Aspinall reaches play-offs as Littler sets records

Nathan Aspinall secured the final Premier League play-off spot while Luke Littler - the brilliant winner on the night - set new records 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 Premier League seasonal points record in thrashing Stephen Bunting 6-1.

Littler defeated Aspinall 6-4 in the last four and Luke Humphries 6-3 in the Sheffield final to take his points tally to 45 and seal a record-extending sixth Premier League nightly win on the 16th and last evening of the league phase.

The 18-year-old's final victory featured 155 and 170 checkouts as he clocked up eight ton-plus finishes on the night.

"I'm happy to be top, breaking these records," said Littler, who described the victory as a "warm-up" for next week's finale.

Aspinall, 33, had finished in fifth, one place below qualification, in the previous two seasons.

But he will Littler, Humphries and Gerwyn Price at the London play-offs 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.

Aspinall said: "There was a lot of emotion as soon as I walked off stage. Michael didn't look himself but I thought I put in a fantastic performance under that pressure."

He will face Humphries in the play-offs at the O2, while defending champion Littler will come up against Welshman Price.

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 faced 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 completes 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 of players, but in of myself," Van Gerwen itted.

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.

Humphries reached the semi-finals in Sheffield with a 6-4 win over Rob Cross before a 6-2 defeat of Chris Dobey, who earlier came from 4-0 down to beat Price 6-5.

Final

Luke Littler 6-3 Luke Humphries

Semi-finals

Luke Littler 6-4 Nathan Aspinall

Luke Humphries 6-2 Chris Dobey

Quarter-finals

Gerwyn Price 5-6 Chris Dobey

Luke Humphries 6-4 Rob Cross

Nathan Aspinall 6-2 Michael van Gerwen

Luke Littler 6-1 Stephen Bunting

O2 Arena, London - Thursday 29 May

Semi-finals

Luke Littler v Gerwyn Price

Luke Humphries v Nathan Aspinall

Best of 19 legs

Final

Littler or Price v Humphries or Aspinall

Best of 21 legs

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.