Premier League Darts Night 8 Picks 2026 (Thursday 26th March)

The Premier League reaches the halfway mark of the Group Stage of the competition and that means the current Number 1 faces Number 8, Number 2 faces Number 7, etc etc.

Luke Littler picked up the Nightly win last Thursday and that has helped him close on Jonny Clayton and both look in a good spot to kick on and secure two of the four Play Off spots.

Only five points separate Number 3 Gerwyn Price and Number 7 Stephen Bunting and so there is still much to play for, while Josh Rock is just desperate for any win after another poor performance in Dublin.

Seeing Luke Humphries win the European Tour 3 event last weekend will give his fans plenty of reason to believe the defending Premier League Champion can kick on over the next two months and avoid an upset elimination in the Group Stage. He was clearly upset by some criticism of his 'aura' on the oche and the fact it was suggested he rolls over for Luke Littler, but Humphries used that to fuel him to a success and he will be targeting a second run to the Nightly Final on Night 8 of the tournament.

Nothing comes easy in the Premier League and the matches are being played out in Berlin this week, which may not be offering much encouragement for Luke Littler who tends to avoid playing in Germany at this stage of his career. That may change in the years ahead, but it makes Night 8 challenging for him and Luke Humphries is in the 'weaker' half as long as he can fight his way past Michael van Gerwen in the Quarter Final.

Jonny Clayton to win & most 180s v Josh Rock: Some Jonny Clayton fans may have been wondering how the Welshman would cope with a first Quarter Final loss in the 2026 Premier League on Night 7, but they had no need to be concerned.

He has been a consistent force on the Tour over the last twelve months and Clayton reached the Final of the Belgium Darts Open last weekend.

Confidence will be high, but it could not be any different for Josh Rock who lost in the Second Round in Belgium and has yet to win a single match in the Premier League. There is no doubting the quality of this player, but losses piling up can be very difficult to shake off and Josh Rock has really been struggling in the Premier League.

The Night 5 performance saw Josh Rock average over 100 in a narrow loss to Luke Littler, but he has been well beaten in the next two Premier League matches and averaged in the low 80s. That level is not going to cut the mustard when facing the kind of opponents Josh Rock meets every week in the Premier League and a heavy scoring Jonny Clayton can win this one and add another two points to his total.

Jonny Clayton continues to pile in plenty of maximums and that may see him complete the match double that his mate Gerwyn Price only just missed out last week in his whitewash of Rocky in the Quarter Final in Dublin.

Luke Humphries to win & most 180s v Michael van Gerwen: With two wins over this opponent already this month, Luke Humphries has to be confident of completing a hat-trick against Michael van Gerwen.

Neither of the last two wins have been in tough matches and Humphries is certainly playing with a lot more confidence than his opponent, even if the World Number 2 has room for improvement on the doubles.

He was better in the Belgian Darts Open success last weekend, which included a dominant Semi Final win over van Gerwen.

Three wins in Belgium will have done Michael van Gerwen the world of good as he looks to snap a four match losing run in the Premier League. After withdrawing from Night 3 with an illness, Michael van Gerwen has struggled to back up his strong start to the Premier League and Luke Humphries may have too much scoring for him again.

Luke Littler to win & most 180s v Stephen Bunting: It was far from his most impressive Nightly win in the Premier League and Luke Littler should have perhaps been beaten in the Semi Final and the Final, but he continues to find a way to win matches.

He was upset in the Third Round at the Belgium Darts Open last Sunday, which will give opponents some encouragement, while Night 8 of the Premier League is played in Berlin and everyone knows how much Littler dislikes playing in Germany.

The fans are going to try and rattle him, but Littler may still have enough to beat Stephen Bunting for a second Premier League week in a row.

Stephen Bunting averaged 104 to Littler's 105 in a defeat last week, but he may struggle to reach those levels again.

Last weekend, Stephen Bunting was beaten even earlier than Luke Littler and he has lost four matches in a row- the crowd will likely get behind him, but Littler's maximum hitting power can lead him through to a Semi Final here.

Gerwyn Price to win & most 180s v Gian van Veen: Unlike his fellow debutant, Gian van Veen was pretty comfortable in the Premier League setting in his first appearance in the tournament.

He started well enough, but the last month has been a bit more difficult with European Tour events beginning and a lot more darts than usual being played.

The form may already have slipped, but Gian van Veen is also only making his way back from a Kidney Stones operation having been forced to miss Night 7 in Dublin. He also dropped out of the European Tour 3 event and the Dutchman has admitted that he is not quite at full health right now.

This would have been a difficult match up if fully healthy, but a well rested Gerwyn Price is going to be even tougher to beat.

Night 7 ended in a strange way for Price- he had won seventeen of eighteen Legs played in Dublin and had cruised into a 5-0 lead over Luke Littler in the Final. Somehow he lost six Legs in a row to finish as Runner Up, but Gerwyn Price is considered one of the toughest players mentally on the Tour and he can take advantage of a weakened opponent.

They have met twice in the Premier League this season and both have one win apiece and eleven Legs won each.

However, Gian van Veen may need some time to get his rhythm back and this Quarter Final may be too soon after the operation last weekend.

With his maximum hitting continuing at a strong rate, the Ice Man can come through with the match double on Night 8.

