Premier League Darts - Night Five Tips
Night five of the Premier League brings one of the most highly anticipated fixtures in the opening match of the tournament as Luke Humphries takes on Michael Van Gerwen in the opening fixture. MvG narrowly won the night three finale between the two players despite Humphries having an average of 8 points higher per throw than the Dutchman. We saw the best of MvG against Gerwyn Price in Newcastle and he saw off a very game Nathan Aspinall in the final.
As for the rest of the pack, we're yet to see the best Luke Littler has to offer at this stage. We've had glimpses but it feels like just a matter of time before the Nuke blasts into form but do we think that it will happen in Exeter?
Tip 1: Michael Smith to win Night 5
Michael Smith won the first night of darts in Cardiff, despatching of Michael Van Gerwen, Luke Littler and Gerwyn Price but since then Bully Boy has won just one game out of five. Smith tends to perform best when there's doubt over his performances and we often see massive performances come out of nowhere and it feels like the match between Luke Littler and Michael Smith could see the winner of night five. Michael Van Gerwen''s form is scintillating on paper but he isn't beating players comfortably and it wouldn't come as a major surprise if he loses to Luke Humphries in the opening round, leaving night five open.
Tip 2: Humphries to beat Michael Van Gerwen
Luke Humphries played significantly better darts than Michael Van Gerwen on night three but somehow the Dutchman was victorious. The issue Humphries faces has been his doubles, in regards to averages, he tops the table so far but it's been a poor checkout ratio that has led to Humphries sitting lower down in the table than he'd like. Once Humphries gets going, we can see him winning back-to-back nights with ease and a convincing win over MvG could be the catalyst for that.
Tip 3: Aspinall to beat Peter Wright
Peter Wright hasn't won a game in the Premier League yet and looks out of sorts but Wright did have his best game of the tournament so far in a 6-5 defeat to Luke Littler in Newcastle as the rowdy crowd got behind the Scotsman and he seemed to react. However, that seemed to be more due to Littler's Manchester United connections rather than a following for Snakebite.
The Exeter crowd will be well up for the evening but they won't galvanise Wright quite as much as the Geordie crowd did and Nathan Aspinall is one of the most underrated players in the game at the moment in our opinion, Aspinall could go far on night five but a semi-final clash against Humphries or MvG doesn't make us confident enough to back him.
Tip 4: Rob Cross to beat Gerwyn Price
Average would summarise both of these players' start to the season so far but both have a good chance to turn a 5/10 into a 7/10 in Exeter. They are on the preferred side of the draw, without a doubt and it wouldn't surprise many if on the night, the winner came from this side of the draw. Cross was unlucky not to make the final last week while Price was outclassed by MvG, who ultimately would have outclassed almost anybody in that game but Price is a confidence player and that confidence seems to be a little low right now.