Premier League Darts 2024 | Night Four Newcastle Preview and Order of Play
Premier League Darts heads to Newcastle on Thursday for Night Four of the competition as Michael van Gerwen bids to make it a hat-trick of weekly titles.
Van Gerwen heads to Tyneside boasting a six-match unbeaten run, having claimed back-to-back weekly titles to move three points clear at the top of the table.
The reigning and seven-time Premier League champion secured three consecutive weekly titles between Nights 4-6 last season and opens up with a quarter-final tie against Gerwyn Price in a repeat of last year’s final.
Van Gerwen thrashed Price 11-5 at The O2 Arena last May to retain the crown, and the pair will go head-to-head for the first time in 2024.
The Dutchman has landed more 180s (27) than any other player in this year’s Premier League so far and also holds the highest checkout success rate (47.7%).
Price, who finished top of last year’s Premier League table, has lost in all three rounds of this campaign so far, finishing runner-up in Cardiff before suffering a quarter-final defeat in Berlin and a semi-final exit in Glasgow last time out.
The 2021 World Champion was beaten by Steve Lennon and Christian Perez on the ProTour in midweek and will be looking to ignite his season by replicating last year’s success in Newcastle – where he thrashed MVG 6-1 in the final with a sensational 115 average.
Meanwhile, Luke Littler looks to extend Peter Wright’s winless start to the tournament when the pair face off for the first time.
World Championship finalist Littler has remained in third spot since the opening night, notably finishing runner-up in Berlin before suffering his first quarter-final exit at the hands of Price last week.
The 17-year-old, who has already claimed Bahrain Masters glory and a Players Championship title, hitting a nine-darter in both events, has registered a ton-plus average in four of his six Premier League matches so far.
Wright, on the other hand, is averaging just 88.4 for the tournament and finds himself at the foot of the table – where he ended the campaign last year.
The reigning European Champion had to wait until Night Six for his first win last year and will be determined to stop the rot and climb off the bottom at the earliest opportunity.
Wright has shown signs of a resurgence away from the TV cameras, reaching two semi-finals and a quarter-final in four Players Championship events so far this term.
The opening quarter-final sees former Premier League finalists Nathan Aspinall and Michael Smith collide.
Like Wright, Aspinall is also yet to get off the mark after three weeks of competition and has squandered early leads in each of his three fixtures – losing out to Price, Van Gerwen and Luke Humphries.
Missed doubles have proved costly for the World Matchplay champion – who has converted just 11 of his 39 attempts at the outer ring so far.
Smith got off to a perfect start by winning Night One in Cardiff, but was beaten 6-5 by MVG in the Berlin semi-finals and 6-4 by Cross in last week’s quarter-finals – where he averaged just 90.3 in a below-par display.
The 2023 World Champion remains well-poised in second spot and will be out to pile more pressure on his regular practice partner.
World number one and reigning World Champion Humphries aims to go one better than last week’s runner-up spot when he takes on world number six Cross.
After suffering successive defeats at the hands of Littler, Humphries kick-started his debut Premier League campaign with a fine run to the final in Glasgow which included a trio of ton-plus averages.
The four-time major winner opted to skip this week’s Players Championship double-header and heads to the North East in search of a first weekly title to cement his early position in the top four.
Cross was comprehensively beaten by Humphries in the final of last November’s Grand Slam but did land his first European Tour title at the expense of ‘Cool Hand’ in Sindelfingen last May.
The 2018 World Champion has four points to his name after reaching the semis in Cardiff and Glasgow but is yet to register a ton-plus average.
Night Four 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 Four Schedule
Thursday February 22
Utilita Arena, Newcastle
Quarter-Finals
Michael Smith v Nathan Aspinall
Rob Cross v Luke Humphries
Peter Wright v Luke Littler
Gerwyn Price v Michael van Gerwen
Semi-Finals
Smith/Aspinall v Cross/Humphries
Wright/Littler v Price/Van Gerwen
Final
