The Cazoo Premier League Darts regular season continues in Brighton on Thursday night so check out Chris Hammer's match-by-match guide to the action.
Darts betting tips: Premier League night 6
2pts Luke Humphries to beat Gerwyn Price and hit most 180s at 2/1 (Sky Bet)
1pt Luke Littler to win the match, score over 2.5 180s and checkout over 80.5 at 11/8 (Sky Bet)
1pt Peter Wright to win and Michael Smith to hit most 180s at 5/1 (Sky Bet)
SL Acca: 0.5pts Humphries (-1.5), Cross (+1.5), Littler (-1.5) & Wright (+1.5) at 11/1 with Sky Bet
Thursday March 7: Night Six
- TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
- Format: Quarter-Finals, best of 11 legs
- Venue: Brighton
Luke Humphries (4/6) v Gerwyn Price (6/5)
- Head to Head: 5-8, 1 draw (TV: 3-1, 1 draw)
- 2024 PL Average: 100.82 - 98.06
- 2024 PL 180s per leg: 0.34 - 0.23
- 2024 PL checkout percentage: 37.70% - 41.25%
- 2024 PL legs won with 100+ C/O: 8.69% - 21.21%
Luke Humphries is still searching for his first nightly success of the Premier League season and despite boasting the highest average out of everyone, he still finds himself outside of the top four.
Cool Hand looked on course last week when defeating table-topper MVG in the quarter-finals only for an average of 103.35 to be thwarted in a last-leg decider against eventual 'surprise' winner Nathan Aspinall in the last four.
Humphries responded by storming into the UK Open final with five pretty comfortable victories all achieved with averages around the 100 mark but found Dimitri Van den Bergh's play frustratingly slow to deal with on Sunday night in an 11-10 defeat.
The way he fought back from 7-1 down was commendable and even missed two match darts so he's clearly in much better shape than Gerwyn Price, who seems short of winning confidence and consistency.
The Iceman spurned six match darts in his opening match against Martin Schindler in the UK Open and that followed a thumping 6-1 defeat to Rob Cross in last week's Premier League quarter-finals.
Price lost 6-3 when these two players last met in this competition and I can see a similar result in Brighton, while Humphries prowess on the maximum front should mean he hits most 180s.
Verdict: 6-3
CLICK HERE to back Humphries to win and hit most 180s with Sky Bet
Rob Cross (13/10) v Michael van Gerwen (4/7)
- Head to Head: 7-27 (TV: 4-19)
- 2024 PL Average: 96.34 - 98.54
- 2024 PL 180s per leg: 0.25 - 0.34
- 2024 PL checkout percentage: 17.02% - 45.59%
- 2024 PL legs won with 100+ C/O: 11.11% - 6.45%
Michael van Gerwen was well below par last week in both the Premier League and the UK Open, where he crashed out to Mensur Suljovic 10-7 with an average of just 92.37.
MVG was clearly in some kind of discomfort with a shoulder injury throughout the match, which followed a quarter-final defeat to Luke Humphries 24 hours earlier, so there are certainly doubts over whether we can expect him to bounce back in Brighton.
Rob Cross produced a stunning 6-1 win over Gerwyn Price with an average of 109 last week and also beat Luke Littler en route to the final, which he lost to Nathan Aspinall, but he'll be desperately disappointed with how he performed against Ricky Evans in the UK Open quarter-finals on Sunday.
Voltage would have been dreaming of another major trophy but only averaged 87 in a 10-7 defeat and will be hungry to make amends on Thursday night.
I anticipate a hard-fought affair with plenty of legs and potentially a minor upset.
Verdict: 6-4
CLICK HERE to bet on Rob Cross v Michael van Gerwen with Sky Bet
Nathan Aspinall (6/4) v Luke Littler (1/2)
- Head to Head: 0-1 (TV: 0-1)
- 2024 PL Average: 94.76 - 100.16
- 2024 PL 180s per leg: 0.34 - 0.35
- 2024 PL checkout percentage: 32.37% - 8.83%
- 2024 PL legs won with 100+ C/O: 13.33% - 15.15%
The last time these players met in Bahrain, Luke Littler hit a nine-darter in the very first leg.
Hopefully lightning strikes twice again and if it does, our pre-season tip of the Nuke achieving perfection at any point of the season will pay off relatively early.
Nathan Aspinall obviously comes into this off the back of picking up eight points in two weeks - which included nightly success in Exeter - but his performance levels aren't on a par with what Littler is reaching.
