Luke Littler and Stephen Bunting

Premier League Darts 2025: Night eight predictions, betting tips, acca, order of play and Sky Sports TV time

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Wed April 09, 2025 · 9M ago

The BetMGM Premier League Darts regular season continues in Newcastle on Thursday so check out our match-by-match guide to the action.

Premier League night eight: Who wins in Newcastle?

1pt Littler to face Humphries in the final at 11/5 (Paddy Power)

Ahead of each week of the Premier League season, our predictive model, which is based on player performance data, is being used to chart each player's potential opponent and give a percentage chance of them beating each one, as well as forecasting the likelihood of them winning the whole night.

There's no stopping Luke Littler at the moment as he begins to open up a healthy lead at the top of the Premier League table and you can expect that trend to continue on Thursday night.

If his form and record-breaking feats weren't ridiculous enough, then he took things to a new level in Cardiff when he had the outrageous audacity to 'call out' his next nine-dart finish route on social media just hours before he went and did it - especially when it was a route that had never previously been done on TV.

There's been 100 televised perfect legs across all organisations since John Lowe managed the first in 1984 and nobody had ever completed one on double 15 until Littler conjured it up more of his magic in Cardiff last week.

The doubles that have been used to take out the 100 televised nine-darters since 1984

D12 x83
D18 x13
BULL x3

And now D15 thanks to Luke Littler. Always doing new unbelievable things pic.twitter.com/e8CJrm9vaB
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) March 21, 2025

On top of all that, he averaged 112.5 in the final and fired in 10 maximums to leave Michael van Gerwen stunned - even though he did well to take four legs off the world champion.

Littler leads all the key statistics in the Premier League this season except 100+ checkouts per leg won, although the fact he's won almost 20% of his 94 legs that way is another crazy - and underrated - statistic!

His all-round game is freakishly relentless and by the end of the regular season, he'll be streaks clear.

This week, his reward for being top of the table is taking on rock bottom Stephen Bunting while he'll also be big favourite to see off either Rob Cross or Gerwyn Price, even though the latter has incredibly managed six successive victories over him.

In the bottom section, Luke Humphries must overcome Chris Dobey and the Newcastle fans but he can handle all that to set up a tie with either Michael van Gerwen and Nathan Aspinall.

I can't really call that latter fixture because Aspinall is on the rise when it comes to performance standard and confidence right now, whereas MVG is at least a prolific quarter-final winner and reached his first final last week.

Whoever Cool Hand faces, I expect another assured, clinical display to reach his fourth final of the campaign and renew the 'friendly rivalry' with Littler.

CLICK HERE to back a Littler v Humphries final with Sky Bet

Night eight quarter-final stats & tips: Thursday, March 27

TV Coverage: Sky Sports (1900 GMT)
Format: Quarter-Finals, best of 11 legs
Venue: Newcastle

SL ACCA: 1pt Littler (-1.5), Humphries and Cross all to win at 3/1 with Sky Bet

Luke Littler (1/6) v Stephen Bunting (7/2)

Head-to-Head: 3-2 (TV: 2-1)
Average (2025 all comps): 102.58 – 96.74
180s per leg (2025 all comps): 0.47 - 0.31
Checkout % (2025 all comps): 43.76% - 41.68%

SELECTION: 1pt Luke Littler to hit 4+ 180s and 1+ 100+ checkout at 1/1 (Sky Bet)

While Luke Littler's Premier League campaign couldn't have gone much better so far, Stephen Bunting's couldn't have gone any worse.

The Bullet has suffered seven defeats out of seven and most logic suggests that his winless start to the season will extend to an eighth week.

Although a fair chunk of his performances have been pretty decent - after all, his PL average of 97.2 is the fifth highest - nobody is enjoying watching him endure this run of results.

I have tipped him a couple of times as there has been signs of encouragement but a mixture of poor timing and bad luck means his chances of reaching the play-offs are fading fast. It could soon just be a case of playing for pride.

Littler doesn't seem like the sort of character that feels much sympathy to anyone. He's fearless and ruthless in equal measure, and the way he's been playing, it's hard to imagine anything other than him putting a wounded animal to the sword.

