Premier League Darts Playoff Tips
The Premier League reaches a crescendo when the top four performers head to London’s O2 Arena for the play-offs on Thursday night.
Defending champion Luke Littler will take on Gerwyn Price in the opening semi-final of the night, while last year’s runner-up Luke Humphries faces a last-four showdown against Nathan Aspinall.
We have a pair of selections for a cracking evening of tungsten action.
Bet 1: Luke Humphries to win the Premier League @ 9/4
Luke Humphries finished 11 points adrift of Luke Littler in the Premier League regular season, but at 9/4, there is enough in the price to think Cool Hand can turn the table on finals night.
The former world champion won three nights of Premier League action and also finished runner-up on five occasions in this season’s competition and there perhaps wasn’t as much between Humphries and the Nuke as the table suggests.
The Newbury arrowsmith has averaged at least 100 in six of his last 11 Premier League games and that includes numbers of 100.96 when beating Littler 6-3 in the Leeds final on night 14.
Last weekend’s Dutch Darts Championship saw figures of 105.76, 104.86, 108.72 and 99.80, and it is clear that Humphries will arrive in Greenwich at the peak of his powers.
Cool Hand should find a place past semi-final opponent Nathan Aspinall, which would set up a final clash with Littler, should the Nuke beat Gerwyn Price.
Defeating the world champion and defending Premier League king will be no easy task, but Humphries is an elite-level performer, and the 9/4 on offer looks to hold plenty of value.
Tip 2: Gerwyn Price +2.5 legs v Luke Littler @ 9/10
Luke Littler is expected to get past semi-final opponent Gerwyn Price, but the contest may prove trickier for the Nuke than the betting suggests.
The Iceman has won two of the four meetings between these players in this season’s Premier League, and the record becomes more impressive the deeper you look.
The Welshman has averaged 102.64, 94.10, 103.47 and 97.82 in that quartet of contests, and it’s clear that Price can reach a peak when competing with the world champion.
More broadly, the Iceman has won six of his last eight matches against the Nuke, and if the fantastic world champion has a nemesis, then perhaps Price is that man.
The 40-year-old failed to win a match in the last two weeks of regular season action, but the Iceman has been experimenting with new equipment, knowing qualification for the play-offs was in the bag, while he still averaged 103.96 in defeat to Chris Dobey in Sheffield last Thursday.
Price looks to have a chance of upsetting Littler in London and certainly can be backed getting a 2.5-leg start.
Odds correct at time of publication but subject to fluctuation