The 17-year-old has averaged over 100 in six of his last eight matches including all four at the UK Open only for Damon Heta to defy his 104.77 in a thrilling 10-7 quarter-final victory.
If it's close then it could well end up being the quarter-final that provides the most 180s given how prolific they've been this season but I'd rather back Littler to win and achieve some very attainable targets (over 2.5 180s & a checkout over 80.5) given the stats he's produced consistently this season.
Verdict: 3-6
CLICK HERE to back Luke Littler to win the match, score over 2.5 180s and checkout over 80.5 with Sky Bet
Michael Smith (1/2) v Peter Wright (6/4)
- Head to Head: 17-33, 2 draws (TV:8-21, 2 draws)
- 2024 PL Average: 96.82 - 92.04
- 2024 PL 180s per leg: 0.33 - 0.27
- 2024 PL checkout percentage: 42.11% - 28.13%
- 2024 PL legs won with 100+ C/O: 10% - 5.55%
Peter Wright remains rooted to the foot of the table without a point but his form is definitely trending in the right direction and that first victory is just around the corner.
Snakebite has averaged under 90 just once in his last 16 matches - which is a big improvement on where he was even if it does sound a bit patronising - while he's gone above 100 twice in his previous five.
One of those included a thumping 10-1 victory over Andrew Gilding at the UK Open, where he eventually lost out to Masters champion Stephen Bunting 10-9 in the last 16.
He's also finding his scoring range but I'd still expect Michael Smith to hit more maximums given their respective 180 per leg rates.
Bully Boy hit seven in a 10-9 defeat to Luke Woodhouse (0.37) while he's managing 0.33 during the Premier League campaign compared to Snakebite's 0.27.
However, Smith is struggling to find winning momentum and he's actually visited the 80s in three of his last 10 in all competitions and gone above 100 just once in 16 appearances. Averages are a guide - but they're a guide that Wright could be about to turn his improvement into Premier League points.
Verdict: 4-6
CLICK HERE to back Peter Wright to win and Michael Smith to hit most 180s with Sky Bet
Premier League Darts 2024: Averages, 180s and checkout statistics
TOURNAMENT AVERAGE After week 5
- Luke Humphries: 100.82
- Luke Littler: 100.16
- Michael van Gerwen: 98.54
- Gerwyn Price: 98.06
- Michael Smith: 96.82
- Rob Cross: 96.34
- Nathan Aspinall: 94.76
- Peter Wright: 92.04
MOST 180s & 180s PER LEG After week 5
- Michael van Gerwen: 38 (112 legs, 0.34 per leg)
- Luke Littler: 36 (102 legs, 0.35)
- Luke Humphries: 30 (89 legs, 0.34)
- Nathan Aspinall: 30 (89 legs, 0.34)
- Michael Smith: 27 (81 legs, 0.33)
- Rob Cross: 23 (93 legs, 0.25)
- Gerwyn Price: 17 (74 legs, 0.23)
- Peter Wright: 13 (48 legs, 0.27)
DOUBLES AND CHECKOUT PERCENTAGE After week 5
- Michael van Gerwen: 45.59% (62/136)
- Michael Smith: 42.11% (40/95)
- Gerwyn Price: 41.25% (33/80)
- Luke Littler: 38.97% (53/136)
- Luke Humphries: 37.70% (46/122)
- Rob Cross: 35.87% (47/131)
- Nathan Aspinall: 32.37% (45/139)
- Peter Wright: 28.13% (18/64)
100+ CHECKOUTS, HIGHEST CHECKOUTS & % LEGS WON WITH 100+ CHECKOUT After week 5
- Rob Cross: 8 (17.02% legs won with 100+ checkout)
100+ Checkouts: 144x2, 132, 121, 116, 110, 109, 100 - Gerwyn Price: 7 (21.21%)
100+ Checkouts: 170, 160, 124, 120, 117x2, 100 - Nathan Aspinall: 6 (13.33%)
100+ Checkouts: 170, 160x2, 144, 100x2 - Luke Littler: 6 (8.83%)
100+ Checkouts: 170, 140, 138, 130, 103, 100 - Michael Smith: 4 (10% )
100+ Checkouts: 170, 120x2, 107 - Luke Humphries: 4 (8.69%)
100+ Checkouts: 121, 117, 108, 105 - Michael van Gerwen: 4 (6.45%)
100+ Checkouts: 136, 127, 120, 110 - Peter Wright: 1 (5.55%)
100+ Checkouts: 156,
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