The motivational factor is going to be a key to the scheduling that Luke Littler puts together for the 2026 season and it says plenty that he has skipped all of the floor events.
That may have been a reason that Littler has not really begun his Premier League campaign nearly as strongly as the last two, but he may feel he has time over the sixteen nights to rack up enough points to avoid missing the Playoffs.
And to further the motivational angle, Luke Littler has already won titles at the World Masters and the first European Tour event of the season last week in Krakow.
Five wins took him to the title and Luke Littler averaged in triple figures four times, while also overcoming a nine darter from Gian van Veen in the Final.
The latter has continued what has been a find start to the 2026 season to follow from reaching the World Championship Final and he will be happy with how the opening three nights in his Premier League debut have developed.
Jonny Clayton and Gerwyn Price have continued strong starts to the season, while Michael van Gerwen will be hoping that his illness that forced a withdrawal in Glasgow will not have a long-term impact on his own ability to make the Play Offs again.
Both Lukes- Littler and Humphries- have made slower starts than expected, but both are playing well enough to believe they will begin to have the results to back up the performances.
The big pressure going into Night 4 will be on Stephen Bunting and Josh Rock who have lost all three Premier League matches played- the former had an awful 2025 and needs something to change quickly, while Rock is going to be playing in front of his home supporters in Belfast as he looks to get his debut season up and running.
The return from the opening European Tour event was a solid one and has pushed the season totals back towards a positive direction.
Some of the early Premier League picks have been really close to coming through, but a bit of fortune has been missing, which also made a welcome return in Poland over last weekend.
Hopefully that pushes through into Night 4 on Thursday and Night 5 next week before the big Ranking event of the UK Open takes place.
Luke Littler over 3.5 180s & Jonny Clayton over 2.5 180s: It was Jonny Clayton who went on and won Night 3 to continue his fantastic return to the Premier League.
He will head over to Belfast as the Premier League standings leader and Clayton will be keen to back up the strong win over Luke Littler.
Beating Littler is always going to be a result to be admired, but Jonny Clayton beat him 6-1 in the Semi Final in Glasgow and he has averaged 99 or higher in each of the three Quarter Final wins. The Welshman has made no secret of his enjoyment in being back in the Premier League and Clayton continues to hit plenty of big maximums to build pressure.
He had four in the win over Luke Littler last week, but that total was matched by the World Number 1 who continues to pound the red bit.
Backing the World Champion to hit four in this one is always going to go close, while Clayton should at least have enough chances to try and reach a minimum of three even in Legs where he is outscored.
Luke Humphries to win & most 180s: There is a massive mental hurdle for Stephen Bunting to overcome after making another miserable start to a Premier League campaign.
Both of these players decided to skip the Players Championship events earlier this week, but Luke Humphries did not have to play particularly well to beat Stephen Bunting last weekend in Krakow.
He did have more maximums in the straightforward 6-1 win in the Polish Open and Luke Humphries has been playing well, without necessarily having the results to back that up.
You do have to say that Stephen Bunting has put together some decent averages in his opening three losses in the Premier League, but those have piled up and Luke Humphries may power past him again.
With his new darts in hand, Luke Humphries has been hitting the maximums more effectively early in 2026 and can use that big scoring to help him into another Semi Final on a Premier League night.
Gerwyn Price to win & most 180s: He did not take part in the Polish Open and an opening defeat in Players Championship 5 followed the Quarter Final loss to Jonny Clayton last week in Glasgow.
However, Gerwyn Price has continued to play at a high level and won the title at Players Championship 5 behind some big scoring.
The Welshman has won his last two matches against Michael van Gerwen and there has to be some questions about how the Dutchman is feeling after illness forced him to miss Night 3, as well as the Polish Open and both Players Championship events earlier this week.
No one can deny that van Gerwen has begun this season looking much more like his old self, but he will need to be at full health to beat Gerwyn Price on current form.
Michael van Gerwen has been scoring well, but he may need a few more days to really feel like he is over the illness he was dealing with last week and Price can do enough to win this Quarter Final.
Both have been pretty good at hitting the maximums, but again this is perhaps targeting the fact that van Gerwen may not be operating at full tilt and that could see the World Number 10 hit a couple more 180s to bring in the double.
Josh Rock v Gian van Veen: These two players are both debutants in the Premier League, but they have had very different early experiences.
Gian van Veen has reached the Final on two of the three nights played, while Josh Rock has lost every match in the tournament by the same 6-2 scoreline.
So why back Rock to end that here?
For starters he is playing in front of a home crowd that are going to be completely behind him and that could be something that potentially rattles his opponent.
He looked in decent nick in Poland last weekend, and there has not been a great deal in the early averages with Gian van Veen perhaps showing a bit more composure at key times.
Josh Rock was not very good in Antwerp and later blamed that on product he used to wash his hands, but he had not played badly last week and was perhaps a little unfortunate to run into Luke Humphries in the Quarter Final.
And for all his success so far this season, Gian van Veen has perhaps still not been quite operating at his best and will need to deal with the hostile crowd that is expected to be firmly behind the home player.
Finally you cannot ignore the fact that Josh Rock has won the last four between the plaeyrs, which will certainly help him clear the mind and focus here. A couple of European Tour wins and a victory at the Grand Slam means Rock has found those wins in big settings and he may use the crowd to fire him up for long enough to edge past the Dutchman and secure his first points in the Premier League.
MY PICKS: Luke Littler Over 3.5 180s & Jonny Clayton Over 2.5 180s @ 2.37 Bet365 (1 Unit)
Luke Humphries to Win & Most 180s @ 2.30 Bet365 (1 Unit)
Gerwyn Price to Win & Most 180s @ 3.00 Bet365 (1 Unit)
Josh Rock @ 2.50 Bet365 (1 Unit)
Darts 2026: 16-20, - 1.78 Units (35 Units Staked, - 5.09% Yield)
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