The Premier League darts week one in Cardiff, is back on tonight, we have got ourselves a great line up for the 2024/2025 season with blockbuster fixtures for tonight. Let’s have a look at the lineup for this year…
The world number one Luke Humphries has automatically been picked for the line up after last year’s World Championship triumph.
Seven time Premier League champion, Michael Van Gerwen also automatically gets the pick ahead of this year after last year’s success in the Premier League.
Former world number one Michael ‘Bully Boy’ Smith makes it into the line up after coming second in the table in last year’s Premier League.
Last year’s runner up, Gerwyn Price makes it into the line up, remaining at number six in the world.
The World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall gets into another Premier League after another successful year from ‘The Asp’.
Rob ‘Voltage’ Cross who was last year’s Grand Slam runner up also enters the prestigious Premier League.
Peter ‘Snakebite’ Wright makes the line up after his European Championship win.
The young darting sensation, Luke Littler makes the final cut after being runner’s up on his World Championship debut.
There is the final eight that made it into this year’s 2024/2025 Premier League season. There is some speculation on social media about players that were unlucky to miss out, some of them being…
Chris ‘Hollywood’ Dobey was unlucky to miss out after winning last year’s Masters, making it to the World Championship quarter final, World Matchplay quarter final and the world grand prix quarter final.
Joe Cullen was also unlucky to miss out on a spot after having a competitive year. Cullen made it to the World Championship round of 16, World Matchplay semi final and the World Grand prix semi final.
World Cup winner, Jonny Clayton was a third player that was unfortunate to not get picked, Clayton had a successful year winning the World Cup, World Matchplay runner up, Premier League semi finalist and falling out of the World Championships at the quarter final stages.
Michael Smith goes top of Premier League after night one triumph in Cardiff
‘Bully Boy’ wins night one of the Premier League after beating the Welshman, Gerwyn Price in his hometown.
Michael Smith knocked out the current champion, Michael Van Gerwen in the first match of the night, beating him 6-5. Smith also faced sensation Luke Littler on course to the final to face the ‘Iceman’, Gerwyn Price.
Read more to catch up on the action of night one:
Quarter finals match one…
Peter Wright 3-6 Rob Cross
Rob Cross beats Peter Wright in the first match of the night to advance to the semi finals on night one. Rob Cross averaged 93.65 to Peter Wrights’, 83.78.
Both players managed to hold their throws for the first 6 legs until Cross broke ‘Snakebite’s’ throw in the seventh leg, the highest checkout of the match came from ‘Voltage’, checking out a 109 leg, which saw him one leg away for the match.
The finishes on the doubles were both anyones to take in that match as both their doubles averages were just shy of 33%.
Quarter finals match two…
Gerwyn Price 6-4 Nathan Aspinall
Last year’s runner’s up, Gerwyn Price cruised through against Nathan Aspinall to go through to the semi finals. The Welshman averaged just over a ton in his first match (100.24) while ‘The Asp’ was averaging 88.99, which was the difference maker in that match.
Aspinall broke throw in the first leg to have a 2 nill lead against Price in his hometown. That did not phase the former world number one as he won three legs straight back. Both players held their throw to make it 3-3, which then Price won two legs on the bounce, breaking Aspinalls throw to make it 5-3. ‘The Asp’ gained another leg but it was too late as Price broke another throw, to win the match 6-4. Nathan Aspinall had a higher double percentage than Price but just could not reach Price’s averages.
Quarter finals match three…
Michael van Gerwen 5-6 Michael Smith
Michael Smith knocks out the defending champion, Michael van Gerwen in their first match of the evening. It was not the start MVG would have been looking for even though he averaged higher than Michael Smith at an average of 97.14 to ‘Bully Boy’s’ 94.13.
‘Bully Boy’ had a great start to the match, breaking MVG’s throw and creating a 2-0 lead. Van Gerwen brought it back right away to level the tie. Smith checked out double 9 to break van Gerwen’s throw for a second time. Both players held their throw to make it 4-3, which then the Dutchman leveled the game once more. It went to a final leg decider where Smith checked out 60 to win the match.
Michael van Gerwen managed to get five 180’s that match, but it still was not enough to pull himself over the line.
Quarter finals match four…
Luke Littler 6-2 Luke Humphries
Luke Littler quickly sealed the match, knocking out the world number one, Luke Humphries. The teenager averaged just over a ton on his Premier League debut, with Humphries hitting 93.26.
The ‘Nuke’ had a dream start on his debut as he kicked the match off with a 4-1 lead against Luke Humphries. Humphries got one leg back but had a few issues with a whistler in the crowd which ended up putting him off his finishes, causing Littler to win 6-2.
Littler had a startling checkout percentage on his doubles, hitting 60%, with luke Humphries hitting just below 17% which cost Humphries the match.
Semi finals match one…
Rob Cross 2-6 Gerwyn Price
The ‘Iceman’, Gerwyn Price dominated his semi final match against Rob Cross to surge himself into the final of the first night in his hometown. Both players averaged high in the nineties as Cross averaged 97.16, With Price averaging just over a ton.
For the first 4 legs of the match both players held their throws, making the score two a piece until the ‘Iceman’ plowed through winning his next four legs in a row, throwing out on the bullseye to win the match.
Gerwyn Price got the highest, double percentages, most 180’s and highest checkout, checking out a 117 leg.
Semi finals match two…
Michael Smith 6-5 Luke Littler
The former world champion Michael Smith beats the prospect teeanger, Luke Littler to march on to the final where he will face Gerwyn Price. Littler had a much higher average than Smith, averaging around 105, but it was not enough to beat him.
Both players were smoothly holding their throw for the first four legs until Smith gained a two leg lead on Littler, breaking his throw, going 4-2 up. The teenager got his two legs back going 4-4, which went onto a last leg decider at 5-5, despite Littler hitting three 180’s in his last four legs, Michael Smith got over the line winning 6-5, celebrating at the whistlers who were trying to put him off during the match.
Final
Gerwyn Price 2-6 Michael Smith
Michael Smith wins the first night of the Premier League here in Cardiff against the world number 6, Gerwyn Price, in his hometown. ‘Bully Boy’ now goes top of the table with five points, with Price on three. Littler and Cross will remain on two points each for making it into the semi finals.
The match started well for the Welshman, going one nill up but Smith started to pile pressure on Price as he won five legs in a row to go 5-1 up. Price won the next leg until Michael Smith was throwing for the match to win the night here in Cardiff.
Night two of the Premier League resumes next week in Berlin.
