in this short format. While both players completed high checkouts, Cross with a 144 and Smith with the Big Fish in their quarterfinals, this being said we like Michael Smith To Win & Each Player At Least 1 Checkout Over 99 with the enhanced price of 6/1.

Michael van Gerwen v Peter Wright (19:40)

Moving onto the second quarterfinal of the night, which includes Night 2’s winner Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright. MVG does seem to have Peter Wrights number, having won the eight of the last 10 renewals of this matchup. However the last time these two met, Peter Wright won 6-3 in last year’s Premier League quarterfinal on Night 13.

Peter Wright did show some signs of improvement on Night 2, and despite still losing, Wright’s scoring seemed more consistent. This is backed up by the stats as his Night 1 three dart average was 83.78, while on Night 2 it was 94.19. This improvement could be a sign that Wright has got to the end of his darts fiasco and is ready to begin throwing better darts, after a really rough run of form. There would also be no better place to start for him then Glasgow on Night 3.

However, Wright arguably couldn’t have had a harder start lined-up in Glasgow. In the form of, Michael van Gerwen, who won Night 2 in Berlin. Van Gerwen seems to have an answer to any question asked by his fellow Premier League competitors. In Berlin he won all his three games with an aggregate score of 18-14, showing he is being made to work, but he is happy to do so and seems to deal with every challenge. We like the alternative match treble of Michael van Gerwen Win Match and Most 180s – Peter Wright Highest Match Checkout @ 7/4 here.

Nathan Aspinall v Luke Humphries (20:10)

The third quarterfinal features two Englishmen, Nathan Aspinall and Luke Humphries. The pair have come head-to-head on six occasions, with both players winning three each. Luke Humphries came out on top, most recently with a decisive 6-2 victory. Humphries won his quarterfinal match Peter Wright well on Night 2 by scoring a match treble. Aspinall was very unfortunate to come up against the in-form MVG in his first game, however he performed well and scored highly with a three-dart average of 93.81.

We expect this game to be very close and possibly Aspinall to come out on top. If Aspinall can continue his form, we feel he can outscore Humphries but not necessarily come out on top, therefore the best bet seems to be the match double of Nathan Aspinall Most 180s & Nathan Aspinall Highest Match Checkout @4/1.

Gerwyn Price v Luke Littler (20:40)

The final quarterfinal of the night is a match-up between both Gerwyn Price and Luke Littler. Gerwyn Price withdrew and forfeited during his third-round tie in last week’s Players’ Championship against Irishmen Brendan Dolan, due to ‘pathetic conditions’. We are hoping for Gerwyn’s and our sake, that Glasgow’s conditions are deemed good enough for Gerwyn to play some of his best darts.

Luke Littler was at the wrong end of a surprise result at the Player’s Championship, losing 6-5 to Radek Szaganski, who is ranked 103 in the world. We think this will be a close game but the Englishmen could just have enough hunger to push him across the line. Luke Littler To Win & Each Player At Least 1 Checkout Over 99 is an enhanced price of 4/1.

Who will win the Night?

This should be a very entertaining evening of darts with some intense duals at the oche. We think that there could be a bit of an upset on the cards, with Nathan Aspinall winning his first night of Premier League darts of 2024. He is 11/1 to do so. Michael Smith & Nathan Aspinall Both To Win Their Quarter Final Matches looks an interesting bet at an enhanced price of 5/1.

Check out the latest darts betting at William Hill