Premier League Darts Finals Night: Humphries hitting form at the right time

Littler favourite to win Premier League finals night

Luke Littler and Jonny Clayton were the first two players to secure their spots at finals night, with The Nuke getting stronger and stronger after a stuttering start and Jonny Clayton taking his favourite tournament by storm pretty much from the outset.

Reigning champion Luke Humphries and the most successful Welshman in PDC history, Gerwyn Price, were the two to complete the line-up with a week to spare and it's left us anticipating what should be an extremely high quality night of darting drama.

Out of the four, The Iceman is the only player not to have tasted victory in this event, beaten by a masterful performance from Michael van Gerwen in the 2023 final. That the closest he has come, with only one other appearance at finals night, that coming 12 months ago when he lost in the semi-final to the same opponent that he faces this week.

So which of the four will lift the trophy? The betting cannot see past either of the Lukes - Littler is the 5/61.84 favourite while Humphries is next in the betting at [2/1]. After that you can get [11/2] on Price and [9/1] on Clayton.

Humphries is the form player - back him to win

Despite losing out in the weekly final in Sheffield on night 16 of the league phase, Luke Humphries has had a remarkable couple of weeks, picking up a Players Championship title with a running average in excess of 104, winning a night in Birmingham, with four consecutive finals reached.

Having been precariously positioned for much of the campaign, a late surge has presented Cool Hand with the opportunity to defend his title, something only two other players in Premier League history have successfully managed.

Whenever Humphries has faced setbacks or endured minor blips in his career, he has commendably bounced back and responded impressively and he has done so again in 2026.

Nobody envisaged the reigning champion would struggle to book his spot at The O2 but after weeks of scoring well with his doubles deserting him, getting himself into healthy positions in matches but losing that ability to get over the line and win, a change of darts, a change of pace at times, along with having more confidence and belief in his game have allowed him to carve out this week's opportunity.

The Englishman was the only player to end the league phase with a running average in excess of a ton and it feels like everything is clicking for him at just the right time.

The 2024 World Champion is 2/13.00 to become the third player in history to win the Premier League back-to-back. I think he is worth a wager.

Clayton v Humphries will be high class - here are two tips to follow

If he is to do that, he first needs to get past The Ferret who has been immense on his return to this tournament, with the best finishing stats in the field.

This will be their fourth match of best of 19 or longer, with Clayton prevailing in two of the previous three. I think this will be a high quality encounter that goes close so am backing 10+ 180s & 3+ 100+ Checkouts in the Match at [15/8].

Humphries has produced a three-figure average in his last eight Premier League matches and of the four games he's played at The O2, has only posted an average below a ton in one of them. He is 5/61.84 to average over 99.5 against the Welshman.

Littler to dial in

For whatever reason, Luke Littler wasn't at the races in Sheffield, admitting that he'd not really put any time in on the practice board and that was the reason behind him continuously altering the way he was throwing.

However, one of the many things we've learnt about the 19-year-old is that previous results and poor performances don't weigh heavily on him.

Despite stating that he wanted to win a record seventh nightly win, there was quite frankly very little riding on last week for The Nuke. I'm sure he'll be completely focused and back producing magical moments that will have everyone on the edge of their seats.

He's facing a Gerwyn Price who is very hard to predict at the moment. Still dealing with occasional flair-ups with the back problem that has plagued him for a little while, there's clearly a shift in his mentality at the moment having gone from wanting to play in every tournament possible, to taking a step back, withdrawing from the World Cup and a number of other ranking events.

At times over recent weeks he's looked a bit flat, other times electrifying but he'll need to be at his best if he wants the outcome to be different to 12 months ago when he faced the reigning World Champion at this stage.

For a spell, The Iceman seemed to have Littler's number, it was a challenge that excited him and he enjoyed that the teen couldn't quite figure out how to get one over on him but fast-forward 14 months and Price has won just one of their last 17 encounters.

At [6/5], I'm backing the 2024 Premier League champion to win the match and throw 7+ 180s.

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