2024 BetMGM Premier League Darts: Night Two Preview
Night one of the 2024 BetMGM Premier League Darts saw Michael Smith silence a partisan Welsh crowd to defeat Gerwyn Price in the final and go top of the table.
While there are no German players in this year’s event, it will still be a raucous atmosphere this evening as one of the best night’s on the calendar takes place.
The Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin marks the first stop in continental Europe for the 2024 Premier League Darts. Since its addition to the Premier League in 2018, the crowds have flocked to the German capital to make a wall of noise in the venue, providing one of the best atmosphere’s of the competition.
Here’s what to expect ahead of tonight’s action.
Rematch of last week’s final among first two quarter finals
The first game on stage tonight sees Nathan Aspinall take on Michael van Gerwen. Both went out at the quarter final stages to the eventual finalists last week. Aspinall lost to Price, while van Gerwen fell to defeat against Smith.
Both players though put that behind them last weekend, reaching at least the last four of The Masters in Milton Keynes. The Asp fell to Stephen Bunting, while MvG beat Dimitri van den Bergh in his semi final, eventually losing to The Bullet in the final.
The pair split their games against each other in last year’s Premier League Darts, finishing 2-2. They’ve not met at all though since October, when van Gerwen beat Aspinall 11-4 to claim the 2023 World Series of Darts Finals.
After their losses last week, both players are desperate for points in Berlin to kickstart their campaign. Who will get on the scoreboard tonight?
The second quarter final sees a rematch of last week’s final, where Smith defeated Price 6-2 in the Welsh capital.
It improved Bully Boy’s record over The Iceman to three straight wins against him in a Premier League Darts match, all of them being finals. Price though has the edge in non-final matches against Smith, winning the last two games of this type. In fact, the last time he lost to the Bully Boy in a non-final Premier League game was on night three in 2023.
Will Price get revenge for last week? Or will Smith move into the semi finals for the second straight event?
Three world champions in remaining quarter finals
The third quarter final sees Luke Littler take on Rob Cross. Both made the last four in week one, with Littler losing out to Smith, and Cross being defeated by Price.
This will be the first time the two have played each other on a Premier League Darts stage. It’s also a rematch of one of the 2024 World Darts Championship semi finals, where The Nuke beat Voltage 6-2 in a game littered with quality.
Both players are off the mark in the event this year, but both will want to get more points and start their push for Finals Night early on the campaign. Will Littler continue his remarkable form? Or will 2018 World Champion Cross get revenge for Alexandra Palace?
The final last eight tie sees Luke Humphries play Peter Wright. Both fell in the quarter finals last week, as Humphries lost to Littler, while Wright was defeated by Cross.
It’s been a tough start to the year for Cool Hand, who’s won four of the last six TV titles including the World Darts Championship. He’s been subjected to a lot of crowd abuse, including last week where he was visibly furious at people in the crowd whistling while he was throwing.
Snakebite’s alarming dip in form has been the talk of darts media for a while. He did make the quarter finals of The Masters last weekend, before losing 10-2 to eventual champion Bunting. The two time World Champion has also started to snap back at people in the media, including a rant at Chris Mason after his second round win against Krzysztof Ratajski in Milton Keynes.
The two have never played on a Premier League Darts stage before, and have only played each other nine times in PDC events, with Wright leading the overall head to head 6-3. However, their last meeting in front of the big cameras came at the 2023 World Grand Prix, where Cool Hand defeated Snakebite in the quarter finals en route to his first televised major.
Both will be desperate to not fall too far behind the race for the top four, so who will pick up their first two points in this year’s event?
2024 BetMGM Premier League Darts Night Two Schedule of Play
Mercedes-Benz, Arena Berlin
Thursday 8 February (19.00 GMT, 20.00 CET)
Quarter Finals
Nathan Aspinall v Michael van Gerwen
Michael Smith v Gerwyn Price
Luke Littler v Rob Cross
Luke Humphries v Peter Wright
Semi Finals
Nathan Aspinall / Michael van Gerwen v Michael Smith / Gerwyn Price
Luke Littler / Rob Cross v Luke Humphries / Peter Wright
Final
Nathan Aspinall / Michael van Gerwen / Michael Smith / Gerwyn Price v Luke Littler / Rob Cross / Luke Humphries / Peter Wright
All matches best of 11 legs