Premier League Darts: Why you must watch it and who Luke Littler is playing

Premier League Darts returns on Thursday night and excitement is building like we've never seen before following the success Darts World Championship.

The main event of the first night will see the return of then sensational 17-year-old Luke Littler.

Littler will be facing a familiar opponent in Luke Humphries, who beat him in the PDC World Championship final in January.

Littler has enjoyed success since the World Championship, winning the Bahrain masters in a night where he avenged his loss against Humphries and beat veteran Michael Van Gerwen.

Littler is the youngest person to ever be selected for the premier league darts.

How does it work?

The Premier League Darts season spans 17 weeks and takes place in 17 different locations, including Liverpool.

Each night will have a quarter-final, semi-finals and a final. Every player will have one quarter final against all seven players between the first and seventh week then again between nights nine and 15. 

On the eighth and 16th night, the quarter-finals are determined by the standings at the time.

The semi-final will be the the best of 19 legs whilst the final will be the best of 21 legs.

The winner will take home a reported £275,000, whilst the runner-up will be taking home £125,000. The winner of each weekly event will take home £10,000

What are the match-ups on the first night?

Peter Wright vs Rob Cross

Gerwyn Price vs Nathan Aspinall

Michael van Gerwyn vs Michael Smith

Luke Littler vs Luke Humphries

Why is this year going to be the best?

This year's darts is expected to be the most exciting in years and its been helped by the rise of Luke Littler. The 17-year-old embraced his new found fame and has since become the most popular darts player in years. His crowd interaction and confidence is something we can all get behind. He would make history if he won, becoming the youngest Premier League Darts winner.

It could be the year Michael van Gerwen is finally stopped

Michael van Gerwen is one of the best darts players of all time and is always entertaining to watch. He’s featured in the past nine out 11 grand-finals, winning seven of them. But with the rise of Humphries and Littler we could see him dethroned sooner rather than later. We’ve also got the likes of Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith to look out for, who will be looking to bounce back after they suffered disappointing endings to 2023 - being eliminated for the World Championships sooner than they expected

Luke Humphries looking to continue his momentum

Humphries is the number one ranked player going into the Premier League and is the favourite going into the competition with odds of 5/2. He beat Littler early this year in World Championship finals. He has been the best player in the world over the past year. He might have the best chance of dethroning Van Gerwen. 

Michael Smith looking to bounce back

St Helens' Michael Smith will be looking to bounce back in a strong way after a disappointing world champions which saw get knocked out before the quarter-finals. He has lost his past two games at the Bahrain and Dutch Masters, both games to Thursday’s opponent Van Gerwen. He will be looking to avoid losing three straight to the Dutchmen. He is the former PDC World Darts champion.

It's the best line-up in years

This season's line-up is the best we’ve seen in years and there has never been a better time to get into the darts. Its going to be a race to the top with former World Champions and hot prospects all looking to win the title. With Van Gerwen having his toughest competition to date the league is seemingly wide open for anyone to take.