Luke Littler and Gian van Veen

Premier League Darts 2026: Night one predictions, betting tips, acca, order of play and Sky Sports TV time

By Chris Hammer

Darts

Thu February 05, 2026 · 5d ago

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

Premier League night one: Who wins in Newcastle?

2pts Luke Littler to hit most 180s on night one of the Premier League at evens (Unibet)

Luke Littler won a whopping six Premier League nights last season to break the tournament record by two, but as impressive as that is, there were obviously 10 he didn't manage to, which underlines how this short format is a leveller at this level.

However, one area he's completely dominant in is his mind-boggling 180 hitting and last year he managed 169 of them during the regular season, some 68 more than second-placed Humphries!

Littler can even hit most 180s on a night by playing just two matches if he finds his range and doesn't necessarily have to reach the final. If he does go all the way, then it almost feels a certainty even if he finishes runner-up.

The world champion opens up with an Ally Pally final rematch against Gian van Veen and I fancy him to hit the ground running and make a real statement of intent ahead of a clash with either Josh Rock or Jonny Clayton, whom he'll be clear favourite to defeat.

As for the bottom half of the draw, Humphries meets Price in a match between two players who pushed Littler extremely close to defeat at the World Masters only to lose in agonising fashion.

Nevertheless, they'll be feeling confident and the winner will fancy their chances against either Stephen Bunting or Michael van Gerwen.

Night One quarter-final stats & tips: Thursday, February 5

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

SL ACCA: Clayton (+1.5), Price (+1.5) & MVG all to win at 9/2 with Sky Bet

Josh Rock v Jonny Clayton

Josh Rock gets the honour of opening the new Premier League season on debut and is considered favourite to making a winning start against Jonny Clayton, who returns to the competition for the first time since 2023.

Rock has come on leaps and bounds over the past 12 months and his inclusion was a no brainer despite the fact he is yet to win his first individual major.

The Northern Irishman, who shouldn't be fazed by the occasion, came close by reaching a couple of semi-finals while he was looking good at the World Masters until Littler took him apart in the quarters.

Rock may boast superior stats but let's not underestimate how much Clayton loves the Premier League, having not only won it once before in 2021 but he's also never failed to reach the play-offs in three previous appearances.

The Ferret has been itching to get back into the line-up and I fancy him to upset the odds for the win.

Scoreline prediction: 4-6

Luke Littler v Gian van Veen

SELECTION: 2pts Luke Littler to beat Gian van Veen and hit most 180s at 11/10 (Sky Bet)

Luke Littler begins his campaign with a World Championship final rematch against the new Dutch number one in Gian van Veen but he won't be expecting it to be quite so one-sided.

The Nuke thrashed van Veen 7-1 to defend his world title and heads into the the Premier League campaign on the back of adding another major to his haul at the World Masters.

He averaged well over 100 in all but one of his matches in Milton Keynes and despite being taken the distance by three opponents and surviving match darts against two of them, he must be feeling as bulletproof as he looks right now.

Van Veen has maintained his Ally Pally form during the World Series events in January, in which he reached one of the finals, while he produced some superb displays en route to the World Masters semi-finals before being thrashed 5-0 by Luke Humphries.

I expect the young Dutchman to give a good account of himself but ultimately Littler's firepower will prove too much.

Scoreline prediction: 6-3

Luke Humphries v Gerwyn Price

Luke Humphries and Gerwyn Price will have spent the week wondering what might have been after they both pushed Luke Littler to his limit at the World Masters.

Humphries took the world champion all the way to a deciding set in a pulsating final before losing out 6-5 while Price had a dart to inflict Littler's first ever major semi-final defeat but missed it in a 5-4 defeat.

Nevertheless, both produced performances to fill them with plenty of confidence, particularly Cool Hand who averaged well over 100 in all of his matches.

This could quite comfortably be the most entertaining quarter-final of the night if they both play to what we've seen from them recently and I'm going to give the edge to the Iceman.

