Premier League Darts 2024 | Night 12 Rotterdam Preview and Order of Play
Premier League Darts returns to Rotterdam for Night 12 on Thursday as the battle for top spot takes another twist.
Just five nights of action remain before the cut off for the play-offs, where the top four in the league table will head to London to compete for the title.
The top three already look to have one foot in The O2, while Michael Smith and Nathan Aspinall look set to battle it out for the remaining spot unless any of the bottom three can mount a late charge.
A sold-out Rotterdam Ahoy is the setting for this week’s action, with the stand-out quarter-final featuring home hero Michael van Gerwen up against the sport’s current dominant force – Luke Humphries.
The most recent meeting between the pair saw Humphries complete an 8-1 demolition of MVG in the final of the German Darts Grand Prix little over a fortnight ago to claim his sixth European Tour title.
Humphries also ended Van Gerwen’s nine-match unbeaten run in their most recent Premier League fixture in Exeter on February 29th and has since climbed above the Dutchman into second position in the league table.
However, Van Gerwen roared back to winning ways in Birmingham last Thursday to secure his first weekly title since Night Four and his fourth of the campaign in total, closing back to within two points of Humphries.
The reigning and seven-time Premier League champion is seeking a first nightly title in Rotterdam at the third attempt and is bidding to become the first player to win five weekly titles in a season since the inception of this format.
Humphries ended a run of successive quarter-final defeats as he overcame Peter Wright in Birmingham before being edged out by his recent nemesis Luke Littler 6-5 in the semi-finals.
Littler begins his quest to reach a fourth consecutive weekly final with a clash against Night One winner Michael Smith.
Littler secured back-to-back titles in Belfast and Manchester, before seeing his eight-match unbeaten run brought to an end by Van Gerwen in last week’s final.
The World Youth Champion and World Championship finalist remains two points clear at the top of the table, having picked up points in nine of the opening 11 nights of competition.
The 17-year-old, however, has lost three of his four meetings with Smith in the Premier League so far and will be keen to improve on that record when he makes his debut in Rotterdam.
Smith starts the night in fifth spot after closing the gap on Aspinall to just one point courtesy of his quarter-final success over Gerwyn Price last week with a 104.5 average – his highest of the campaign.
The 2023 World Champion has ominously failed to win a match in five previous visits to this venue and knows he can ill-afford another slip-up if he is to keep pace with the top four.
Aspinall returns to the scene of last year’s title triumph in Rotterdam as he faces rock bottom Peter Wright.
The World Matchplay champion failed to surpass the quarter-final stage for only the second time since Night Three when he was denied by Van Gerwen last time out, but is looking to make it a hat-trick of wins over ‘Snakebite’ in this season’s Premier League.
Aspinall averaged 113 in a 6-2 win over Jonny Clayton in last week’s International Open, but struggled to back up that display as he went down by the same scoreline to Danny Noppert in the Last 16.
Wright is effectively playing for pride and prize money, 14 points adrift of the play-off places and six adrift at the foot of the table.
The reigning European Champion has just two wins to his name and is bidding to avoid finishing bottom of the pile for the second year running, having mustered just nine points last season.
A must-win clash for both players sees last year’s runner-up Price take on Rob Cross, with both out to atone for quarter-final exits last week.
Price continued his recent resurgence with a run to the final of the International Open last Sunday, but was beaten 8-5 by home favourite Martin Schindler.
He heads to Rotterdam eight points adrift of the play-offs and in desperate need of a first weekly title of the season if he is to give himself a chance of gatecrashing Finals Night.
Cross, meanwhile, has slumped to five consecutive quarter-final defeats, leaving him seven points adrift of the top four.
However, the 2018 World Champion has won the pair’s last two meetings by an aggregate scoreline of 13-4, which included a 6-1 rout on Night Five – where he averaged in excess of 109.
Night 12 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 12 Schedule
Thursday April 18
Quarter-Finals
Michael Smith v Luke Littler
Rob Cross v Gerwyn Price
Peter Wright v Nathan Aspinall
Michael van Gerwen v Luke Humphries
Semi-Finals
Smith/Littler v Cross/Price
Wright/Aspinall v Van Gerwen/Humphries
Final