His rate of 180s so far this season gives me plenty of reason to back him to fire 4+ maximums - even if it's a one-sided scoreline - while I'll also throw in a 100+ checkout considering he's won around 20% of his legs that way this season.

Score prediction: 6-2

CLICK HERE to bet on Littler v Bunting with Sky Bet

Gerwyn Price (4/6) v Rob Cross (6/5)

Head-to-Head: 14-12, 2 draws (TV: 6-8, 2 draws)
Average (2025 all comps): 98.18 – 97.38
180s per leg (2025 all comps): 0.32 - 0.28
Checkout % (2025 all comps): 42.68% - 42.53%

Luke Littler may well be hitting all the headlines when it comes to averages this season but Gerwyn Price and Rob Cross have both been posting highly impressive numbers of late.

Voltage has averaged over 100 in five of his last six Premier League matches which means he's now climbed to second for overall tournament average behind Littler (see table earlier in article) while Price went 100+ crazy on the European Tour at the weekend.

The Iceman managed 103 and 110 in his opening two games before being knocked out with a 107 against Michael van Gerwen.

This level of performance wasn't out of the blue considering how well he's been trending this season but I am going to side with Cross to pick up a second successive victory over Price.

He produced a monumental 170 checkout to win a deciding leg last week even though his overall display before that moment could be described as 'dogged' at best, and that phycological advantage could prove key in Newcastle.

Score prediction:

CLICK HERE to bet on Price v Cross with Sky Bet

Luke Humphries (4/11) v Chris Dobey (2/1)

Head-to-Head: 10-7 (TV: 3-2)
Average (2025 all comps): 99.04 – 96.54
180s per leg (2025 all comps): 0.31 - 0.36
Checkout % (2025 all comps): 42.61% - 38.66%

Chris Dobey would have probably hoped for a slightly easier opponent than Luke Humphries in a bid to make his big night in Newcastle one to remember, but that's his reality after lying seventh in the table after seven weeks.

Obviously there's no easy games, but Humphries and Littler have romped clear for a reason and neither will give you many chances, even on one of their off nights.

The Geordie crowd will be fully behind Dobey and I'm sure you'll see an inspired display from him rather than a nervy one, especially because he does have experience winning on this stage during the 2023 edition.

That said, Hollywood didn't average over 90 in either of his two matches last week and lies second bottom for overall tournament average this season.

Humphries doesn't get too flustered and should be able to handle the crowd and the threat posed by his opponent.

Score prediction: 6-4

CLICK HERE to bet on Humphries v Dobey with Sky Bet

Michael van Gerwen (1/2) v Nathan Aspinall (6/4)

Head-to-Head: 20-8, 1 draw (TV: 15-5, 1 sraw)
Average (2025 all comps): 98.54 – 95.77
180s per leg (2025 all comps): 0.28 - 0.37
Checkout % (2025 all comps): 39.34% - 39.07%

Nobody can doubt Nathan Aspinall had already justified his 'controversial' Premier League inclusion by putting himself well amongst the play-off race so far this season, but at the weekend he reminded everyone of his title-winning ability by clinching his maiden European Tour crown.

And he did so in dramatic fashion, too. In the quarter-finals he battered Luke Humphries 6-1 with a 106 average then produced an outrageous 170 checkout to force a deciding leg against Gary Anderson which he duly won before soundly overcoming Ryan Joyce 8-4 in the final.

His confidence was building anyway as he laughed in the face of his doubters, but this latest career milestone will come as a significant boost.

As much as Aspinall seems to enjoy proving critics wrong, I'm sure he'd rather people talk up his chances and be spoken of as a true contender rather than a 'battler' who might upset some odds from time to time.

The perception of Aspinall will continue to turn if he continues on this upward curve whereas Michael van Gerwen is now the only player in the Premier League who hasn't won a title of any kind.

That is sure to bother the Dutchman, who has a growing number of doubters of his own to silence having failed to win a nightly final so far this campaign.

Statistically he's still producing decent numbers and performance - particularly in the quarter-final stage - so this is a very tricky one to call, but if pushed I'll give the edge to The Asp.

Score prediction: 4-6