Scoreline prediction: 5-6

Stephen Bunting v Michael van Gerwen

Stephen Bunting won't be feeling much of a fan favourite at the moment having lost his crown of People's Champion ever since he put it on himself during the World Championship, as well as facing a lot of negative reaction to his Premier League inclusion.

The Bullet looked an absolute certainty to be picked until around September time but a poor end to the campaign, particularly in the majors, put his place in jeopardy.

However, to be fair to Bunting, his performances for the majority of the season warranted inclusion and there's some recent bias within those complaints.

I do wonder if the criticism he's faced could negatively affect him, especially because he's got so used to having so much support behind him, and another poor start in the Premier League will just make matters worse.

Michael van Gerwen will show absolutely no mercy and he'll be fired up to build on a promising start to the campaign with two early points on the board - and possibly more.

Scoreline prediction: 4-6

Premier League 2026: Regular season predictions

2pts Littler, Humphries, MVG & Price to finish in the top four at 8/1 (Sky Bet)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

There are only three PDC major titles that Luke Littler isn't the current holder of and the Premier League is one of them having lost last year's final to Luke Humphries.

The world champion, who added the World Masters to his career haul of 11 majors at the weekend, is becoming just as dominant as Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen were in their prime years and even Humphries branded him the 'best player who's ever lived' on Sunday.

That will be far too premature for most darts fans especially as he's still not reached some of the astronomical tournament average records of Taylor and MVG, but there's no doubt that he's developing the same kind of inevitability that they did.

Last year he topped the table for the second year running by a massive 11 points and averaged 102.43 across his 45 matches so it's no surprise to see him as short as 2/5 to make it a hat-trick of regular season 'titles'.

There are no guarantees in any sport but I really can't see any other outcome than Littler topping the standings so I'm going to turn my attention to who will join him in the play-offs.

When it comes to consistency, Humphries also feels like a shoo-in to finish in the top four and will more than likely finish runner-up, leaving just two more spots. This is where it gets interesting.

Gian van Veen has shown more than enough evidence of his world-class abilities to justify his odds-on prices to finish in the top four, particularly in recent months when winning the European Championship and reaching his maiden World Championship final.

However, this is his Premier League debut and we shouldn't underestimate how hard it is for any new player to cope with the travel and the schedule demands of this gruelling 16-week season.

The same can be said of Josh Rock, so I'd rather go with the more experienced 'outsiders' and one of those is Michael van Gerwen at 11/10.

The Dutchman finished four points outside the play-offs last year but that came at a time where he was going through all sort of problems on and off the oche, yet there were signs of encouragement towards the end of the campaign and the start of this one.

He reached both finals of the Bahrain Darts Masters and the Saudi Arabia Darts Masters, winning one of them against van Veen and losing the other to Littler, and although he suffered an early exit at the World Masters, he will head into the Premier League with reasons for optimism.

Gerwyn Price is my other pick to finish in the top four - a feat he's managed twice in the last three seasons - as I feel his improving levels and experience stands him in slightly better stead than the newbies, especially if we go right to the wire.

I expect Stephen Bunting and Jonny Clayton to battle it out for the wooden spoon but that, right now, feels a bit of a 50:50 call.

Predicted standings:

Littler
Humphries
Price
MVG
Van Veen
Rock
Clayton
Bunting

Premier League 2026: Who wins the title?

1pt Gerwyn Price to win the Premier League title at 14/1 (General)

1pt Michael van Gerwen to win the Premier League title at 14/1 (General)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

Let's make one thing clear - I do strongly feel Luke Littler will walk away with the title for the second time in three years, but as the play-offs are a relatively shortish format of best of 19 legs and best of 21 legs, there is a bit of scope to look for more value.

After all, one bad day or even just a slow start will put him in serious trouble. And no sports person is immune to that.

As I've gone for both Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen to finish in the top four alongside the two Lukes, it therefore makes sense to place small stakes on them at big prices to be crowned champion of the second most lucrative tournament in the sport.

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