Premier League Darts news: First round preview and predictions
Thursday night marks the highly anticipated return of Premier League Darts as reigning champion Luke Littler kicks off his title defence against Michael van Gerwen.
The first round is set to take place in Belfast and will see a repeat of the 2025 World Darts Championship final, where Littler defeated Van Gerwen to take the crown.
Other matches include Chris Dobey up against former World Champion Gerwyn Price, Stephen Bunting taking on Rob Cross, and world No.1 Luke Humphries facing Nathan Aspinall.
Sports News Blitz writer Joseph Hannen previews the opening round and makes some predictions.
Premier League format
The Premier League introduced a new format in 2022 that has remained over the last three years and will be used once again this term.
Each round consists of eight players competing in a knock-out tournament, with points awarded for wins and tallied up in an overall league table.
Winning a quarter-final offers two points, triumphing in a semi-final adds an extra point, and emerging victorious in a final entitles the winner to another two points.
Matches are a straight race to six legs, meaning there can be no draws.
Players must finish in the top four on the overall league table in order to advance to the final play-off round to be held in London.
Premier League results have no effect on world rankings.
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Elites go head-to-head
Reigning champion Littler begins his defence against Van Gerwen, who is the most successful Premier League player in history with seven titles to his name.
While anything can happen given the format, the bookies are backing the teenage sensation to overcome Van Gerwen.
The winner of that mouthwatering tie will then face either Aspinall or Humphries.
It has been an unbelievable last 12 months for the latter, with the 29-year-old winning five PDC titles including the World Championship, World Matchplay, and World Cup of Darts.
Humphries has since started this year in a similar vein, defeating Welsh No.1 Jonny Clayton 6-5 in the final of the World Masters on Sunday night.
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Roster changes
Two players – Bunting and Dobey – are returning to the Premier League after a hiatus, with Peter Wright and Michael Smith the ones to miss out.
Bunting had an incredible 2024, reaching six Pro Tour finals and winning the Masters.
Having followed that up with a recent victory at the Bahrain Masters, The Bullet is likely to feel confident ahead of a first league campaign since 2015.
Dobey, on the other hand, returns after one year out thanks to an impressive World Championship run, which pushed him up to 10th in the PDC Order of Merit.
After finishing seventh in 2023, Hollywood will be hoping for a big improvement this time around.
Considering that both players are on the so-called easier side of the draw for round one, the odds favour Bunting to make the final.
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Selection controversy
The inclusion of Aspinall and Price strongly divided opinion.
Aspinall, it must be said, has spent the last 12 months battling both injury and the lingering effects of dartitus.
However, his solid showing at the recent World Championship – where he notched wins over Leonard Gates, Andrew Gilding, and Ricardo Pietreczko – would indicate a welcome return to form for The Asp.
Price’s selection comes as even more of a shock, especially after The Iceman openly criticised the league and its format on the back of a poor campaign last time out.
One notable critic of the decision to invite Aspinall and Price is World Grand Prix winner Mike De Decker, who has gone so far as to call the situation “scandalous”.
In the end, the bookies predict that Price will overcome Dobey and Humphries will take care of Aspinall.
First round prediction: Luke Humphries to beat Stephen Bunting 6-4 in the final
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