Premier League Darts 2024 Belfast Odds: Cool Hand to star again in tasty treble

The Premier League roadshow heads to the SSE Arena in Belfast on Thursday night (19:00). World Champion Luke Humphries has won a consecutive hat-trick of nightly victories to take control of the tournament but can he win yet again? Our Darts expert Sean Rafferty previews this one and gives us his predictions for the evenings action. 

Draw

Luke Humphries vs Luke Littler

Michael Smith vs Michael van Gerwen

Nathan Aspinall vs Gerwyn Price

Rob Cross vs Peter Wright

• 2 pts Luke Humphries to win night nine @ 9/4

I'm not going to shock anyone too much with this selection, but Cool Hand has justified the predictability of backing him outright now. The World Champ has won outright three weeks on the trot, to catapult himself to the top of the league table by a considerable distance.

I see no reason why he can’t make it four in a row, despite being in the tougher half of the draw with Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen. He’s just a distance ahead of the rest in terms of averages at the moment that makes him so hard to beat.

He’s averaged 101+ in 10 of his last 11 matches, arguably the highest levels of consistency we’ve ever seen him reach so far. Confidence will be through the roof just now and 9/4 again is good considering that’s what he was to win outright last week.

Every chance of this going in again.

• Humphries to beat Littler @ 8/13

Touching a bit again on Humphries after some thoughts on his chances above - the man is a winning machine just now and I really do think it could take a 105 average or upwards to topple him at the moment. Littler is capable of that level but it’s still odds against happening.

The only negative for Cool Hand here, is he has lost all three of his meetings to Littler since he won their World final but you have to say Humphries has went up several gears since they last met seven weeks ago.

For me, this is the best fixture in darts right now and there’s no doubting it will be another beauty to watch. I just feel Humphries is a bit more consistent than Littler just now and tidier on the outer ring. He’ll be pushed but Humphries to beat anyone in darts right now at 8/13 can’t be sniffed at.

• Price over 2.5 180s @ 8/13

Gerwyn Price and Nathan Aspinall are playing at a pretty similar level just now. It’s quite an important match as 'Asp' sits around the top 4 and Price needs a win or two this week, to put himself right back in the mix for a spot in the top 4 come May.

Price does have some good success over the Asp in recent times, winning their last six meetings. I found it too tough to call the winner, so instead have opted for 'The Iceman' to continue his maximum hitting that he’s achieved of late in the Premier League - he’s hit 4+ 180s in his last three PL matches, so 3+ doesn’t sound too big a task in a match that should have 9+ legs.

• Cross under 2.5 180s @ 8/13

Rob Cross is another player looking to mount some pressure on the top 4, as he currently sits two points behind Aspinall and Michael Smith in 6th, knowing an outright win could lift him all the way up to 3rd which tells you how tight the table is.

I reckon he does enough to win against Wright who’s still battling to find his best game. 4/11 to win is a tad skinny however, and I do feel that there’s more to be said for the 180 markets again - Cross to hit under 2.5 180s at 8/13 is always a fairly solid and reliable pick, as he doesn’t regularly hit them in abundance.

'Voltage' has hit under 2.5 180s in six of his last seven matches, all of which were first to 6/7 legs. His worst average in any of these matches was 96.33, which tells you even when he’s playing a high level the maximums aren’t really happening for him. This looks the best value here in this match-up.

1.5 pts Treble @ 16/5