Reigning Premier League champion Luke Humphries is in a torrid position in this year's event. Currently sitting in sixth without a nightly win, there is a serious chance that he will not be qualifying for finals night. Former darts player turned pundit Mark Webster questioned Humphries' belief, not sure the world number two had any faith in himself winning a night.
'Cool Hand Luke' now sits five points behind Michael van Gerwen in fourth – the cut off if you want to qualify for the O2 on finals night. His chances of making it were damaged even further with a painful 6-2 defeat to Luke Littler in the quarterfinals, who went on to win the night in Liverpool. He watched on as players around him gained valuable points as the deficit increases with time rapidly running out for the former champion of the world.
Former world champion Webster was stunned by the performance and reaction he saw by Humphries in night 12. He told PaddyPower: “Humphries is running out of time and I thought he would have clicked into gear by now. I actually questioned whether he thought he could win last week. It was a strange one.” While there are only four nights left, there is still time to turn this form around. “He’s still got a bit of time but he needs some nightly wins as soon as possible,” Webster commented. “Van Gerwen is starting to get that focus back. I can see him beating Humphries as the Dutchman wants to keep that top-four spot.”
Webster also turned his attention to Gerwyn Price, who is currently third in the table with 19 points after three consecutive quarterfinal exits. “Stephen Bunting and Gerwyn Price face off in the second game on Thursday and this is a big game, especially for Price,” Webster said. “He’s still in the play-off spots but he’s been on 19 points for a few weeks now. He needs to add to that tally after a frustrating week last time. He may slip out of the top four if he’s beaten by Stephen Bunting but I don’t see that happening. This could be scrappy and it may go deep but when it’s crunch time Price usually turns up. Price to win this time game is my fancy.”
Webster backed Luke Littler to continue his imperious form and secure an unprecedented fifth nightly win. “I’m glad that Josh Rock has started to make an impact and he’ll go away from this campaign having learned a lot. Normal service resumed for Luke Littler last week as he won night 12 in Liverpool and he doesn’t get stuck in a rut for long. I never worry when he’s having bad results. He let the darts do the talking last week and I’m expecting similar this time round. There will be plenty of 180s in this game and I can see Littler coming through quite comfortably. I backed Littler to win the week last Thursday and I’m doing the same again! He was so focused last week and he’ll want to chase down the top spot. I’m on Littler to go back to back.”
