James Wade has claimed one Premier League darts player has improved his game recently and is returning to his ‘best’ form.
The Premier League takes centre stage for night 15 this evening as Luke Littler aims to make it a third nightly win in a row.
Luke ‘The Nuke’ pulled eight points clear of Luke Humphries at the top following his victory in Aberdeen, overcoming the challenge of ‘Voltage’ Rob Cross in the final.
Humphries and Littler are already assured of their place in finals night at the O2 later this month while Nathan Aspinall, Michael Van Gerwen and Michael Smith are battling it out for the final two spots.
It promises to be a fascinating end to a Premier League campaign dominated by Littler, although Smith is piecing together a promising run of form at the perfect time to finish in the top four.
The Bully Boy won his first ranking event in 11 months as he beat Ryan Joyce in the final of the Players Championship 9 final in Hildesheim on Monday.
The 2023 World Champion had not tasted victory on the circuit since June and only reached one semi-final this year.
James Wade thinks Michael Smith is ‘back to his best’
Smith will hope to carry the momentum from that victory into the final two nights of the Premier League.
The talented arrowsmith only averaged 88 against Joyce to seal the victory, but the 33-year-old did produce an average of 97 in last week’s 6-1 defeat to Littler as the Bully Boy showed signs of returning to his usual relentless scoring.
Former Premier League player James Wade believes Smith has improved in recent weeks and is ‘back to his best’ ahead of his vital clash against Aspinall tonight.
He wrote in his Daily Star column: “Michael won one of the aforementioned Players Championship events in Germany this week and is really starting to look back to his best. But we all know Nathan is a real tough competitor. It could be make or break for either of them.”
Make or break for Michael Smith
Smith is currently sat outside the play-offs by two points and is three adrift of Aspinall, who occupies third.
The Asp has proven to be a tricky customer for most players in this competition, so Smith’s scoring power will have to be at his best to beat the Stockport-born arrowsmith.
If he can overcome his first battle and somehow beat Humphries or Cross in the semi-final, he will place himself in a prominent position to qualify.
Failure to win his match, though, would give him a mountain to climb depending on how van Gerwen does this evening.