Meanwhile, Peter Wright is still scoreless and desperately needs to find a win.
Wright vs Price
Peter Wright remains the only one who is scoreless in the Premier League. The Scot's better play has not yet resulted in him picking up a victory.
Wright keeps changing darts every time and that also gives him varying results. Last week in Brighton, he threw only 90 on average, but against a poor Michael Smith, Wright had a chance to win the match in the 11th leg, but missed two match darts.
Last weekend he also pitched at the first Euro Tour this year, which was held in Belgium. Snakebite fell in the third round against a very good Jonny Clayton.
With an ample 100 average, he lost 6-4. Michael van Gerwen was beaten in the second round, though, so Wright can beat Premier League players. Wright has been getting compliments again lately, but the Scot really needs a win now to still have something to play for in the Premier League.
Wright faces an opponent who is also considerably out of form in the Premier League.
Gerwyn Price reached the final on the first night in Cardiff, but after that, he only won once on matchday three.
Each of the past three weeks, the Welshman went out in the first round. As a result, Price is seventh with five points and also needs a win soon to avoid falling too far behind.
In last weekend's Euro Tour, Price did play well. In the semi-finals, he eventually lost to Rob Cross 7-3.
Humphries vs Smith
A player who is in great shape is Luke Humphries. The Englishman had a sluggish start to the year but is on the rise now.
Last week, Humphries won very convincingly in Brighton, throwing over 100 average three times.
At the Euro Tour, he threw over 110 against James Wade in the first round and 101 against Ryan Searle in the second round, but that was not enough for victory.
Now he meets Michael Smith, whom he beat 6-3 in the final last week. With the five points added, Humphries now stands on 12 points and is second.
Smith finally performed again in the Premier League last week. With a final place, he was able to add another three points, bringing his total to 10.
That puts him fifth, but he still has every sight of the first four. Smith is still throwing a difficult year with regular low averages. In Belgium, Mike de Decker was 6-2 too strong and Smith only averaged 87.55.
He will have to come up with more to stand any chance at all against Humphries.
Van Gerwen vs Littler
Van Gerwen is out of form. He lost his last four duels, including the past two first rounds in the Premier League.
During the UK Open, the Dutchman seemed to be suffering from an injury and lost in the first round to Mensur Suljovic.
What causes particular anxiety is that Van Gerwen did not throw higher than 94 average once in the past four matches. He did not fare well in the Euro Tour either, losing to Wright in the first round.
Van Gerwen is still the leader with 15 points, which he achieved by winning three nights on the spin before last week.
Luke Littler is not out of shape, as he recorded his best result (outside the World Championship final) last weekend.
Indeed, he won the first Euro Tour and won a major tournament in the pros for the first time.
Littler also threw a nine-darter against Cross in the final. The record in a year is four and Littler has already thrown three in two months.
Littler lost to Smith in the second round in Brighton last week and has a total of 11 points. That puts him in fourth place.
Cross vs Aspinall
Cross threw 108 average last week, losing to Humphries in the semi-final at Brighton.
With that same average, he also lost to Littler in the Euro Tour final. It is unfortunate but does not detract from Cross' form. The former world champion is pitching well and is currently fourth in the Premier League.
Cross only lost once in the first round this season, that coming on the second night. So he has been racking up the points and looks to be on his way to the play-offs.
Nathan Aspinall has bounced back somewhat with a night win in Exeter. Yet last week in Brighton he struggled against Littler, losing and throwing only an 87 average.
He did not play well in Belgium either and lost to Richard Veenstra. There, too, he threw only 88 average.
Aspinall was on the right track but is now falling back a bit. In the Premier League, he is sixth with eight points.
