Premier League Darts Night 1 preview: Luke may miss, and Luke may Hit!

Premier League Darts is back! And there are some eye-catching matchups on the roster, with a sequel of the PDC World Darts Championship Final between Luke Humphries and Luke Littler on the opening night in Cardiff.

We preview all four of the quarter-final matches below.

Peter Wright v Rob Cross (19:15)

Our first matchup of the evening sees the 16/1 outsider to win the Night, Peter Wright, take on Rob Cross – the latter looking to bounce back from his two recent results against the Dutch pair Michael van Gerwen in the Bahrain Darts Masters and Raymond van Barneveld in the Dutch Darts Masters. Cross will be wanting to return to the form shown in the PDC Darts World Championship, including his epic victory against Chris Dobey when being 4-0 down in sets and winning 4-5. We expect this form to return for Cross so Wayne Mardle’s Pick of Rob Cross Match Treble at 11/4 seems value against the night’s outsider.

Gerwyn Price v Nathan Aspinall (19:45)

Gerwyn Price found himself in another Masters semi-final against Luke Littler in last week’s Dutch competition but once again lost, this time 7-4 – his consecutive semi-final defeats in both Bahrain and Holland show’s Luke Littler may have Price’s number. However, The Iceman was victorious in The Premier League Darts in front of a home crowd in Cardiff in 2023, so he will be looking to do the same again in his hometown where he’ll be hopeful for a strong crowd presence and support. Price finds himself 7/2 to win the opening night, whilst he is the heavy 2/5 frontrunner to progress to the semi-finals in this one. We also like the look of Price to win with a -1.5 handicap, which is available at 7/10.

Michael van Gerwen v Michael Smith (20:15)

The battle of the Michael’s returns, a match-up which in the past has thrown up some of our favourite darting moments in recent history. Including the famous World Championship final in 2023 where Smith punished Van Gerwen with a perfect 9 darts after his opponent provided 8 perfect darts. These two are sure to punish the treble 20 in this matchup over 11 legs, with over 5.5 Match 180s at 8/13 the favoured betting angle.

Much like this match, the quarter final matches are very tight affairs, and we think the eight players are going to bring their A-game early doors. Over 27 180s In The 4 Quarter Final Matches is now an enhanced price of 4/1.

Luke Littler v Luke Humphries (20:45)

World Champion Luke Humphries has undoubtedly played the best darts of his life over the last year, recently beating his first Premier League opponent, Luke Littler, 7-4 in the final of the World Championship at the Ally Pally. Humphries will want to continue his form over the whole Premier League campaign. He starts as the 11/4 favourite to be tournament winner – interestingly the fourth and final game features both tournament market leaders – Luke Littler is 3/1 to win his debut Premier League Night.

Last time the pair met was at the recent Dutch Masters, where Luke Littler reversed the form beating Humphries 6-5 with a three-dart average of 97.82. Littler’s high scoring could prove too much for Humphries again. Littler to hit the most 180s in the quarter final is an enhanced price of 7/2. As already stated, this is a huge match-up in the first round so expect fireworks immediately.

Check out the latest darts betting at William Hill