Premier League Darts Night 4 preview: Smith to be King of the CASTLE

Premier League Darts is back! And there are some eye-catching matchups on the roster, with two of this generation’s biggest names, Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen up against each other in the final quarter, in Newcastle.

We preview all four of the quarterfinal matches below.

Michael Smith v Nathan Aspinall (19:15)

Our first matchup of the evening sees night one’s winner Michael Smith take on fellow countryman Nathan Aspinall. Aspinall has yet to win a quarterfinal in his first three attempts, however his recent performance against Luke Humphries was arguably his best effort where his three-dart average was 97.13.

Aspinall can be considered unlucky to a certain extent, he was the double away from completing a 9-darter in the game. His finishing is what let him down with only successfully hitting a double 21.43% of the time. Michael Smith’s scoring might be too much for Nathan in the first game up, and Aspinall’s checkout form suggests he won’t trouble Smith. We think the value is the match treble of Michael Smith Win Match, Highest Match Checkout and Most 180s @10/3.

Rob Cross v Luke Humphries (19:45)

The second quarterfinal of the night sees Rob Cross and Luke Humphries go up against each other for the fifteenth instalment of their darts saga. In the past fourteen they are seven wins apiece, leading us to believe this may go the distance and end 6-5 either way.

Cross played outstandingly against Michael Smith in his quarterfinal on Night 3, winning the game 6-4 with the match treble. Humphries did reach the final last week and fell just short against MVG, despite having a higher three-dart average. We think that Humphries recent form will just push him over the line here as he has had more time at the oche in recent weeks, so a correct score of 6-5 to Humphries looks a good bet @11/2.

Humphries is also Wayne Mardle’s Pick of the Week for this round – with his odds to win the night outright being boosted from 3/1 to 7/2.

Peter Wright v Luke Littler (20:15)

The next quarterfinal includes two players who have never gone head-to-head in the form of Peter Wright and Luke Littler. Both Wright and Littler lost their retrospective quarterfinals on Night 3, although Littler did push Gerwyn Price all the way to a deciding leg, whereas Wright only managed to successfully get two legs against last week’s overall winner MVG.

There does seem to be a lot of pressure on the shoulders of Littler at this moment in time. Wright is throwing slightly better darts in recent weeks, including where he reached the semi-finals of the Players Championship. We think that Wright can continue this burst of form and potentially complete his first win in this year’s Premier League, and we think there is value @13/5.

Gerwyn Price v Michael van Gerwen (20:45)

Finally, but definitely not least, Gerwyn takes on Gerwen in a much-awaited quarterfinal contest. Gerwyn Price was the winner in Newcastle on Night 8 of this competition last year, beating none other than Thursday’s quarterfinal opponent 6-1 in the final.

However, Michael van Gerwen has won back-to-back nights in the last two Thursday’s – his form doesn’t seem to be wavering and he continues to grind out results. This is a matchup where we sit back and enjoy the action unfold, so we think that Each Player Over 2 180s & Each Player At Least 1 Checkout Over 99 is a great bet @13/2.

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