Luke Littler derailed
Nathan Aspinall's momentum in
Premier League Darts as 'The Nuke' took their quarter-final clash 6-3 in Brighton.
Littler set the tone with a classy 72 checkout, before narrowly missing the bull for a 164 in leg two. He was able to mop up on D5 to break throw and go into a two-leg lead. It was comfortable for 'The Nuke', who had legs of 14, 15 and 15 darts as he seemed to be cruising to victory.
He did miss three match darts to win 6-1, as Aspinall took the next two legs to spark whispers of a comeback, but the teenager put an end to that with a 14-dart hold. Littler has only lost one quarter-final in this year's Premier League so far.
Peter Wright missed two match darts to get what would have been his first win in the 2024 Premier League as
Michael Smith came out on top in a last-leg decider.
It was a match where both players seemed to drag each other along, with every leg being won on throw. It was arguably the two most out of form players so far going toe to toe. Since winning night one and reaching the semi-final of week two, Smith has not won a quarter-final, while Wright is yet to pick up any points despite showing signs he is getting back to a higher level in other tournaments.
'Bully Boy' missed a dart at bull to win the match in leg 10, before Wright took out 71 on tops to force a decider. After giving himself a golden opportunity with two darts at D12 he could not take it, with Smith coming back to the board for D10 and hitting it to put more misery on Wright.