Premier League Darts 2024 | Night Ten Manchester Preview and Order of Play
Premier League Darts heads to Manchester for Night Ten on Thursday as the race for the play-offs intensifies.
The elite eight do battle at a sold-out AO Arena with the £10,000 weekly winner’s bonus and crucial points up for grabs.
Luke Humphries continues to lead the way at the top of the table but after coming away from Belfast empty-handed last week, has seen his lead narrowed to just four points.
The world number one secured a coveted hat-trick of weekly titles in Brighton, Nottingham and Dublin, but saw his nine-match unbeaten run brought to an end by Luke Littler – who went on to clinch his long-awaited first weekly title.
Humphries, however, bounced back in sensational style over the Easter weekend, securing his sixth European Tour title at the German Darts Grand Prix in Munich.
In doing so, the reigning World Champion registered the second highest tournament winning average (107.51) in Euro Tour history, conceding just 11 legs in the process.
Humphries will look to pick up from where he left off on Easter Monday when he takes on 2023 World Champion Michael Smith in the quarter-finals.
Smith heads into Night Ten in fifth position, three points adrift of the top four, having triumphed on opening night in Cardiff before finishing runner-up to Humphries in Brighton and Dublin.
Bully Boy makes the short trip from St Helens looking to replicate last year’s success at the AO Arena, where he averaged 110 in defeating Jonny Clayton to claim the Night 14 title.
Warrington’s Luke Littler is set for a rapturous reception on his big stage debut in Manchester as he aims to challenge for a second successive weekly title.
The 17-year-old sensation went one better than his runner-up spot on Night Two by claiming glory in Belfast to climb up to second spot and bolster his hopes of reaching finals night in his debut campaign.
The Bahrain Masters and Belgian Open winner starts out against Michael van Gerwen in a repeat of last week’s semi-final which saw him prevail 6-3.
The Nuke also defeated MVG on Night Seven in Nottingham with an astonishing 114 average to the Dutchman’s 111, avenging his agonising 6-5 loss in the Berlin final.
Van Gerwen was the runaway early leader after clinching three consecutive weekly titles from Nights 2-4, but has since won just one of his next five Premier League matches.
The reigning and seven-time champion has slipped to third in the table and will be determined to get back on track, having also suffered a crushing 8-1 defeat to Humphries in the final of the German Grand Prix earlier this week.
The opening match of the night sees local hero Nathan Aspinall make the short trip from Stockport to face Rob Cross in a repeat of the Night Five final.
Aspinall came out on top 6-2 to triumph in Exeter and has since reached a further two weekly finals to move into the play-off places.
World Matchplay champion Aspinall has featured in four of the last six weekly finals and is eyeing a fifth straight win over Cross.
Cross has dropped to sixth in the table following three consecutive quarter-final exits, most recently at the hands of Peter Wright with an average of just 86.3.
Wright faces a crucial basement battle against 2023 runner-up Gerwyn Price in the night’s other quarter-final fixture.
European Champion Wright doubled his points tally courtesy of victory over Cross in Belfast, closing the gap on Price to three points after the Welshman was beaten 6-5 by Aspinall in his opener.
Wright’s only previous win of the Premier League campaign so far had come at the expense of ‘The Iceman’ on Night Seven in Nottingham, but Price warmed up for this fixture with a 6-4 success in the recent German Grand Prix.
Price went on to reach the semi-finals in Munich, notably averaging 112.7 in a 6-0 whitewash of Ryan Searle along the way, and will be keen to replicate that form in Manchester as he searches for a first final since the opening night on home soil in Cardiff.
Wright remains the rank outsider of the field with a tournament average of 93 and a checkout success of 31 per cent, but a strong run here could offer him hope of a late play-off push.
Night Ten of 2024 Premier League Darts gets under way from 7pm BST, with all matches to be contested over the best of 11 legs.
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Premier League Darts 2024 Night Ten Schedule
Thursday March 28
Quarter-Finals
Nathan Aspinall v Rob Cross
Luke Littler v Michael van Gerwen
Michael Smith v Luke Humphries
Gerwyn Price v Peter Wright
Semi-Finals
Aspinall/Cross v Littler/Van Gerwen
Smith/Humphries v Price/Wright
Final
