Humphries Triumphant in Germany, Premier League Manchester Night 10 Preview
For our Premier League Darts Manchester Preview we’ll first look back at the recent result in Germany by Luke Humphries.
Humphries was triumphant in Germany as he beats Michael Van Gerwen in emphatic style, winning 8-1. Luke averaged just shy of 113 in the final. He was ruthless on the doubles hitting 8 out of the 13 darts he had at doubles in the match. Humphries also hit his second 170 finish of the weekend against Van Gerwen in the final to go 6-1 up.
There was a fist pump from Michael, as a sign of respect from the former world champion! Also, one game in particular I would like to highlight after an unbelievable bank holiday weekend of darts, is when Luke Humphries came up against Luke Woodhouse. Humphries put on a show for the audience, averaging 108 and sweeping aside Woodhouse 6-3. However, it was the doubles, where Humphries left Woodhouse and the German crowd speechless. He averaged 75% on the doubles hitting 6 out of the 8 darts he had at double. In the nine legs of darts they played, Humphries took out 140, 161 and 170. He is playing like a robot at the moment and looks unstoppable. See the match stats from the final below.
| threeinabed.com/stats |
Premier League Darts Manchester Preview – the quarter finals
Nathan Aspinall vs Rob Cross
For night 10 of the Premier League of Darts we head to Manchester, with what looks to be a fantastic night of darts. First up we have Nathan Aspinall taking on former world champion Rob Cross. As things stands, Aspinall sits in fourth place, after making it to the final 3 out of the last 5 times and winning one of them.
There has been a real shift in form from him over the last month after he had a shaky start to his Premier League campaign. Cross has dropped down to sixth place after getting knocked out in the quarterfinals on his last 3 appearances in the Premier League. These things can happen in this competition as it’s the best eight players in the world so anyone can beat anyone! The last time Aspinal faced Cross in the Premier League he came out on top winning 6-5 so he will be hoping for more of the same on Thursday. Just because of current form, if I had to pick a winner, I would go with Aspinall as at the moment, he looks so full of confidence.
Luke Littler vs Michael Van Gerwen
The second match of the night in Manchester and is the one most people will be looking forward to, Luke LIttler v Michael Van Gerwen. LIttler finally picked up his first win last week in Belfast after beating the world champ Luke Humphries in the first round. He then went on to sweep aside Michael Van Gerwen and then Nathan Aspinall in the final, winning both games 6-3. Van Gerwen hasn’t been in the best run of form in the Premier League recently as he has dropped from first place down to third in the table. He has failed to pick up points in four of his last 5 outings. This needs to change soon or he could start to see himself right in this top four battle.
Littler and Michael have met each other 4 times this Premier League campaign with both of them winning 2 games each. Van Gerwen did make it to the final in Germany on Monday, however, he lost 8-1 to Humphries, only getting 5 darts at the double in the whole match. Littler did not play in the European tour on the weekend therefore, got a well deserved break. I can see this game being a close one, but for me, Luke Littler wins this one. Mainly because of the confidence winning in Belfast last week will have given him.
Michael Smith vs Luke Humphries
The next match is an all English affair with Michael Smith taking on Luke Humphries. Humphries will be full of confidence after his dominant weekend in Germany. However, he failed to pick up points last time out in Belfast, losing 6-5 to Littler, in a cracking game. I’m sure he won’t let that bother him too much. He will just get back on track to try and win his fourth Premier League night of this campaign. This will keep his spot at the top of the table. For Michael Smith it’s been up and down for him this year as consistency really hasn’t been his best friend!
The last four weeks in the Premier League he’s got to the final in two of them. Then in the other two, got knocked out in the first round. After saying that, he will be pretty happy with where he is. He’s within touching distance of the top four, sitting in 5th place. The last two meetings in the Premier League between Humphries and Smith have both been in finals. Seeing Humphries win 6-3 and 6-2. I think you would be a fool to bet against Luke at the moment with the form he’s in. So I’m going to go for a Luke Humphries win!
Gerwyn Price vs Peter Wright
The last quarter final of the evening is Gerwyn Price v Peter Wright. Price got to the semi-finals in Germany on the weekend. He played some brilliant darts along the way! In the round of 16 he beat Ryan Searle 6-0. He averaged a whopping 112 and his first nine dart average was 135. This is just mind blowing numbers from the Welshman! In terms of the Premier League, Gerwyn has struggled. He sits second from bottom, on only 7 points.
Peter Wright has been even worse, although he has started to pick up points recently. He is still rock bottom of the table on four points, which is three points off his opponent Gerwyn Price. The last time these two met in the competition was when Peter Wright picked up his first points of this year’s campaign, beating Price 6-5. Also, Gerwyn knocked Wright out in Germany on the weekend, winning six legs to four.
Just on how Price played at the weekend, gives him the edge in this match for me. I think Price should be full of confidence going into this one and win this comfortably.
DEVASTATING FROM PRICE!
— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) April 1, 2024
He is absolutely in the zone here as he takes the opening three legs in just 36 darts…
He is currently averaging 124!
📺 https://t.co/YyBPPwoMK8 pic.twitter.com/BXp63fX68n
Premier League Darts Manchester Preview – Our conclusion
In the top half of the draw, I see LIttler making it through. I think if he beats Van Gerwen in his quarter-final, then no disrespect to Cross or Aspinall, Luke should then be beating either of them to progress through to the final.
From the bottom half of the draw I think that the finalist will come from the match between Humphries and Smith. At the moment, I think we can all agree, it would be hard not to back Humphries in any match. I do see him comfortably breezing his way through to the final in Manchester. We would then have a repeat of the world championship final, yet again, the two Lukes battling it out. Again, if you’ve been watching darts lately, it’s very hard to look past Humphries. Although Littler beat him last week 6-5, I can see Humphries winning night 10 of the Premier League. As a result cementing his spot at the top of the table.
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