The Premier League Darts line-up for 2025 in Belfast (Picture: PDC)

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

By Chris Hammer and James Cooper

Darts

Thu February 06, 2025 · 11M ago

The BetMGM Premier League Darts regular season gets under way in Belfast on Thursday so check out our match-by-match guide to the action.

World champion Luke Littler will get the defence of his Premier League title under way against Michael van Gerwen in a repeat of January's Ally Pally final, as eight of the sport's biggest names battle it out on night one in Belfast.

The format is the same as last year, with the nightly champion bagging five points and a cheque of £10,000 while the runner-up takes three points and the two other quarter-final winners picking up two apiece.

The top four in the table out of Littler, MVG, Luke Humphries, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Nathan Aspinall, Chris Dobey and Stephen Bunting at the end of the 16th week of the regular season will advance to Finals Night at the O2 on May 29, with a top prize of £275,000 up for grabs.

Every week this season we'll be using James Cooper's predictive model to show you the chances of each of the eight players winning the nightly title, while he and Chris Hammer will also bring you stats and tips for each of the quarter-finals.

But as we prepare for the start of the season, we'll open this week's preview with our ante-post selections.

Premier League 2025: Who wins the title?

1pt Gerwyn Price to win the Premier League at 16/1 (BetMGM, Unibet)

1pt Stephen Bunting to win the Premier League at 16/1 (Betfred)

By Chris Hammer

The usual factors that come into play when trying to predict a winner of a darts tournament - such as form and recent performance data - go out of the window when it's an event that doesn't finish for another four months.

Although it sounds extremely unlikely that Luke Littler or Luke Humphries will fail to make the play-offs, it's not inconceivable that either player is enduring a slump of form and confidence by the time they turn up at the O2 on May 29, while third favourite Michael van Gerwen, who is 7/1, could feasibly be back to his intimidating best.

The current title odds reflect everyone's chances if the trophy was up for grabs in Belfast tonight and when it comes to Littler and Humphries, their prices won't be that much shorter come Finals night.

With that in mind I'd rather pick one of the outsiders who can work their way into the top four and have a fighting chance of landing the second most lucrative prize in the sport.

Rob Cross looks like he's put a worrying end to 2024 firmly in the past with the way he's started the new year with victory in the Dutch Darts Masters and is a tempting proposition at 28/1.

Questions marks linger over Chris Dobey's ability to handle the pressure at the biggest moments while I just can't see Nathan Aspinall silencing the critics often enough to finish in the top four.

That leaves us with STEPHEN BUNTING and GERWYN PRICE, who are both available at 16/1 and have shown me plenty of reasons why they can keep trending in the right direction over the coming weeks and months.

Bunting's career trajectory has gathered a lot of pace over the past 12 months and his confidence continues to grow thanks to another strong World Championship campaign and a maiden World Series crown, while his huge fanbase will be a big factor during this 17-week arena tour.

CLICK HERE to back Bunting to win the Premier League with Sky Bet

As for Price, he's not yet reproduced his blockbusting performances of old on a regular basis but his crowd pleasing Alexandra Palace campaign certainly helped him fall back in love with the sport after a largely troubled 2024 when it came to the majors and overall title count.

The way he responded to the Ally Pally crowd and played the game with a smile on his face was great to see while his high octane displays on the World Series Tour in January show real signs of progress.

Come May, we could have the major-winning Price back for good.

CLICK HERE to back Price to win the Premier League with Sky Bet

Premier League night one: Who wins in Belfast?

1pt Stephen Bunting to win night one at 13/2 (General)

By Chris Hammer

Ahead of each week of the season, James Cooper's predictive model, which is based on player performance data, will be 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.

As you can see from the table below, Luke Littler will be favourite to win all his possible matches - like he will be for the majority of the season unless he experiences a steep downturn in form and performance level - and his overall chance of taking the spoils in Belfast is rated at 29.3%.

Nevertheless, the week one draw bracket is as tough as it could be for Littler due to the fact he faces Michael van Gerwen first before a probable semi-final clash with Luke Humphries, who opens up against rank outsider Nathan Aspinall on the back of lifting the World Masters trophy on Sunday.

Luke Littler's route to winning week one is tougher at the start

Littler may not have won a title since winning the biggest of the lot against MVG on January 3 but he's averaged 105, 107 and 108 in his three defeats across the World Series Tour and the World Masters so there's absolutely no reason to think he's experiencing a hangover or loss of form.

That said, I'd still rather look at the top half of the draw for a finalist who'd have a strong chance of victory against whoever he comes up against from the bottom.

STEPHEN BUNTING is a firm favourite to see off Rob Cross in his quarter-final and the in-form Bullet, who won the Bahrain Masters in January and then saw his World Masters ended in a thriller with Danny Noppert despite averaging over 101, would then be fancied to beat the winner of Chris Dobey v Gerwyn Price to reach the Belfast showdown.

Bunting would only be favourite to beat Aspinall but over this short format he'd have a strong chance to upset the odds against anyone else - as we saw in Bahrain when overcoming Littler 7-6 despite averaging almost nine points less with 99.

CLICK HERE to back Bunting to win night one with Sky Bet

Night One quarter-final stats & tips: Thursday, February 6

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

SL ACCA: 1pt Price, Bunting, Littler and Humphries (-1.5) to win their QFs at 11/2 with Sky Bet

Chris Dobey (6/5) v Gerwyn Price (4/6)

Head-to-Head: 2-15 (TV: 1-6)
Average (last 12 months): 96.84 - 96.70
180s per leg (last 12 months): 0.34 - 0.30
Checkout % (last 12 months): 38.11% - 39.51%

By Chris Hammer

The Premier League season opens up with a rematch of Chris Dobey's epic World Championship quarter-final victory over Gerwyn Price, who rediscovered the fire in his belly despite the defeat.

