Premier League Darts Night Eleven: Betting Odds & Prediction
(Featured image: Alamy Images)
The Premier League of Darts returns this Thursday with Night Eleven of the Series at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena.
Teenage sensation Luke Littler is currently top of the Premier League by one point after winning two consecutive nights and making five semi-final nightly appearances in the tournament so far - the most of any player.
World number one Luke Humphries follows closely in second after picking up three nightly wins in the tournament so far. World Matchplay champion and Night Five winner Nathan Aspinall is in third, while seven-time Premier League Winner Michael van Gerwen sits fourth.
Tournament Format
Eight of the best darts players face-off in a mini tournament with quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final all taking place in one night. The Premier League takes place across 16 nights in total, with this week’s being the tenth. Each match will be played over the best of eleven legs.
Players will be rewarded with ranking points each night - five to the winner, three to the runner-up and two to the players who lose in the semi-finals. Points will be added up across the 16 weeks, with the top four players proceeding to the tournament play-offs in May.
Quarter-Final Lineup
Peter Wright vs Luke Humphries
Rob Cross vs Luke Littler
Gerwyn Price vs Michael Smith
Michael Van Gerwen vs Nathan Aspinall
Luke Littler masters Manchester for back-to-back night wins! 🚨👑 pic.twitter.com/R61BfILSj1
— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) April 4, 2024
Peter Wright vs Luke Humphries
Two-time world champion Peter Wright has endured a tough Premier League campaign so far. “Snakebite” has won only two games in the tournament and has already suffered three defeats to Luke Humphries in the Major, winning only two legs in their previous two games. Wright did average 110.00 in last week’s quarter-final defeat to Gerwyn Price though, and checked out 4/4 of his doubles. Wright is currently bottom of the Premier League heading into Night Eleven.
Humphries suffered consecutive quarter-final defeats for the first time in the Premier League this year after he lost 6-3 last week to Michael Smith in Manchester last week. Despite this, “Coolhand” has won a trio of Premier league nights so far and is still the only player in the tournament to average over a ton after Night Ten. He has also hit the highest amount of tournament 180s (69).
Rob Cross vs Luke Littler
Former Premier league runner-up Rob Cross has defeated Luke Littler only once in their four previous encounters. They do have one win apiece against each other in the Premier League, though. “Voltage” has the second highest semi-final appearances in the tournament so far with four, but Cross is still waiting for his first nightly win and has lost his last four consecutive games in the Premier League, leaving him sixth in the table.
Belgian Darts Open champion Littler sits in first and has been in tremendous form, winning the last two consecutive nights of the Premier League in Belfast and Manchester. Littler also defeated four-time major winner Humphries recently for a fifth consecutive time in the Players Championship. “The Nuke” has been in great form in the scoring and checkout aspects of his game, hitting three nine darters on tour this year which is the most of any player. Littler also hit two ton-plus checkouts of 131 and 136 in last week’s 6-4 semi-final victory over Nathan Aspinall.
Back-to-back wins ✅
— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) April 5, 2024
Top of the table ✅
17-years-old ✅
We're living in Luke Littler's world 🌍 pic.twitter.com/OP6ARYAq08
Gerwyn Price vs Michael Smith
World Cup of Darts Champion Gerwyn Price reached his first nightly final since Night One last week in Manchester. The former world champion averaged over a ton in last week's quarter and semi-final matches, and also hit a superb nine dart finish against Smith when he defeated “Bully boy” 6-3 in the semi-final. However, Price is currently second bottom in the Premier League table and still awaits his first Premier League nightly win.
Prior to last weeks semi final defeat, Smith had gotten the better of Price with consecutive victories in their two previous meetings. The two-time major winner won the opening night of the Premier League in Cardiff and has featured in two other nightly finals, losing to Humphries on both occasions. Smith currently sits fifth and is only two points away from a play-off spot.
Michael van Gerwen vs Nathan Aspinall
Despite having three Premier League nightly wins to his name, Michael Van Gerwen sits in fourth heading into Night Eleven. "The Green Machine" has lost six of his last seven Premier league matches since winning Night Four in Newcastle. The three-time world champion was also knocked out of the Players Championship 7 in the second round by Ian White, losing 6-5 after having a 4-2 lead. Van Gerwen has had some positive results as of late though, and recently reached the final of the German Darts Grand Prix.
Nathan Aspinall lost his first three matches in the Premier League. Since Night Four, Aspinall has been in amazing form and has made four nightly finals, including a win in Night Five. “The Asp” averaged over 100.00 in last weeks quarter-final win over Cross, producing a superb 108 checkout in front of his home crowd in Manchester.
Prediction
Humphries has been in great form and recently won his sixth euro tour tournament at the German Darts Grand Prix, where he averaged 112.66 in the final to beat World number two Van Gerwen, 8-1. “Coolhand” also has three nightly wins in the Premier League and the highest tournament average with 102.31 after playing 20 games.