Michael van Gerwen’s victory in Birmingham last week means there are now only four points separating Luke Littler, Luke Humphries and MVG at the top of the Premier League table as we move to Rotterdam for Week 12.
Peter Wright is tailed off at the bottom of the league, but Nathan Aspinall, Michael Smith, Rob Cross and Gerwyn Price still have hopes for reaching the top-four positions and qualifying for the play-offs.
Smith and Littler get the Rotterdam action underway and that is followed by Cross’ clash with Price.
Wright then faces Aspinall before the home crowd will give Van Gerwen plenty of support when Mighty Mike takes on Humphries in the final quarter-final of the evening.
- Michael Smith to beat Luke Littler
- Peter Wright to beat Nathan Aspinall
- Gerwyn Price -1.5 legs v Rob Cross
Bully Boy Can Disarm Nuke
Smith and Littler have faced off four times in the Premier League this season and Bully Boy has won three of those matches.
Littler reached the final in Birmingham last week, but the 17-year-old could only average 88.12 in a 6-3 final defeat to Van Gerwen and perhaps things have just started to cool for the Nuke.
Smith has averaged over 100 in four of his last eight Premier League matches and the St Helens man put up numbers of 100.78 in defeat to Richie Edhouse in the International Darts Open.
Bully Boy is playing better than his results suggest and that could have led to the 2023 world champion being underrated at the prices.
MICHAEL SMITH TO BEAT LUKE LITTLER
Snakebite Not Going Down Without A Fight
Peter Wright has collected only four points in 11 weeks of Premier League action, but two of those wins have come in the past five nights and the Snakebite has been putting in performances closer to the level one would expect of a two-time world champion.
The Scot has averaged 93.32 and 109.52 in his last two Premier League games and was extremely unfortunate to lose 6-5 to Gabriel Clemens in last week’s International Darts Open.
Wright’s performances have certainly been better than the bare results suggest.
Aspinall was once again an inconsistent arrowsmith in Germany last week, hitting numbers of 113.14 in victory over Jonny Clayton but then dropped to only 90.52 when losing to Danny Noppert, and the Asp looks opposable in Rotterdam.
PETER WRIGHT TO BEAT NATHAN ASPINALL
Voltage Heading For A Power Cut
It’s five quarter-final defeats on the bounce for Cross and Voltage looks to be running into a full-power Price in Rotterdam.
The Iceman played some superb darts to reach the final of last week’s International Darts Open and it was only home favourite Martin Schindler who stopped the Welshman winning in Germany.
Time is running out for the Iceman to reach the play-off positions, but he can boost his hopes with a comfortable last-eight victory over Voltage.
