ST HELENS darter Michael Smith takes on Warrington's teen sensation Luke Littler as the BetMGM Premier League roadshow rolls into Dublin.
Night Eight of the £1m tournament will see quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final played over the best of 11 legs at the 3Arena, with this week’s fixtures determined by league position of the eight stars following Night Seven.
Littler will continue his bid for a maiden nightly victory when he plays Night One winner Smith for a place in the semi-finals.
Littler produced the performance of the season to demolish Van Gerwen in the quarter-finals last week, averaging 114 to cap off an inspired display.
The 17-year-old has won six of his seven quarter-final ties so far and will be aiming to maintain that consistency against 2018 runner-up Smith, who has won two of the pair’s three meetings in 2024.
Luke Humphries plays Peter Wright in Dublin debut
Luke Humphries occupies top spot in the table following back-to-back nightly wins in Brighton and Nottingham, and the world number one is brimming with confidence ahead of his Dublin debut.
Humphries will take on Peter Wright in the evening’s opening quarter-final, after the Scot ended a run of six straight defeats with victory over Gerwyn Price in the Nottingham quarter-finals on Night Seven.
Another blockbuster tussle pits reigning champion Van Gerwen against Price in a repeat of last year's Dublin final, with both men determined to halt losing runs in the competition.
Following a run of three straight nightly wins in Berlin, Glasgow and Newcastle, Van Gerwen has slipped to second in the table following successive quarter-final exits in Exeter, Brighton and Nottingham.
Rob Cross and Nathan Aspinall will also go head-to-head in the Emerald Isle, in a repeat of their quarter-final clash in Nottingham.
Aspinall has surged into Play-Off contention after featuring in three of the last four nightly finals, recording a hat-trick of wins against Cross during the past month.
The World Matchplay champion was denied a second nightly win by Humphries in last Thursday’s showpiece, while Cross has won five of his seven quarter-final encounters to date, losing out to Aspinall in the Night Five decider.
TV details for Premier League Darts from Dublin
The 2024 BetMGM Premier League will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK & Ireland, through the PDC's worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV for Rest of the World Subscribers.
2024 BetMGM Premier League darts draw and schedule.
Night Eight, Thursday March 21.
3Arena, Dublin.
Quarter-Finals.
Luke Humphries v Peter Wright.
Nathan Aspinall v Rob Cross.
Michael van Gerwen v Gerwyn Price.
Luke Littler v Michael Smith.
Semi-Finals.
Humphries/Wright v Aspinall/Cross.
Van Gerwen/Price v Littler/Smith.
Final.
Humphries/Wright/Aspinall/Cross v Van Gerwen/Price/Littler/Smith.
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