It’s the final week of this year’s Premier League regular season, with a play-off place up for grabs and a tantalizing tie to decide who wins it.
Sheffield’s Utilita Arena hosts Night 16 with all eyes on the quarter-final between fourth-placed Nathan Aspinall and fifth-placed Michael Smith.
Whoever wins this shootout will join Luke Littler, Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen at the O2 in London next Thursday for finals night.
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Littler can end his dream campaign with a tasty hat-trick
It’s been a dream start for Luke Littler, who just needs to beat Peter Wright in the opening match of the evening to guarantee finishing top of the table heading into the play-offs.
For Wright, on the other hand, the campaign was a disaster with only two victories in 15 weeks and a wooden spoon to show for three months of graft.
Last week he was blown away against Littler, crushed 6-1, averaging just under 83. The teenager also hit most of 180 (4-1) and the highest score of the match.
Snakebite would undoubtedly like to go out on something high, but the truth is that he and Littler seem to be on different levels right now. And if the triple match/180s/high checkout was successful for The Nuke last week, there’s a good chance it will be again on Thursday.
Playing Wright is pretty much a pass to the semi-finals and while it didn’t work out for Littler last Thursday – he lost to Van Gerwen in the semi-final – he can go all the way this time .
Cool Hand to keep Gezzy down
Gerwyn Price failed to qualify for the play-offs for the fifth time in six Premier League games and went down with a whimper with one win in the last five weeks.
A back problem didn’t help and last Thursday he failed to even average 90 in losing 6-3 to Van Gerwen.
If he matches those levels against world No.1 and world champion Humphries in Sheffield, he will have the chance to put three legs together.
Humphries won in Leeds a week ago and reached the final of the Baltic Sea Open in Kiel with the usual series of dizzying averages.
That he lost to Rob Cross in the final – despite having nine darts – was a surprise. He shouldn’t lose to Price, who he can beat by two or more legs.
Move the Asp back to show his bottle in the decision maker
Aspinall and Smith are best friends but sworn enemies on Thursday when they meet with a semi-final place up for grabs.
Whoever wins will go on to the play-offs and Bully Boy should be confident after beating Aspinall as recently as last Thursday.
However, The Asp averaged six more points than Smith in the loss and would love this high-pressure situation. Support him to get revenge.
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