Premier League Darts news: Night 9 preview and predictions

The second half of the Premier League Darts campaign begins in Berlin on Thursday as Luke Littler continues to lead the way after grabbing his fourth nightly win in Newcastle last week.

By beating Luke Humphries in the final for the second time this term, the Nuke extended his gap at the top of the standings to eight points.

Elsewhere, wins for Rob Cross and Nathan Aspinall closed the gap between third and sixth to just three points, setting the stage for a blockbuster latter half of the campaign.

Sports News Blitz writer Joseph Hannen previews Night 9 in the German capital and offers some predictions.

Can anyone stop Littler?

Littler is running riot in the Premier League this season, with 16 matches won across eight weeks and an overall average of 104.07.

He whitewashed Stephen Bunting in under 10 mins in Newcastle before cruising past Cross and Humphries to make it back-to-back nightly wins.

The league leader has reached the final on six occasions and hit 102 180s across his 20 games.

This week, the reigning World Champion meets Chris Dobey for only the second time in the tournament, with the first occasion resulting in a last-leg shootout in favour of Littler.

Dobey, for his part, was unable to use the Geordie crowd to his advantage in Newcastle as he fell to Humphries and remained on five points.

READ MORE: Darts news: Five players who impressed at the UK Open as Luke Littler triumphs

Play-off battle heating up

The race for third and fourth continues to excite, with Michael van Gerwen currently a slender one point above both Cross and Gerwyn Price.

Aspinall’s last-leg victory over Van Gerwen last week also dragged him back into the conversation, the Englishman now sitting two points off fourth.

The Asp averaged 97.09 and checked out 130 for his second campaign win over MVG before averaging 101.18 in another last-leg shootout, this time a loss to Humphries.

In Berlin, Aspinall is set to kick-start the action against the winless Bunting, while Van Gerwen takes on Price in the closing match-up.

Welshman Price picked up the Players Championship 9 title on Tuesday, a much-needed confidence booster after his underwhelming display in Newcastle.

The Iceman averaged 86.17 in his 6-2 defeat to Cross as the latter made it back-to-back wins over his opponent.

It is a win apiece now for Van Gerwen and Price in their head-to-head battle, with Price somehow winning only three quarter-finals this term despite two nightly wins.

Humphries takes on Cross in the second game, the duo sitting second and third for tournament averages as things stand.

A nightly win could put either of them within touching distance of second in the race for the play-offs.

Voltage, it must be said, has won his last five quarter-finals, but – similarly to Van Gerwen – he has struggled to push on and is yet to reach a final.

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More woes for bottom two

Consistent quarter-final losses for Dobey and Bunting are keeping them far away from the top four.

Bunting, once again, put up a strong 102.15 average against Littler without winning a leg.

All in all, the Bullet has averaged 97.71 across the tournament but has only won 20 legs.

Moreover, Night 8’s results left Dobey – who has the worst average across the campaign with 94.56 – seven points off the top four, a gap unlikely to be closed unless he can pull off some nightly wins.

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Berlin order of play and predictions

The order of play for Night 9 is as follows: Nathan Aspinall vs Stephen Bunting, Luke Humphries vs Rob Cross, Chris Dobey vs Luke Littler, and Michael van Gerwen vs Gerwyn Price.

Only Littler is capable of three nightly wins on the bounce, but I am actually betting against it this week, although I expect him to best Dobey.

Rather, I predict Humphries to go one further this week and take the nightly win by beating Cross, Aspinall, and Littler.

Aspinall will continue his good form with a win over Bunting, whereas Price will take the points against Van Gerwen.

Night 9 prediction: Luke Humphries to beat Luke Littler 6-4 in the final

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