Night 15 of the 2025 Premier League Darts tournament took place in Aberdeen last week, and what a thrilling spectacle the best players in the world produced. The 16-night league phase of the competition is drawing to a close, with the final round of matches set to take place in Sheffield on Thursday.
The top four in the standings will then head to the O2 in London for the play-offs, where the 2025 Premier League champion will be crowned. A few things were settled up in Aberdeen, but before we look at that, what is left to play for in South Yorkshire, and who might win this season, let us take a look at one of the highest-quality matches we can remember.
Littler Wins Classic Against Humphries
Luke Littler casually hitting the 170 that Luke Humphries needed š pic.twitter.com/XwD7HrwHPx
ā Sky Sports (@SkySports) May 16, 2025
Despite Luke Littlerās tender years, he has already been involved in a number of fantastic matches, including against his namesake, Luke Humphries. The duo met in the final of the 2024 World Darts Championship when the Nuke was just 16 years old. He lost out that day but has since beaten Humphries several times in major tournaments and had his day 12 months on when he won the world title at the impressive age of 17.
The two Lukes are the best players in the world according to the PDC Order of Merit, which considers prize money won over a two-year cycle. It is Humphries who is out in front, quite comfortably for now, but it is surely only a matter of time before Littler usurps him. Aside from his brilliant performances in general, the fact that Littler is the defending Premier League champion and current world champion gives him a very strong claim to being the best player in the world.
Whatever the pecking order, most darts fans agree that these two are the best around right now and in the quarter-finals of night 15, they produced darts from another planet to back that point up. Humphries averaged over 110 and yet was blown aside 6-3, his young opponent boasting a three-dart average just a fraction shy of 116.
The older man set the tone for a match which would last less than 12 minutes as he threw consecutive 180s to open the match. Littler showed he would not be overawed or outgunned as he then took the third leg with just 10 darts. The scoring from both players was at a level rarely seen, with Humphries producing nine maximums. Littler hit ājustā five but his world-class finishing percentage of 75% and his high scoring in general meant he had more than enough.
14 maximums across just nine legs of darts is something special but when we consider that in total there were a massive 40 scores of 100 or more (Littler edged that battle, 21 to 19), it is easy to see how the match was over so quickly. Littler hit three out of four finishes, including two of over 100, with one of those a 144 that was the highest of the night. His opponent hit a very respectable 38% of his doubles (three out of eight) but ultimately was blown away.
Humphries had been ahead early on but Littler rattled off six of the final seven legs to book his place in the next round. It was a performance that had the commentators shouting in disbelief and both players struggling not to smile at the magnificence they were bringing out of each other.
Littler Secures Top Spot
Littler averaged over 100 in the next round but was beaten 6-5 by Chris Dobey. Nonetheless, with Gerwyn Price and Humphries both losing their first matches, Littler was able to secure top spot in the league with one night to spare.
The Warrington native is nine points clear of Humphries and so it is job done for the Man United fan. He must rather wish he could share some of his points around with his football team! He has won five nights and made three further finals and looking at his stats, the rate at which he hits 180s is truly stunning.
The Nuke boasts 162 maximums this season, fully 70 more than second-placed Humphries. In Aberdeen he made 13, tying Dobey for the most on the night despite the fact that he played one fewer match than either Dobey or Nathan Aspinall.
Asp Closing in on Play-off Spot
It was the Asp who took glory in Scotland, seeing off Dobey 6-1 in the final. That seemingly easy victory came despite his opponent outscoring him 98.39 to 92.77. Amazingly the Stockport ace was outscored in all three of his matches but still managed to get the job done.
Prior to beating Dobey, he got the better of Stephen Bunting, whilst he opened with a victory over Michael van Gerwen. It was that victory over Mighty Mike that may prove most crucial though, as it now means that Aspinall has a very handy four-point lead over the Dutch maestro. That means Van Gerwen has to win in Sheffield or Aspinall will make it through to the O2 and given MVG has yet to win a night this season, it looks a very big ask.
Who Will Win?
Because Aspinall and Van Gerwen will meet first up in the final night, Price, who like Aspinall has a four-point lead on MVG, is assured of a spot in the play-offs. Littler and Humpries have also already qualified and so it is almost certain, barring some last-chance-saloon magic from Van Gerwen, that Aspinall will join those three in London.
Littler has been playing superbly for most of this competition and is quite probably the best player in the world. His scoring power is up there with the greatest to ever play the game and he is rightly the odds-on favourite for glory. Humphries is second favourite at 5/2, with Price 7/1 and Aspinall 16/1 (MVG is 50/1).
Littler has shown time and time again that he has the temperament to handle the big occasion and it is hard ā perhaps impossible ā to look past him. He won it in 2024, and we fancy him to claim glory in 2025 too.