Premier League Darts 2025 Night Ten Preview and Order of Play | Elite eight collide in Manchester
Premier League Darts heads to Manchester for Night Ten on Thursday, with two local favourites aiming to triumph on home soil at the AO Arena.
The race for the play-offs is heading for the home straight, with seven nights remaining before the top four in the table head to The O2 to compete for the title.
The top two already look to have one foot in Finals Night, but the gap amongst the chasing pack was closed considerably following last week’s trip to Berlin.
Stephen Bunting became the fourth different player to clinch a weekly title this season when he remarkably triumphed in the German capital after having lost his opening eight matches previously.
Bunting’s five-point haul sees him close to within eight points of the top four, and though he remains bottom of the pile, the former Lakeside Champion makes the short trip to Manchester with a new-found belief.
A memorable week for ‘The Bullet’ also saw him go on to claim a first European Tour title on Sunday at the International Darts Open, moving him up to a career-high fourth in the Order of Merit.
Crowd favourite Bunting will look to continue his blistering burst of form when he faces world number one Luke Humphries – whom he defeated 7-6 in the semi-finals in Riesa last Sunday.
Humphries picked up two nightly titles in the opening four weeks but remains in search of the hat-trick, with three consecutive quarter-final exits having been followed by a runner-up spot in Newcastle and a 6-2 semi-final defeat to none other than Bunting in Berlin.
The 2024 World Champion is six points adrift of rival Luke Littler in the race for top spot and continues to boast a tournament average of 99.
Reigning champion Littler is set for another hero’s reception as he aims to make it back-to-back triumphs in Manchester.
The Warrington wonderkid claimed the weekly title here on his debut last year and has enjoyed an incredible 12 months since, going on to win the Premier League and Grand Slam and become World Champion.
The 18-year-old suffered only his third quarter-final exit of the campaign last week and renews his quest for a record-breaking fifth weekly title in a single Premier League season since the introduction of this format in 2022.
Littler, however, starts out with a showdown against his recent nemesis Gerwyn Price – whom he has failed to beat in their last six meetings in all competitions.
Price defeated ‘The Nuke’ in the Night Six final in Nottingham, as well as the quarter-finals on Night Three in Dublin en route to glory.
The Welshman sits in third position with 15 points and comes into their latest encounter in a blistering vein of form, having picked up his third ProTour title of the season 24 hours ago in Leicester.
The top half of the draw bracket sees Michael van Gerwen return to action as he takes on Chris Dobey in the evening’s opener.
Van Gerwen withdrew from Night Nine in Berlin due to a shoulder injury, returning to ProTour action on Tuesday and Wednesday, suffering successive first round exits at the hands of Maik Kuivenhoven and Rhys Griffin.
Despite his -6 legs difference from last week’s withdrawal, the Dutchman remains in fourth spot but will be determined to mark a return to form and make up for lost time by challenging for an elusive first weekly title of the campaign.
Dobey, meanwhile, reached his second semi-final in the space of three weeks as he stunned a below-par Littler 6-2 last time out before losing out to Price by the same scoreline to remain second from bottom and six points behind MVG.
Stockport’s Nathan Aspinall is also poised for a rapturous reception in Manchester when he steps up to face Rob Cross.
Aspinall, runner-up on Night Three and Night Five, has managed just one win from his last four Premier League outings but remains just three points outside of the play-off places.
His best performances of late have come on the European Tour, having secured a maiden title at the European Darts Trophy in Gottingen last month before finishing runner-up in last weekend’s International Open.
Cross’ run of five consecutive weekly semi-finals came to an end in Berlin last week after a 6-3 defeat to Humphries, and the 2018 World Champion pulled out of the subsequent International Open through illness.
Cross remains on the periphery of the top four, just one point behind Van Gerwen, though it’s Aspinall who has won both of their meetings in this season’s Premier League to date.
The action 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 2025 Night Ten Schedule
Thursday April 10
7pm-11pm
Quarter-Finals
Chris Dobey v Michael van Gerwen
Nathan Aspinall v Rob Cross
Luke Littler v Gerwyn Price
Stephen Bunting v Luke Humphries
Semi-Finals
Dobey/Van Gerwen v Aspinall/Cross
Littler/Price v Bunting/Humphries
Final
