Key events
Backstage at the O2
Who’s ready for tonight?! These four are… ð
The FINAL of Premier League Darts. Watch on Sky Sports from 7pm ð¿ pic.twitter.com/2iE86g8JY2
— Sky Sports Darts (@SkySportsDarts) May 23, 2024
âWhen I was 17 (a long time ago),â writes Krishnamoorthy V, âI did not even know which college I would be getting into.â
Luke Littlerâs breezy maturity is quite something, isnât it? When I was 17 I could barely say âhere sirâ at registration, never mind go on Jonathan Ross and Children in Need and wind up a Liverpool crowd.
What this Premier League has confirmed, or at least suggested in the strongest terms, is that Littlerâs temperament is commensurate with his talent. Thatâs terrifying for anyone who plans to play professional darts between now and the year 2050.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live, leg-by-leg coverage of a big night of darts at the O2 Arena in London. With an apology for any possible recency bias, this might be the most mouthwatering Finals Night in Premier League history. In the next few hours, the top three in the world rankings and the most frighteningly brilliant 17-year-old known to man will battle to become Premier League champion.
The standard is such that Michael van Gerwen, who has won a record seven Premier League titles, is some peopleâs fourth favourite tonight. Van Gerwen faces the world No1 Luke Humphries â who has won all of their last six meetings â in the second semi-final. Before that the phenomenal Luke Littler, who topped the group stage in his debut season and did we mention heâs bloody 17, faces Michael Smith.
The Lukes are favourites to meet in the final, as they did at the World Championship in January. Thatâs pretty remarkable when you consider this is their first Premier League season, never mind their first Finals Night. And they are playing two of the greats. Van Gerwen has qualified for every Finals Night bar one since his debut in 2013; Smith was world champion last year and continues to make 180-hitting look utterly effortless.
Whoever wins, it will be a great story. Either one of Smith, Humphries and Littler will become the eighth man to win the Premier League, or Van Gerwen will do so for the eighth time himself and make a statement beloved of serial winners: thereâs an old sheriff in town.
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Luke Littler v Michael Smith (7.15pm)
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Luke Humphries v Michael van Gerwen (8.15pmish)
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Littler/Smith v Humphries/Van Gerwen (9.30pmish)
Semi-finals are the best of 19 legs; the final is the best of 21
