It looks like any four from five for the Premier League play-offs which means there will be plenty of tension in the air heading to the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool for Night 13.
Just six points separates the top five players and with just four weeks of the regular season remaining slip-ups now will become seriously costly.
Debutants Luke Humphries and Luke Littler are tied at the top and are 9/4 and 10/3 to land the nightly glory on Merseyside.
Premier League darts tips
- Nathan Aspinall to beat Luke Humphries @ 15/8
- Gerwyn Price to beat Luke Littler @ 5/4
- Michael Smith to beat Rob Cross @ 4/5
- Michael van Gerwen to win Night 13 @ 10/3
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High-Flying Aspinall Can Take Down Leader
League leaders Humphries and Littler are enjoying dream Premier League debuts – but there’s value in thinking at least one of them will fall at the first in Liverpool.
Humphries takes on Nathan Aspinall in the quarter-finals and The Asp will be full of beans after triumphing in Rotterdam last Thursday.
Aspinall has suffered just two quarter-final exits in the last nine weeks and continues to protest that his big-stage bottle serves him well in these contests.
Humphries is unbeatable at his sublime best but since reeling off his hat-trick of Thursday night successes he has won just two matches in the last four weeks. Aspinall looks a spot of value at 15/8.
Little Doubt Gezzy Can Land Nice Price
Before Humphries and Aspinall take to the stage Littler takes on Gerwyn Price in the night’s opener.
Crowd favourite Littler won’t have the full backing of the Liverpool crowd – swearing an undying allegiance for Manchester United and criticising Jurgen Klopp definitely gets noted on Merseyside – although nothing seems to faze him.
Price, though, is playing well enough to beat him. He’s done it once in this year’s tournament – their head-to-head record in the Premier League reads 1-1 – and his performances are arguably better than his results.
Gezzy did get to the final of the International Open two weekends back and will never stop fighting. There is more than enough in his game to suggest he merits backing at 5/4.
Van Gerwen Primed For Mersey Treat
The bottom half of the draw in Liverpool looks to be at the mercy of Michael Smith and Michael van Gerwen.
Smith looks a good thing against Cross, who is now without a win since Night Six and confidence will be ebbing away.
Bully Boy looks a decent bet at 4/5 while Van Gerwen should have far too much power and form for Peter Wright.
Snakebite is bottom of the table and the campaign can’t end soon enough for a man who averaged less than 78 in his first-round exit at the hands of Aspinall last Thursday.
Aspinall, of course, went on to take the nightly prizes in Rotterdam and Van Gerwen is fancied to triumph in Liverpool, where he can see off Wright en route to a precious five-point haul.
The Green Machine, a winner two Thursdays back, reached the semis of the European Grand Prix at the weekend so while he might not be at his world-class best, he is still a hard man to beat.
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