Gerwyn Price's smile when Chris Dobey misses double one for the match! Then the dance when he takes the set!

Box Office darts.pic.twitter.com/sseXnng9PV
— Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) January 1, 2025

Since then, the Iceman reached a World Series final in Bahrain with the help of a blockbusting 115.31 average against Luke Littler, while he produced more encouraging performances over the past few weeks in the Dutch Masters and the World Masters. Dobey, by contrast, has endured a mini slump after a thumping 6-1 semi-final defeat to Michael van Gerwen at the Ally Pally, losing three of his last four matches and averaging no higher than 94.50. The current gulf in confidence between the pair right now could be key and I'd side with Price to power through.

Score prediction: 3-6

CLICK HERE to bet on Dobey v Price with Sky Bet

https://m.skybet.com/lp/acq-bet-x-get-40?sba_promo=ACQBXG40FB&aff=681&dcmp=SL_ED_RACING

Stephen Bunting (4/6) v Rob Cross (6/5)

2pts Stephen Bunting most 180s at 5/6 (Sky Bet)

2pts highest checkout over 112.5 at 5/6 (General)

Head-to-Head: 3-13, 1 draw (TV: 0-6, 1 draw)
Average (last 12 months): 96.97 - 96.20
180s per leg (last 12 months): 0.32 - 0.24
Checkout % (last 12 months): 41.21% - 41.28%

By James Cooper

Perhaps surprisingly so, Rob Cross in on a seven-match winning sequence against Stephen Bunting and has never lost to him on TV, but given his year-long peaks and troughs, the Bullet deserves to be the slight favourite in my opinion.

Despite being a recent winner in the Netherlands, it’s the scoring power of Voltage that has been on the wane for a while. A 180s ratio of 0.25 per leg in the last 12 months is comfortably the lowest of the eight participants, while for comparison, Bunting has recorded 0.32 maximums each leg.

A best-of-11 contest is a relatively short match for the top players in the world to get their teeth into and the 180s tie therefore becomes a runner but on balance, I expected BUNTING to be a touch shorter than the 5/6 on offer with Sky Bet to record the MOST MAXIMUMS.

CLICK HERE to back Bunting to hit most 180s with Sky Bet

Stephen Bunting won the Bahrain Darts Masters (Picture: PDC)

Stephen Bunting may have plenty to celebrate (Picture: PDC)

One area where Cross continues to excel is in the checkout department and when you also look at Bunting’s finishing stats, we have the highest combined checkout percentage data of the night’s four ties. Over 12 months, Cross is operating at a very impressive 41.33%, while Bunting is very close behind at 41.2% success rate respectively.

Those high-end numbers also correlate nicely with the bullseye hit percentage, with Bunting in particular just about as good as there is when it comes to finishing in the middle of the board. That closing ability is clearly no bad thing when siding with overs in the HIGHEST CHECKOUT market and with 10+ legs around an even-money shot with me, there will hopefully be enough opportunities for one of them to SURPASS A 112 FINISH.

Score prediction: 6-4

CLICK HERE to bet on Bunting v Cross with Sky Bet

Luke Littler (2/5) v Michael van Gerwen (7/4)

1.5pts Luke Littler to win and hit the most 180s at 5/6 (Sky Bet)

Head-to-Head: 8-6 (TV: 7-6)
Average (last 12 months): 99.61 - 97.33
180s per leg (last 12 months): 0.41 - 0.28
Checkout % (last 12 months): 41.43% - 40.81%

By James Cooper

Probably the biggest quirk of Luke Littler’s World Championship triumph against Michael van Gerwen was the fact that his opponent actually recorded more 180s despite what was a one-sided final. Such is the Van Gerwen prowess on treble 19, he actually boasts a higher single-dart success rate on T19 than he does on T20, so expect his usual flurry of switching.

Littler, too, isn’t averse to using the full board but his 0.41 180s per leg return is unsurpassed by anyone in the last year. He’s around a 1/2 chance to get the better of Van Gerwen again and with a modicum of related contingency thrown into the mix for the bet, the 5/6 available on a LITTLER WIN AND HIT THE MOST 180s looks a good bet.

CLICK HERE to back Littler to win and hit most 180s with Sky Bet

Score prediction: 6-3

CLICK HERE to bet on Littler v MVG with Sky Bet

Nathan Aspinall (9/4) v Luke Humphries (1/3)

Head-to-Head: 7-10 (TV: 5-6)
Average (last 12 months): 94.40 - 98.61
180s per leg (last 12 months): 0.27 - 0.34
Checkout % (last 12 months): 36.9% - 41.49%

By Chris Hammer

Fresh from landing the inaugural World Masters, Luke Humphries looks to be back to his formidable best once again heading into opening night and I'd expect him to ease past 'controversial selection' Nathan Aspinall.

Cool Hand looked short of confidence during the two World Series events that followed his Ally Pally humbling at the hands of Peter Wright but he cruised through the rounds in Milton Keynes last week before showing the character of a true champion to overcome Jonny Clayton 6-5 in a gripping final.

Meanwhile, there's a number of darts fans who feel Aspinall is only in the Premier League due to his walk-on song and there's not really much evidence to suggest he'll silence those doubters as early as week one.

Score prediction: 3-6

CLICK HERE to bet on Aspinall v Humphries with Sky Bet

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