Premier League Darts night 11 tips and predictions: Price resurgence to continue, Luke showdown in the semi-final
- Thomas Ridley
- 9 April 2024
The Premier League arrives into Birmingham for night 11 and plenty is on the line as the race for the play-offs heats up.
The last five nights have been won by a Luke, but what surprised us the most last week was the resurgence of Gerwyn Price.
The Iceman stormed out of the blocks and was mightily impressive in his victories against Peter Wright and Michael Smith, with a nine-darter against the latter.
He fell at the final hurdle against Luke Littler, but the confidence a run to the final at Manchester will have givem him could give him a springboard to launch a late assault on the play-offs.
In the quarter-finals, he plays Smith in a repeat of last week's semi-final, while in his half of the draw he avoids the Lukes, as the other quarter-final sees out-of-form Michael Van Gerwen take on third-placed Nathan Aspinall.
While in the top half of the draw, Luke Humphires takes on basement boy Peter Wright and Littler faces Rob Cross, who is struggling for form.
Night 11 quarter-final schedule (1900 BST)
Peter Wright vs Luke Humphries
Rob Cross vs Luke Littler
Gerwyn Price vs Michael Smith
Michael Van Gerwen vs Nathan Aspinall
Humphries' standards have dropped in the last two weeks and he now finds himself second in the table, behind Littler.
However, he will see a quarter-final against Peter Wright as a huge opportunity to get back to winning ways after quarter-final exits in the last two weeks.
Wright has only won two matches across 10 nights so far and is a shadow of the player who won world titles in 2020 and 2022.
In the other quarter-final in the top half of the draw, teenage sensation Littler takes on Cross, who has struggled for form in recent weeks and is now six points off the final play-off spot.
Littler has won two nights on the spin and can join Humphries and Van Gerwen in the three consecutive night wins club in the second city.
If he gets past Cross, he will more than likely find himself rekindling his rivalry with Humphries once again and he has won all five of his tungsten tussles with the world champion since their Ally Pally showdown so another nightly final for The Nuke could be on the cards.
On the other half of the draw, we see a repeat of last week's semi-final, when Gerwyn Price takes on 2023 world champion Michael Smith.
Price's campaign was threatening to be a forgettable one, but he bounced back with a bang last week and the highlight of the night was his nine-darter against Bully Boy.
The Welshman's stats throughout this year's tournament have been good, with his tournament average being bettered only by the Littler. Van Gerwen and Humphries.
When you see the stats, you don't quite know where things have gone wrong for the Iceman this season, but we're backing him here because if he maintains the form he showed in Manchester there's not many who can beat the world number five on his day.
The final quarter-final sees Michael Van Gerwen take on the ever consistent Nathan Aspinall.
Van Gerwen started the tournament on fire, he was like a brand new Mercedes Benz in the opening stages of the campaign but now he is more like an old clapped out banger, as in the last six nights he has won just once and is hanging on to the final play-off spot by the skin of his teeth.
Despite a slow start to the season, The Asp is one point and one place above fourth placed MVG and has consistently picked up points recently, winning his quarter-final in each of the past four weeks.
The Asp's stats are towards the bottom of the table, with only Peter Wright having a worse tournament average, but he has found a way to win and tops the ton-plus checkout chart.
We think the Asp will make the most of an out-of-form Van Gerwen and win here, but a fired up Price could end his night prematurely in the semi-final.
