Premier League Darts Play-Offs 2024 Preview and Order of Play | Final four collide at The O2
The final four face off for the right to be crowned 2024 BetMGM Premier League Darts champion at The O2 in London on Thursday.
After 16 nights of competition across the UK, Ireland and Europe, the top four players in the final league table will do battle in a bid to claim the sport’s most prestigious invitational title and £275,000 top prize.
Two of the final four have progressed to the play-offs in their debut Premier League campaign, while the other two notably contested the final here in 2018.
Reigning champion Michael van Gerwen is aiming to land a record-extending eighth Premier League title and what would be a third in a row.
Despite racking up four weekly titles during the league phase, it has been far from plain sailing for the world number three – who ended the regular campaign in third spot.
Van Gerwen is making his 11th play-off appearance in 12 Premier League campaigns and has gone on to reach the final in nine of those ten previous appearances.
The Dutchman is seeking his second televised title of the year, following on from the Dutch Masters back in January, but faces a formidable task against Luke Humphries in the semi-finals.
Humphries has won four of their five Premier League meetings this season, as well as a further two victories on the European Tour – including an 8-1 rout in the final of the German Darts Grand Prix last month.
The world number one is aiming to secure part two of the ‘Triple Crown’, having claimed a fairy-tale first World Championship title on his most recent big stage outing in London at the beginning of the year.
Humphries, who was beaten in the final of the recent Baltic Sea Darts Open despite hitting a nine-darter, ended the league phase in second spot after picking up a quartet of weekly titles, including a hat-trick from Nights 6-8 and a memorable triumph in Leeds a fortnight ago.
The 29-year-old boasts the only ton-plus average (100.4) of the tournament and has won his last five consecutive major semi-finals. Victory here would mark his fifth major title in the space of seven months.
Also vying to become the eighth different Premier League champion since the event began in 2005 are teenage sensation Luke Littler and former World Champion Michael Smith.
At 17, Littler is bidding to become the youngest major champion in PDC history and cap off a remarkable debut campaign which has seen him finish top of the table with four weekly titles to his name.
The World Championship runner-up had to wait until Night Nine to secure his first weekly title but went on to dominate the latter stages of the campaign to end with a record-equalling 40 points.
In the midst of the Premier League season, Littler has also stormed to two European Tour titles and a Players Championship, climbing to 25th in the Order of Merit after less than five months as a Tour Card holder.
The Warrington wonderkid, however, faces a semi-final opponent who has proven to be his nemesis in this tournament so far, with Smith having won five of their seven fixtures.
A dress rehearsal for this showdown saw Smith narrowly prevail 6-5 in last week’s semi-finals in Sheffield on his way to securing a second weekly title of the season.
Smith left it late to book his place in the play-offs for the third time, defeating Nathan Aspinall 6-3 in their decisive shootout for fourth spot.
Smith’s first major final appearance came here six years ago when he was thrashed 11-4 by Van Gerwen, and he had to wait a further four years and endure seven more final defeats before eventually picking up a first major title at the 2022 Grand Slam.
While the tournament stats point in favour of Littler, ‘Bully Boy’ will be encouraged by his dominant head-to-head record and will be determined to maintain that over the extended format.
The action gets under way from 7pm BST, with Semi-Finals to be contested over the best of 19 legs and the final best of 21.
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Premier League Darts 2024 Play-Offs Schedule
Thursday May 23
Semi-Finals
Luke Littler v Michael Smith
Luke Humphries v Michael van Gerwen
Final
