Aspinall reaches play-offs and Littler sets record

Yahoo

22-05-2025

Nathan Aspinall secured the final Premier League play-off spot while Luke Littler set a new seasonal points record in Sheffield.
Englishman Aspinall defeated Michael van Gerwen 6-2 in the quarter-finals to eliminate the seven-time champion.
Meanwhile, table-topping world champion Littler averaged more than 114 as he broke his own points record, reaching 42 after earning two in thrashing Stephen Bunting 6-1.
Aspinall, 33, had finished in fifth, one place below qualification, in the previous two seasons.
But he will join Littler, Luke Humphries and Gerwyn Price at the London finale on 29 May after beating Van Gerwen, the only player who could stop him going through.
The 36-year-old Dutchman, without a nightly win in the whole 2025 campaign, misses out on the play-offs for only the second time in 13 years of competing.
World number eight Aspinall has confounded critics who opposed his inclusion in the eight-man competition, having been ranked 11 when the picks were made.
His inclusion was questioned by fellow players Mike de Decker and Dave Chisnall amid suggestions his popular walk-on song Mr Brightside helped his case.
The Stockport-born player has battled online abuse over his participation, as well as recovering from injuries and dartitis to reach the final four.
"I came off social media because of the abuse I was getting," said 'The Asp' after his second nightly win, in Aberdeen a week ago.
"I'm not being exaggerated here, but it ruined my life for a month, not just my life, my family's. It was horrific. "
Aspinall has also come back from elbow, wrist and back injuries, along with tackling dartitis - a condition where players have a mental block when it comes to throwing on the stage.
Missing out on qualification seals a miserable campaign for Van Gerwen, whose last nightly win came back in April 2024.
The three-time world champion had seven victories and two runner-up spots from his previous 12 campaigns, with his last Premier League title in 2023.
"This is probably one of the hardest Premier Leagues I have ever played in - not in terms of players, but in terms of myself," Van Gerwen admitted.
His cause was not helped when missing the ninth event of the season in Berlin with a shoulder injury sustained while trying to put a shirt on.
Every Thursday, the eight players go head-to-head in a straight knockout tournament. So, each player will be entered at the quarter-final stage, before moving to the semi-finals and then a final.
These matches are all played over the best of 11 legs (or games of darts).
Players take home points from each of these rounds. The winner of the night gets five points, the runner-up three points, and each semi-finalist wins two points.
All eight players are re-entered into the tournament for the next round on the following Thursday.
The players meet each other once at the quarter-final stage from weeks one to seven, and then again in weeks nine to 15. The matches in weeks eight and 16 are played based on position in the league at that point.
The four players at the top of the table by the end of night 16 qualify for the final play-offs, which take place on Thursday, 29 May.
Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Gerwyn Price and Nathan Aspinall are through this year.
The semi-finals of the play-offs are played over 19 legs, while the winner is crowned in a final match played across the best of 21 legs.