Darts Premier League
Premier League Darts Night 10 preview
The Premier League is back! Night 10 is already upon us and as always, it should be an evening full of excitement, including the big one where Luke Littler takes on Michael van Gerwen.
Join us as we dissect the quarter finals in Manchester.
Nathan Aspinall v Rob Cross (19:15)
The first quarter final of the evening includes two players who have performed at very similar levels when playing at their best – shown through their current league positioning. Nathan Aspinall is currently sat in the fourth play-off position, with Rob Cross only five points behind with seven nights still to be played.
This same matchup happened on Night 8 of the Premier League, with both men hitting an average of just above 101. Nathan Aspinall came out on top by winning 6-5 that night and went on to play well against Luke Humphries, falling just short of beating the current Premier League leader.
Rob Cross became only the second player to lose to Peter Wright on Night 9, losing in rather lacklustre fashion. Cross, having only hit a three-dart average of 86.29 and a doubling success of 25%, really needs to improve this week against Aspinall, who is in superb form after reaching the final in Night 9.
This will be tight and it’s a tough game to predict, but if Rob Cross can sort out his checkouts then we like the alternative match treble of Rob Cross Win Match and Highest Match Checkout – Nathan Aspinall Most 180s @9/2.
Luke Littler v Michael van Gerwen (19:45)
Next up is a big one as last week’s winner Luke Littler takes on the mighty Michael van Gerwen, who has had a lull in form as of late. Despite a quiet period in the Premier League for Mighty Mike, we all know how he can switch it on and if he shows up in Manchester then this is no walkover for Littler.
Speaking of Manchester, this is technically a home leg for the Cheshire-born man and we can assume he will have a fair share of support on the night. We feel this is a key component of Thursday’s darts and no one would be surprised if Littler goes all the way and doubles his night wins tally.
These two met in last week’s semi-final, with Littler moving onto the final without breaking a sweat – MVG’s scoring simply was not applying pressure on Littler’s darts. We think that Littler can go on to win this too having won the match treble against MVG last week, so we back him to do it again: Luke Littler Win Match, Highest Match Checkout and Most 180s is an enhanced price of 10/3.
Michael Smith v Luke Humphries (20:15)
Up next, we see top of the league Luke Humphries take on Michael Smith, who sits fifth in the table having won Night 1. Both players have been in fine form so far in this competition, but lost each of their quarterfinals last week.
Smith did win this tournament last year in Manchester on Night 14, so he will be looking to repeat history on Thursday night. However, Luke Humphries will want to bounce back from his quarterfinal defeat to Luke Littler last week and we think he has a great shot at doing so. He is also Wayne Mardle’s Pick to win in Manchester at 9/4, boosted from 2/1.
Smith is a big maximum hitter, having hit the most 180’s in a week on Night 6 with 15, but Luke Humphries is also a big scorer having hit the most maximums on the three of the nights so far. We are therefore enhancing – and backing – both players To Hit 4+ 180s in the quarter final to 10/3.
Gerwyn Price v Peter Wright (20:45)
Finally, the oche will be home to both Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright, which is arguably the lowest standard of this week’s quarterfinals based on current form.
Price and Wright sit at the bottom of the Premier League table this year, although Wright did get his second match win of the competition last week against Rob Cross. However, it may have been a case of Cross being poor and underperforming, rather than Wright playing any better than usual.
For this reason, we think that Gerwyn Price will be the victor of this quarterfinal and with some ease for that matter. Gerwyn Price Win Match, Highest Match Checkout and Most 180s is up for selection at the enhanced price of 2/1.
