Teenage prodigy Luke Littler will make his Premier League debut on Thursday, February 1 at the Utilita Arena Cardiff as eight of the world's best darts players take to the oche for the one of the most anticipated series on the PDC calendar.
Since finishing runner-up at the World Championships in early January, Littler has maintained his form winning the Bahrain Masters – his debut appearance on the World Series of Darts – before losing out to Michael van Gerwen last week in the final of the Dutch Masters.
Night 1 provides a World Championship final rematch as Littler faces Luke Humphries in the quarter-finals. Littler defeated Humphries 6-5 in the Dutch Masters' quarters last week, with the world champion exiting at the same stage of the Bahrain Masters a week earlier.
The bookies have the contest as even, with both players priced at 10/11 for a victory. The better value may be found in the 180s markets – Littler has 68 180s in 2024 with Humphries boasting 60 – the pair combining for eight in 11 legs in last week's meeting with Littler outscoring Humphries 5-3. Over 7.5 match 180s is Evens, while Littler Over 3.5 (Evens) or 4.5 180s (2/1) is certainly backable.
Elsewhere, Rob Cross takes on Peter Wright in a battle of two contenders likely to end up in the bottom half of the table.
Wright is in particularly shaky form, exiting the World Championship in his opening contest and winning just one of three games on the Masters series – a 6-5 win over local player Haruki Muramatsu. Cross also boasts just a single win in two Masters appearances – a 6-3 win over Tomoya Goto. Cross is 4/11 to claim the win – he has three successive victories against 'Snakebite'.
Two-time defending Premier League champion Michael van Gerwen has rediscovered his top form with a runner-up performance in Bahrain prior to a takedown of Littler in the Dutch Masters final. 'MVG' carried a 66.67% checkout percentage in the 8-6 win over 'The Nuke' and takes on Michael Smith who lost 6-3 to local talent Gian van Veen in the first round of last week's tournament in the Netherlands.
Van Gerwen, who has won three straight against Smith, won 7-6 in a Bahrain quarter-final, but averaged nine points more per visit. A 6-3 or 6-4 scoreline in MVG's favour – both 9/2 - seem about the line.
In the final quarter-final, Nathan Aspinall takes on Gerwyn Price. 'The Iceman' reached the semi-finals of both Masters events before being jettisoned by Littler and should carry favour over Aspinall who lost 6-2 to Danny Noppert in the first round in the Netherlands last week. Price at 6-3 or 6-4 (9/2) seem the lines to target according to the bookmakers.
As it stands, Humphries is the favourite to win the Premier League at 3/1, with Littler (7/2), van Gerwen (7/2) and Price (6/1) considered the likely top four.
