Humphries wins in Leeds as Van Gerwen qualifies for Premier League Darts Play-Offs

Luke Humphries harnessed the energy of a capacity crowd in Leeds to pick up his fourth nightly win of the 2024 BetMGM Premier League Darts.

The world number one, a massive Leeds United fan, was the toast of the fans as he held off Michael van Gerwen in a last leg decider to bag the victory.

Despite losing in the final, it was a very good for The Green Machine. The seven time champion, who’s won the last two titles including at The O2 last year, will return to London to attempt a threepeat after he booked the third spot in the Play-Offs.

Humphries hold off Van Gerwen in deciding leg

MvG punished six missed darts at double for Cool Hand in the first two legs to go 2-0 in front, before both held to make it 3-1 to the seven time champion. Humphries though fought back, holding before breaking with a 132 outshot on tops to level the contest.

Both missed darts for the seventh leg, before the Dutchman pinged double eight to break and go ahead once more, but the World Champion equalised straight away, hitting double ten to make it 4-4.

Humphries found tops in the ninth to lead for the first time in the match and go within one, and missed a dart at tops in the tenth to be victorious. Van Gerwen then found double 16 to force a decider, but missed a dart at bull to become the first man to win five nightly victories in the Premier League Darts in a single season. Cool Hand this time found tops to send the Leeds crowd home happy and get his fourth nightly win of the campaign.

The final was in contrast to the rest of Humphries’ night. He hit a 109 average to beat Rob Cross in the quarter final 6-1, before beating Bully Boy Michael Smith by the same scoreline in his last four contest.

For the Green Machine, even though he qualified for the Play-Offs, his night started worringly. He trailed 3-1 down in his quarter final against the returning Gerwyn Price. Van Gerwen though powered back, winning five legs on the spin to progress.

That set up a semi final against league leader Luke Littler, in which The Nuke put in his poorest performance of the campaign. MvG won 6-1 to reach the final, the first time Littler lost by more than four legs in his entire PDC career. MvG now has qualified for the Play-Offs in 11 of his 12 campaigns in the Premier League Darts.

Smith stays in alive in Premier League Darts Play-Off race

Despite losing to Humphries, Michael Smith ensured the battle for the final Premier League Darts Play-Off spot will go to the final day. He beat Nathan Aspinall 6-3 in the last quarter final to cut the gap to The Asp to just one point. The two will meet at the same stage next week, with the winner taking the final place at The O2 in two weeks time.

Littler saw off Peter Wright 6-1 in the other quarter final to further solidify his place at the top of the table. The Nuke hit four 180s to demolish the two time World Champion, with the Scot averaging just 82.7.

The 2024 BetMGM Premier League Darts league phase concludes next Thursday at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield.

2024 BetMGM Premier League Darts Night 15 Results

First Direct Arena, Leeds

Thursday 9 May

Final

Luke Humphries 6-5 Michael van Gerwen

Semi Finals

Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Luke Littler

Luke Humphries 6-1 Michael Smith

Quarter Finals

Michael van Gerwen 6-3 Gerwyn Price

Luke Littler 6-1 Peter Wright

Luke Humphries 6-1 Rob Cross

Michael Smith 6-3 Nathan Aspinall