After all the debate about the lineup and two World Series events for the players to warm up, the 2024 BetMGM Premier League Darts begins in Wales.

The annual event, which travels to 17 cities across the UK, Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands, starts this year at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff.

Eight players will start the night looking to be the overall winner of the evening. There will be four quarter finals, two semi finals and the final to determine who will take the honour of being the first night winner of the 2024 Premier League Darts.

Here’s what to expect on night one.

Wright v Cross, Price v Aspinall first two games

The first game of the event sees Peter Wright play Rob Cross. Wright will be desperate to return to some form in this event, having missed the playoffs in each of the last three years. Cross meanwhile is returning to a Premier League stage for the first time since 2021.

In the last World Series event at the Dutch Darts Masters, both lost on night one. Voltage went down 6-5 to Dutch legend Raymond van Barneveld 6-5, while Snakebite averaged just 81 in a disappointing 6-2 defeat to Kevin Doets.

In recent years Cross has had a handle on the two time World Champion in the leg play format. He beat him 7-0 en route to winning the New South Wales Darts Masters last year, averaging 109.6 in the process. He also beat him in the semi final of The Masters last year in a last leg decider, before going on to lose to Chris Dobey in the final.

In Premier League meetings, Voltage did not lose to Wright in their first four battles. In both 2020 and 2021 however, Snakebite beat the former World Champion 7-5 en route to Cross being relegated. In the battle of the former World Champions, who will come out on top and move into the semi finals?

The next quarter final sees Welsh favourite Gerwyn Price against Nathan Aspinall, in a battle of former Premier League Darts finalists. Price lost out 12 months ago, while Aspinall was runner-up in 2020.

This sees a rematch of last year’s Cardiff final, where The Iceman won 6-3. The Asp would get some revenge though, beating him in the Rotterdam final later in the season.

That final in the Netherlands was the last time the Englishman beat the Welshman. Price has won the last five meetings against the World Matchplay champion, including in the last 16 at the European Championship in 2023. Will it be six in a row for The Iceman and potentially back to back wins in his home country? Or will The Asp silence the partisan home crowd and rediscover his best form?

Last two World finals end quarter finals

The other section of the draw features repeats of the last two World Darts Championship finals.

The third game on sees the 2023 World final play out, as Michael van Gerwen takes on Michael Smith.

The two have played out some memorable games together. Many darts remember the greatest leg of all time in that World final, and MvG’s world record average hit against Smith in the 2016 event.

MvG seems to take victory more often than not in their games on this stage, winning 15 out of 20 of them. Their most recent meeting was at Finals Night at The O2 last year, when he beat Bully Boy 10-8 en route to winning his seventh Premier League Darts title.

Smith has failed to beat MvG in their last three ties, including at the Bahrain Darts Masters two weeks ago. Can he rediscover his mojo, or will Mighty Mike once again defeat the man from St Helens?

The final last eight tie of the night sees a rematch of this year’s World final, as Luke Littler takes on Luke Humphries.

These two played out an epic final at Alexandra Palace on 3 January. Littler missed a dart to move 5-2 ahead in that game, which eventually saw Humphries win five sets on the spin to take a 7-4 victory.

This is the first time that either of them have played a full Premier League Darts season, although Humphries was the only Contender to win a game on stage, beating Gary Anderson 7-5 in Exeter in 2020.

Cool Hand has won four of the last five big major TV titles, using his surprise exclusion from this event last year as fuel to do so. The Nuke though won their most recent meeting, coming through 6-5 in an excellent game at the Dutch Darts Masters.

The 17 year old has taken everything in his stride in recent weeks since he burst onto the scene, including hitting a nine darter en route to winning the Bahrain Darts Masters. Will he do the same in Cardiff, or will Cool Hand show why he is the world number one and win the third game between the pair on a PDC stage?

2024 BetMGM Premier League Darts Night One Schedule of Play

Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff

Thursday 1 February (19.00 GMT)

Quarter Finals

Peter Wright v Rob Cross

Gerwyn Price v Nathan Aspinall

Michael van Gerwen v Michael Smith

Luke Littler v Luke Humphries

Semi Finals

Peter Wright / Rob Cross v Gerwyn Price / Nathan Aspinall

Michael van Gerwen / Michael Smith v Luke Littler / Luke Humphries

Final

Peter Wright / Rob Cross / Gerwyn Price / Nathan Aspinall v Michael van Gerwen / Michael Smith / Luke Littler / Luke Humphries

All matches best of 11 legs