Premier League Darts news: Night 15 preview and analysis
This week sees the second-to-last night of the Premier League Darts regular season take place in Aberdeen, with the fourth and final play-off spot still up for grabs.
Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gerwyn Price have all qualified for the next round, while Michael van Gerwen and Nathan Aspinall are vying for the remaining berth.
The league campaign comes to a close in Sheffield next week before the action shifts to London for the play-offs.
Here, Sports News Blitz writer Annika Böttcher previews Thursday’s match-ups and offers some analysis.
Michael van Gerwen vs Nathan Aspinall
With the play-offs just around the corner and every leg considered priceless, this could be the match of the night.
Van Gerwen currently sits fourth in the table with 20 points, just one ahead of Aspinall in fifth.
Both suffered early exits at the hands of eventual finalists last time out in Leeds: Van Gerwen to Humphries and Aspinall to Littler.
The stakes are even higher now, though, as a quarter-final win this week would guarantee Van Gerwen’s spot in the play-offs.
For Aspinall, however, even victory wouldn’t be enough to seal his qualification just yet.
But if both players stay in fourth and fifth place after tonight, we could see a winner-takes-all match between them next week in Sheffield.
Aspinall, it must be said, will be looking for redemption after his narrow defeat in Leeds.
Despite averaging a solid 95.81, he was edged out by Littler, who averaged just 91.41.
The Asp will thus be hoping that fortune swings back in his favour in Scotland.
Van Gerwen, on the other hand, will be aiming to keep his impressive record going, having reached the play-offs every year since 2013, with the exception of 2020.
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Gerwyn Price vs Stephen Bunting
There’s not much at stake in this one, but both players still have reason to perform well.
Price has already secured his spot in the play-offs and will now be aiming to finish as high as possible in the table.
In Leeds, he got past Rob Cross in the quarter-finals but lost in the semi-finals to Littler, who averaged an impressive 104.29.
The Iceman will want to avoid running into that kind of form again when the play-offs begin.
Bunting, meanwhile, is out of the race for the top four and can no longer qualify.
It’s been a tough Premier League campaign for ‘The Bullet’, who never quite found his rhythm.
Still, with two good nights, he could climb above Chris Dobey and Cross in the standings and end the season on a more positive note.
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Chris Dobey vs Rob Cross
Both Cross and Dobey still have a slim chance of making the play-offs, but they’ll need to win on Thursday to keep those hopes alive.
With Van Gerwen and Aspinall also in the mix and guaranteed to pick up points, anything less than a win won’t be enough.
Cross, remember, is still chasing his first nightly win.
Last week in Leeds, he fell at the first hurdle, losing to Price in the quarter-finals.
Dobey faces an even tougher task, with it likely that he needs to win both of the final two nights to have any chance of sneaking into the top four.
What is certain: the loser of this match will be officially out of the play-off race.
Luke Littler vs Luke Humphries
These two have already qualified for the play-offs, and they’ve been two of the strongest performers this year.
Many are even tipping one of them to win the overall title.
Littler and Humphries met in the final last week in Leeds, where Humphries won 6-5 on his home turf.
While there’s not much left to play for, this should still be an exciting match.
Both players averaged just about 100 last week and, with their form this season, you can expect a high-quality clash in Aberdeen.
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