The Premier League Darts returns on Thursday and this year looks like a great edition. Last year lacked quality at times and was sometimes hard to watch but with Humphries, Van Gerwen, Price, Smith, Littler, Cross, Aspinall and Wright all set to take part. This year looks to be in very good hands. Wright and Aspinall may struggle but the rest will be a great watch.
Van Gerwen won last year and will look to continue his run of 7 titles in his 11 visits here but the rest are lining up to take his title and haven’t turned up to congratulate him on an 8th. Luke Littler will be the star of the show. His rise to fame has been nothing short of remarkable and he would have just turned 17 by the time they throw their first darts in this competition.
Luke took the darting world by storm in December and his first appearance since then he has won the Bahrain Darts Masters against all of the players he will face here. Can he keep it up for 16 weeks is the question. I can’t wait to find out.
Luke became a celebrity overnight with footballers and most famous people wanting a bit of the young man’s time. He is a great kid and the players want to protect him. Gary Anderson stated to the media “Just let the kid play darts” which is great advice.
Embed from Getty ImagesNew eyes will be on the Premier League this year and that is all thanks to Luke Littler. Luke Littler will bring in the younger crowd. He loves his gaming and has got a huge following already if he can keep his head and continue playing darts. He will be an absolute superstar and this will be his first test.
To Reach Semi-Final / Top 4
Rob Cross is back in the Premier League for the first time since 2021. The new Rob Cross will thrive in this tournament I feel. It’s a knockout every night. So QF, SF and F. Winner take 5 points, Runner Up is 3, Semi Finals is 2 and losing in the QFs is none.
Rob Cross is solid these days and rarely has a bad day. He’s just a very steady player and this competition loves steady. I would take Rob Cross in the top 4 to finish/reach the semi-final markets.
Cross has played well of late and I expect that to continue. I backed him to reach the QF and SF in ally pally and he battled back from 4-0 to win 5-4 against Dobey in the QF. Semis Luke Littler was just too good for him, but his performance was still very good, Luke’s was just amazing.
The rest of the market looks pretty set. 8 players, 4 advance. Peter Wright and Nathan Aspinall will struggle and they just lack the quality of the rest in the field over 16 weeks for the league table. Pick 4 from Humphries, Van Gerwen, Price, Smith, Littler and Cross.
Littler may struggle here just because it is every week and in between the Premier League on a Thursday night. The weekends are player championships or the Pro Tour events. It may get a little too much for Luke or maybe he takes it all in his stride but at 1/2 to qualify I think those odds are very slim for a player who would have just turned 17.
Micheal Smith just blows hot and cold for me and I struggle to back him in anything. You just don’t know what Smith will turn up. Same with Price recently. Price doesn’t have a good record in the Premier League and it is very off-putting. He won the league last year but he hit stride late on and to be honest it was a very weak Premier League.
To Top the League (Regular Season League Table)
Van Gerwen has dominated this market in the past and he should have won the past 2 as well, but his form fell off like a stone in a lake last year.
This year I like the look of Luke Humphries. He is the best player in this field and it is a very good field this year. The cream usually rises to the top and I can see Luke topping this table quite comfortably. Luke averages north of 100 on most of his games and that is enough to win games at this tournament.
He is very consistent and very rarely throws in a bad game but the most impressive thing about him is that he can go on runs for 10/15 minutes and next thing you know he has 5 or 6 legs on the spin. This is a short format in the first to 6 legs and Luke will be great here.
Smith, Littler, Price and Cross shouldn’t worry about the two heavyweights in this market and expect Van Gerwen and Humphries to compete for the top spot.
Who will win the Premier League?
Michael van Gerwen has a brilliant record in the Premier League. Since his debut in 2013, he has played the event 11 times, winning 7 of those editions and losing in the final in a further 2. Reaching 9 of 11 finals in this event is just absolutely astonishing but it’s Van Gerwen.
You just don’t expect anything else. He has failed to reach the playoffs only once in this event, that was 2020. No crowd and just it was pretty lifeless in all aspects and that may have contributed to his downfall in that event.
Embed from Getty ImagesCurrent World Champion Luke Humphries is the one to beat here and has been for a while, he got lucky at the World Championships. Cullen had countless darts to eliminate Humphries and whether he froze or the pressure got to him no one will know apart from Cullen. 16-year-old Luke Littler had a dart go up 5-2 in sets in the final against Humphries and missed double 2. Luke then went on to win 7-4.
Humphries had a really good end to 2023 but he got lucky in a few events which made his end to 2023 look better than it was.
He scooped 3 major TV titles in 49 days before he won the World Championships. He won his first major TV title of his career at the World Grand Prix which he followed up with the Grand Slam of Darts title as well as the Players Championship Finals.
In the QF of the World Grand Prix, Peter Wright was 2 sets up in a race to 3 and had 3 match darts to win 3-1 in the 4th set but failed. Luke then went on to win that competition, which gave him the confidence to go on the run he did.
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In the QF of the Grand Slam of Darts, Gary Anderson was 5-1 up and 8-4 up in a race to 16 and failed to beat Humphries and Humphries went on to lift that trophy as well.
The Players Championship Finals was maybe the biggest shock. In the final Van Gerwen led 9-5 in a first to 11 before losing 6 legs in a row and gifting the title to Humphries. Everyone needs luck but he isn’t playing people off the board and nobody can get anywhere near him. People just aren’t punishing him when they need to.
I think this format suits Humphries, he very rarely blows hot and cold. He is very consistent and when he gets on a roll he just steamrolls players and I like the look of him here. Luke is only going to get better. Like he has done over the past 2 years.
Need to know Premier League Darts Information
Dates – Thursday 1st February 2024 – Thursday 23rd May 2024
Host City – UK and Europe
TV – Sky Sports
When to Bet – Bet by 7 pm Thursday 1st February 2024
Tournament Format – League table of 8 (16 matches) then Top 4 – SF and Final
Image Credit: Deposit Photos