Michael van Gerwen faces Nathan Aspinall in Premier League Darts play-off shootout: Preview, Prediction and How to Watch

A tenacious fighter, Aspinall never knows when he is down and that has shown again in this year's Premier League. Battling issues on his throwing arm and also being called merely a walk-on and nothing else for his fan favourite Mr Brightside effort. He has shown time and again that he is there on merit and not for a gimmick.

But also there are potential question marks that he could erase tonight. He has finished fifth in each of the last two seasons missing out on play-off qualification on the final night of league phase action on both occasions. So part of Aspinall will be used to this feeling but also part of him will want to snap it out.

This year, he has won two nights and both at important junctures most of all last week and sits four points ahead and actually level with Gerwyn Price who has more nights won so qualified already off the virtue of that. But Aspinall will know all he needs to do is win.

Making the case - Michael van Gerwen

Onto the outsider in this piece as Michael van Gerwen will know that he faces an uphill battle to reach Finals Night.

It has been a pretty torrid season for MVG at times. He has as ever shown flashes of brilliance and then other times in the Premier League and on the ProTour barely won matches. He has not won a night this year and will need to in order to reach Finals Night.

He sits four points adrift of Aspinall and sits to likely miss out. He has not won a Premier League night since April 2024 when he defeated Aspinall, Michael Smith and Littler to win in Birmingham.

Experience key for MVG

He has suffered back-to-back Quarter-Final defeats in the last fortnight and would miss out for only the second time in his illustrious career from reaching the play-offs.

But given his experience in this event winning seven times, you can never count him out. Often the narrative has been over the past few years that he is finished and is done and then he wins a title from nowhere.

He will need that kind of week this time around. Despite a poor time of it in the Premier League so far this year, he knows one night can change it. But like alluded to, he needs to win the whole night and beat Aspinall.

An Aspinall who has won four out of his five meetings with Van Gerwen in this year's Premier League. If he makes it five out of six, he is assured of a Premier League play-off return.

How to Watch

The Aspinall v Michael van Gerwen clash will follow on from Luke Littler v Stephen Bunting as the second Quarter-Final in Sheffield from 7pm at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield.

The winner will face Littler or Bunting so it is a pivotal tie then for MVG if he wins or if the latter gets beaten by Littler or Bunting, it is game over.

The night will be shown in full on Sky Sports fro 7pm with all the build up to Night 16 in full and the rest of the action as we complete the line-up.

Prediction

As part of this preview, we asked our writers for their thoughts on the tie and who seals the win.

Samuel Gill of DartsNews.com kicked it off with a widely thought of view point. "Nathan Aspinall has the edge 100% and I see him winning easily in the opening game. MVG has not been what he was and has been open about that."

"It means one of two things for him and that is he will prove us all wrong at the World Matchplay if he loses tonight or it will be a deeper casm than first thought. But in terms of Sheffield, I see Aspinall winning to confound it to being a dead rubber and perhaps it being similar to Aberdeen with him winning the night. Always throughout he's had a point to prove and his view and the ultimate would be winning the last two nights."

Mats Leering, writer for DartsNieuws.com hopes for the best but only sees one winner. "For me, even as a dutchman, it's quite obvious: Nathan Aspinall is the clear favourite for the win. Why? After last week i think he showed he is in way better form then Van Gerwen. The dutchman is struggling with his form for quite a while now, and i don't think he will be able to find his A-game in just one week.

"On the otherhand, if there is one player who can do that, it is Michael van Gerwen. But for me Aspinall is the favourite for the win. And even if Van Gerwen beats him, i don't think he will be able to win the whole night. So in my opinion Aspinall in for 90% safe to reach the play-offs next week, but i hope my fellow countryman proves me wrong!"

Mees Dekker writer for DartsNieuws.com has a clear view on the winner and it will be decided in that first game. "I believe Nathan Aspinall will come out on top against Michael van Gerwen. The Asp won the last Premier League night, while Van Gerwen has now lost his last five matches.

"The Dutchman is still struggling with his scoring, having failed to average above 97.52 in any of his last five games. Last week when these two faced each other, it ended in a 6-3 victory for the Englishman. I think the pressure on Michael is simply too high, so I expect Aspinall to edge it in a thrilling match, winning 6-5. My prediction is that Michael van Gerwen will average too low to give himself good chances on the doubles. I expect Van Gerwen to average around 93, while Aspinall will be closer to 97. 6-5 win to Aspinall."

Nicolas Gayer of DartsNews.DE sees Van Gerwen winning the opening tie against Aspinall but that the uphill struggle will be too much in the end. "I'm going with MvG for tonights QF-match. I don't think the match will live up to the expectations... I don't think it will be some sort of classic or a match played on an extremely high level. I rather expect a close battle between two players - although Aspinall has obviously improved massively this year - that are struggling with dartitis and/or constant injury-problems. With this much being at stake I just dont see them performing to their maximum ability tonight.

Why will MvG win? I just can't see him leaving this PL-campaign without putting up one last fight. But will he win the whole night? I don't think so either. I think it speaks volumes that the former Premier League dominator is the only player (alongside Rob Cross) not to have won a weekly title this season. Van Gerwen will reach the semi-finals today, add a dash of drama to the evening, perhaps even prevail against Stephen Bunting or Luke Littler - but in the end, as is always the case at the moment, he will lack the consistency to hit the big time

Pieter Verbeek of DartsNieuws.com leaves it a bit more open ended that it is perhaps not wise for Aspinall to count his chickens but that it is perhaps unlikely that he will win the whole night.

"In his preview of the clash with Michael van Gerwen, Nathan Aspinall claimed that he has ‘Mighty Mike’ in his back pocket. Looking at their recent head-to-heads, where Aspinall has come out on top four times in a row, ‘The Asp’ does have a point. But is it wise to make such a statement? I think Van Gerwen will be fully motivated to prove him wrong on Thursday evening. And a player of Van Gerwen’s calibre simply shouldn’t lose to Aspinall five times in a row. I don’t see that happening either.

"I expect Van Gerwen to take the win in Sheffield by 6-4. But that won’t be enough on its own, as he needs to win the entire night to keep Aspinall from securing a spot in the play-offs. If Van Gerwen beats Aspinall, he could face Luke Littler in the semi-finals, and possibly Gerwyn Price or Luke Humphries in the final. Judging by recent form, it’s not very realistic to expect Van Gerwen to win the night overall, so Aspinall might still have something to celebrate by the end of the evening."

Kieran Wood, writer for DartsNews.com makes it all but a clean sweep for Aspinall and sees only one winner in Sheffield.

"I think Aspinall takes the win 6-3/6-4 to secure his spot in the playoffs. The ultimate scrapper, Aspinall is probably the worst possible opponent for Van Gerwen to embroiled in a do or die situation against.

"A fact made even more important by the dire head to head record Van Gerwen has against Aspinall of late. Given what happened last week in Aberdeen between the pair, and the frailty Van Gerwen has consistently shown throughout the season so far, I just can't see the Dutchman pulling a great escape out of the bag in Sheffield."