Premier League Darts 2024 | Night 11 Birmingham Preview and Order of Play
Premier League Darts visits Birmingham for Night 11 on Thursday as Luke Littler aims to secure a hat-trick of weekly titles.
Another crucial night in the race for the play-offs sees the elite eight head to the Utilita Arena in search of vital points and the £10,000 bonus.
After becoming the fifth different nightly winner of the campaign in Belfast a fortnight ago, Littler made it back-to-back triumphs as he took the spoils in Manchester to move top of the table.
The 17-year-old is now bidding to become the third player this season to claim three weekly titles on the spin and surely confirm his place in next month’s play-offs.
The reigning Bahrain Masters and Belgian Open champion puts his six-match unbeaten run on the line against Rob Cross in the evening’s second quarter-final.
Littler thrashed Cross by six sets to two in the semi-finals of the World Championship, and the pair have since claimed a win apiece from their head-to-head meetings in the Premier League.
Cross is looking to end a run of four consecutive quarter-final exits which have seen him slip to sixth position, six points adrift of the play-off places.
Cross was runner-up on Night Five in Exeter, defeating Littler along the way, but has struggled for consistency in recent weeks and could find himself all but out of the play-off chase should he fail to add to his points tally in Birmingham.
The opening quarter-final sees second-placed Luke Humphries take on rock bottom Peter Wright.
Humphries has won all three of their Premier League meetings so far, including successive 6-1 thrashings, and is looking to get back to winning ways following consecutive quarter-final defeats.
The world number one had stormed to a hat-trick of weekly titles in Brighton, Nottingham and Dublin to move top of the pile, but was denied by Littler in Belfast and Michael Smith in Manchester.
Runner-up in Tuesday’s Players Championship event, Humphries continues to uphold a 102 average for the tournament and has landed 69 maximums.
Wright appears resigned to his fate in terms of the play-off hunt but could still have a major say in who makes it to The O2.
The reigning European Champion has registered just two wins from 12 matches played, leaving him six points adrift at the foot of the table – where he finished the 2023 campaign.
Wright suffered successive First Round exits on the ProTour in midweek but will look to find the form which saw him average 109.5 in Manchester last week.
Gerwyn Price was the man to deny ‘Snakebite’ his third win, and the Welshman opens up against Michael Smith in a repeat of last week’s semi-final.
Price produced perfection a week ago as he landed a third Premier League nine-darter in a 6-3 success over Bully Boy, before falling flat in the final against Littler.
Last year’s Premier League runner-up remains in search of his first weekly title of the campaign but will feel he is back in the play-off race, trailing fourth-placed Michael van Gerwen by seven points.
Smith is just two points adrift of MVG, having featured in three weekly finals so far, including Night One in Cardiff – where he denied home hero Price glory.
Price has taken his tournament average to 99.6, three points higher than Smith, and has a checkout success rate of 41.5 per cent to Smith’s 37 per cent.
Meanwhile, an out of sorts Van Gerwen aims to recapture his top form when he takes on crowd favourite Nathan Aspinall.
After a blistering start which saw him win three of the opening four nights, Van Gerwen has suffered five quarter-final defeats in his next six outings, putting his play-off place in jeopardy.
The reigning and seven-time Premier League champion has dropped to fourth spot and was beaten by Ian White and Andrew Gilding on the ProTour earlier this week.
Van Gerwen averaged just 91.7 in a 6-3 defeat to Littler last week but will be determined to record a third consecutive win over ‘The Asp’ in this season’s Premier League.
Aspinall leapfrogged the Dutchman into third spot after reaching the semi-finals on home soil in Manchester – where he was eventually beaten 6-4 by Littler.
The World Matchplay champion has not lost in the quarter-finals since Night Six and joins Humphries in having reached four weekly finals.
Night 11 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 11 Schedule
Thursday April 11
Quarter-Finals
Peter Wright v Luke Humphries
Rob Cross v Luke Littler
Gerwyn Price v Michael Smith
Michael van Gerwen v Nathan Aspinall
Semi-Finals
Wright/Humphries v Cross/Littler
Price/Smith v Van Gerwen/Aspinall
Final
