Premier League Darts 2024 | Night 13 Liverpool Preview and Order of Play
Premier League Darts heads to Liverpool for Night 13 on Thursday as the race for play-off qualification intensifies.
Just four nights of action remain before the top four in the league table progress to London to compete for the outright title and £275,000 top prize.
Based on last year’s cut-off of 24 points, the top two in the table look to have one foot in The O2 on 26 points apiece, while the remaining two places look to be between three players.
Gerwyn Price is among those looking to gatecrash the party with a late flurry of points, and last year’s beaten finalist faces a must-win clash with Luke Littler at the M&S Bank Arena.
Price comes into Night 13 ten points adrift of the top four, knowing that an eighth quarter-final defeat of the tournament would all but end his hopes of reaching finals night.
Runner-up in the recent International Open, Price has appeared in two weekly finals in this year’s Premier League so far and has a tournament average of 99.4, but missed doubles have often proved to be his downfall.
The Welshman was denied in a deciding leg by Michael Smith in Rotterdam last week and now faces teenage sensation Littler for only the third time in this event, with the pair having claimed a win apiece.
Littler came out on top when they met in the final on Night 10 in Manchester, and the 17-year-old is bidding to rubber-stamp his place in the play-offs on debut.
With two weekly titles and a further two finals under his belt, Littler has enjoyed a memorable campaign so far, but is looking to bounce back from only his third quarter-final exit of the tournament last time out.
Another blockbuster clash sees league leader Luke Humphries up against play-off chasing Nathan Aspinall.
Humphries, who claimed a hat-trick of weekly titles earlier in the campaign, returned to the top of the table after reaching the semis in Rotterdam – where he was beaten 6-4 by eventual champion Aspinall.
The world number one and World Champion continues to hold down a ton-plus tournament average and has won three of his five meetings with Aspinall in this competition so far.
Aspinall reigned in Rotterdam for the second successive year to pick up his second weekly title of the season and strengthen his bid for a play-off place.
The World Matchplay champion starts the night three points clear of Michael Smith in fifth as he vies to become the fourth player to clinch back-to-back weekly titles in 2024.
Reigning and seven-time Premier League champion Michael van Gerwen looks to get back on track by overcoming rock bottom Peter Wright.
Van Gerwen’s 2024 Premier League campaign has been largely feast or famine, with four weekly titles and seven quarter-final exits meaning he heads to Merseyside in fourth position.
The Dutchman has thrashed Wright 6-1 in each of his last two visits to this venue and notably claimed the weekly title here last year.
Wright is effectively playing for pride and prize money as he bids to avoid finishing bottom of the table for the second successive year and claim what would be a third straight win over MVG.
The two-time World Champion has just two match wins to his name and has worryingly lost his last eight matches in all competitions, most recently a 6-5 defeat to Mickey Mansell on the European Tour last weekend.
The Scot’s average of 77.48 in last Thursday’s 6-2 defeat to Aspinall in Rotterdam was his lowest in Premier League history.
The fourth quarter-final sees former World Champions Michael Smith and Rob Cross collide.
Smith makes the short journey from St Helens looking to keep pace with the top four and build on last week’s run to the final.
The Night One winner has picked up points in five of the last seven league nights and was runner-up in Liverpool last year.
Cross, on the other hand, will be desperate to end a run of seven consecutive quarter-final exits which have left him second from bottom and 11 points adrift of the play-off places.
Semi-finalist on the European Tour in Sindelfingen last weekend, Cross is out to transfer that form onto the Premier League stage and repeat his victory over Smith on Night Three in Glasgow – their only league meeting so far.
Night 13 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 13 Schedule
Thursday April 25
Quarter-Finals
Luke Littler v Gerwyn Price
Luke Humphries v Nathan Aspinall
Peter Wright v Michael van Gerwen
Michael Smith v Rob Cross
Semi-Finals
Littler/Price v Humphries/Aspinall
Wright/Van Gerwen v Smith/Cross
Final
