Premier League Darts Night Fourteen: Betting Odds & Prediction

(Featured image: Alamy Images)

Written by: Stuart Pike

Premier League Darts returns on Thursday for Night 14 of the series, at P&J Live in Aberdeen.

Teenage sensation Luke Littler defied the boo boys last time out in Liverpool to grab his third nightly win of the series and build a five-point lead at the top of the table from world champion Luke Humphries.

Other multiple night winners Nathan Aspinall and Michael van Gerwen are one and two points further back, respectively, with a further four-point cushion to fifth in the race for the play-off spots.

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 14th. Each match will be played over the best of 11 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 Michael Smith

Luke Littler vs Nathan Aspinall

Michael van Gerwen vs Rob Cross

Gerwyn Price vs Luke Humphries

Peter Wright vs Michael Smith

Peter Wright (23/10 William Hill/888sport) has endured a miserable Premier League campaign, picking up just two match wins. His last victory was a 6-3 defeat of Rob Cross on Night 9, and he has yet to beat a player in the current top five in 11 attempts. 

After a wretched performance the week before in Rotterdam, Wright played creditably to average 98.72 in a 6-3 defeat to Michael van Gerwen last week, although he lost the last five legs and only mustered eight darts at double. ‘Snakebite’ then lost 6-4 to the same opponent in the last 16 of last weekend’s Austrian Open, unable to get back on terms after losing the throw in the opening leg.

Michael Smith (2/5 BetMGM/BetUK), who sits in fifth place, badly needs a strong performance to get back in the hunt for the play-off places. ‘Bully Boy’ can count himself unfortunate to have been given an early bath last week after averaging 103.48 in his 6-4 defeat to Rob Cross, who finished clinically. It was the fourth time in this year’s series that Smith has been defeated despite posting a three-figure average, and the third occasion in his opening tie of the night.

These two’s only previous meeting in this year’s Premier League was back on Night 6 when Smith prevailed 6-5 in a contest featuring no breaks of throw. The 2023 world champion also knocked out the Scot in the Bahrain Masters in January, 6-1. However, Wright does enjoy a strong overall record in this match-up of contrasting styles.

Luke Littler vs Nathan Aspinall

Table-topping Luke Littler (4/9 Ladbrokes / Coral) arrives in Aberdeen in fine fettle on the back of nine straight victories, having added last weekend’s Austrian Darts Open title to his Night 13 triumph. The Liverpool victory featured a dramatic comeback win over this week’s quarter-final opponent Nathan Aspinall (2/1 various), in which the 17-year-old won the last four legs to prevail 6-5. Littler reeled off ton-plus averages in quarter-final and final wins over Gerwyn Price and Rob Cross, respectively, and repeated the feat in three of his six wins en route to the Graz Green Jacket, ousting Joe Cullen in the final 8-4.

On the back of his Week 12 nightly win in Rotterdam, third-placed Aspinall will have been kicking himself for last week’s late collapse against Littler, in which his finishing deserted him. Despite this, a superb display in a 6-2 thrashing of Luke Humphries in the previous round saw him close to within a point of the world champion in the table.

Since bursting on to the circuit, Littler has had the better of five of the pair’s six meetings, including 6-3 in the quarter-finals in Bahrain in which the teenager recorded a nine-darter. Aspinall’s sole win came in a stellar display in the Night 7 semi-final, winning 6-3.

Michael van Gerwen vs Rob Cross

Despite pulling off four nightly wins, Michael van Gerwen (4/7 various) finds himself in fourth place in the table and still needs to win a few matches to secure his play-off berth. The Dutchman will look to avenge his convincing 6-2 defeat to Rob Cross (6/4 various) in last week’s semi-finals in which he barely averaged 90. MvG reached the quarter-finals in Graz before exiting 6-1 in another subdued performance to Ross Smith.

Last week’s runner-up position for Cross represented a welcome return to form, ending a streak of six successive quarter-final losses which have surely left him with far too much to do to make the play-offs. ‘Voltage’ was at full power in his quarter-final win over Smith, and he also scored decently despite his comfortable 6-2 defeat in the final to Littler.

The pair, whose series averages are both a shade over 97, have shared their last four meetings, with Cross again a 6-2 victor in the Brighton quarter-final on Night 6, and the Dutchman achieving a pair of 6-4 wins in the Night 3 semi-final and in the Bahrain Masters.

Gerwyn Price vs Luke Humphries

It has been a puzzling campaign for Gerwyn Price (11/8 various), in which he has registered the third-highest three-dart average yet won just seven games in 13 weeks. Last week’s 6-3 loss to Luke Littler was his seventh quarter-final defeat in the last 10 weeks, leaving him a disappointing seventh in the table.

A dip in Premier League results has seen second-placed Luke Humphries (8/13 various) overtaken by Littler, with Aspinall and van Gerwen on his tail, but he still holds a six-point cushion over Smith in the play-off places. The Newbury darter, who still averaged over 99 despite being dispatched by ‘The Asp’ in Liverpool, has won just two matches in the past five weeks, having previously achieved a hat-trick of nightly wins. However, he has still won 75% of his last 44 darts matches across all competitions, including amassing 17 wins in April.

These two’s last meeting was in the semi-finals of the German Grand Prix at Easter, where Humphries was a 7-3 victor. ‘Cool Hand’ also won their two previous Premier League meetings, in the Night 3 semis and Night 6 quarters, although Price did prevail 6-4 in their nervy clash in Bahrain in January.

Prediction

Luke Littler comes into the night on the crest of a wave and is hard to back against; however, there are some factors which might point punters elsewhere this week. ‘The Nuke’ has already sealed a spot in the play-offs and, due to his success, has had a gruelling recent schedule, playing 25 matches in April alone. He also faces a tough opponent, who was on the verge of beating him last week, and if he gets through, a likely semi-final clash with nemesis Michael Smith awaits; ‘Bully Boy’ already has four wins to his name against the Runcorn prodigy.

After contending with his own heavy schedule, Luke Humphries has had the benefit of a week away from the oche and might be in the kinder half of the draw this week. The world number one still possesses the best overall three-dart average and leg difference of the series and will be keen to shore up his position in the top four.

OddsNow's Pick: Luke Humphries to win Night 14 (5/2 @ bet365)

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