MY PICKS: Jonny Clayton to Win & Most 180s @ 3.10 Bet365 (1 Unit)

Luke Humphries to Win & Most 180s @ 2.62 Bet365 (1 Unit)

Luke Littler to Win & Most 180s @ 1.80 Bet365 (1 Unit)

Gerwyn Price to Win & Most 180s @ 3.10 Bet365 (1 Unit)

Darts 2026: 40-52, - 4.36 Units (89 Units Staked, - 4.90% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2025 (Wednesday 18th June)

A couple of rolls of the ball or a mishit here or there may have led to a perfect 5-0 start to the week for the Tennis Picks, but it was not to be for Joao Fonseca, who had late Break Point opportunities to win and cover.

Instead he was beaten in a third set tie-breaker, but Andrey Rublev had already done all that was expected from him earlier in the day in Halle and that has prevented this week having the same slide as last week following a strong start for the selections.

Moving onto Wednesday means more big names are in action and the majority of the tournaments being played will be into Second Round action over the next couple of days. There some First Round matches to clear up in Halle as the organisers gave a couple of Finalists from the end of last week a bit more time to prepare for their event, but in the main it is onto Second Round action in what are the last really big events before the start of Wimbledon a week on Monday.

Emma Navarro v Paula Badosa: Both of these players produced very solid First Round wins in Berlin and previous form on the grass courts should mean Emma Navarro and Paula Badosa are set for decent impacts when Wimbledon gets underway.

The more matches that can be played now could pay off in SW19 and so this is an important Second Round match.

Last week Emma Navarro was beaten at the same stage at Queens Club in London, while Paula Badosa is playing her first grass court event of 2025, and the performances that have been produced in the opening wins should have given each plenty of confidence.

At the same time, both Navarro and Badosa have struggled for some consistency in the last few months and so they will be looking to rebuild some of the lost confidence by having a strong run in Berlin.

Emma Navarro was a Wimbledon Quarter Finalist last year, and that had followed a Semi Final run in Bad Homburg. She has yet to really find the same level on the surface in the opening three matches played, but all three have been against decent players on the Tour and going 2-1 will certainly help the American believe that her tennis is in a good spot.

In the same two events in 2024, Paula Badosa reached the Fourth Round in SW19 and Quarter Final in Bad Homburg, and she looked in strong shape in crushing home hope Eva Lys in the First Round. This is a significant step upwards in terms of a challenge having split two matches with Emma Navarro last year with the Badosa win being on a clay court and the Navarro win coming at the US Open on the hard courts.

Paula Badosa has all of the attributes to be a really strong grass court player- the serve can be a huge weapon and she showed that she can get her teeth into the return last year and in the strong First Round win.

However, that will be tested by Emma Navarro if the World Number 9 is anywhere near her best and the match up with the Spaniard has been one that she has enjoyed.

This has the makings of a close Second Round match between two players separated by one place in the World Rankings and Emma Navarro can secure the upset. It was something of a surprise that she has been set as the pretty strong underdog, and the American can make use of the games being given to her on the handicap.

Jack Draper - 3.5 games v Alexei Popyrin: Over the last twelve months, Alexei Popyrin has perhaps picked up a better understanding of playing on the grass courts, although it is still a work in progress. He is going to be Seeded at Wimbledon later this month and Alexei Popyrin has won six of his last ten matches on the surface having gotten the better of compatriot Aleksandar Vukic in the First Round.

That followed an early loss in Hertogenbosch and there is little doubt that Alexei Popyrin is a very dangerous player on this surface as long as he serves as well as he can. Doing that makes it very difficult to get on top of him and Popyrin won a set in a Third Round loss to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last year, which will have given him a lot of confidence to perform on this surface.

Playing in London means it is tennis season and Alexei Popyrin has had previous experience of facing a British player at Queens Club when losing to Andy Murray in what turned out to be the last Singles win of the latter's very strong career.

This time he has to face the British Number 1, who is also the World Number 6, and Jack Draper has all of the tools needed to be a very successful player on the surface.

He won a title on the grass in Stuttgart last year, but Draper was disappointingly beaten early at Wimbledon and so there has been a tweak of the schedule. This time Jack Draper decided to have some time off before Queens got underway and he was a very strong First Round winner.

Jack Draper's improvement on the Tour has been behind the strong lefty serve, and that is a weapon that is considerably more dangerous on a surface like this one. He should be able to largely contain the Alexei Popyrin threat when he is serving and that should allow Draper the freedom to try and attack the Australian, who has given up seventeen Break Points in two matches played on the grass this month.

When he is serving at his best, Alexei Popyrin can be very difficult to break- he held 89% of his service games on the grass courts in 2024. This is not an easy surface to break serve, but Jack Draper has had some decent numbers on the grass and he can use his own serve to put some scoreboard pressure on the lower Ranked player.

The home player can take some encouragement from the fact he was able to break the Alexei Popyrin twice on the hard courts of Doha earlier this season too and Draper may have enough to cover the spread in this one barring a significant serving improvement from the World Number 21.

Alexander Zverev - 3.5 games v Marcos Giron: It was something of a surprise to not see Marcos Giron's name on the draw sheet at either of the two grass court events played last week.

In recent years, the 31 year old has been a comfortable grass court player and he has had some big wins and solid runs on the surface.

He arrives in Halle to face the home favourite, Alexander Zverev, who is also fresh off of reaching the Stuttgart Final before being downed by Taylor Fritz again. This is also a player who has regularly reached the business end at this tournament in the build up to Wimbledon, although Zverev will have plenty of respect for the kind of tennis that Marcos Giron can produce on the grass.

The serve was key for Marcus Giron last year and it helped him win the ATP title in Newport, as well as reaching the Quarter Final here in Halle. During that summer on the grass, Giron was able to take a set from Jack Draper and beat Andrey Rublev, which are impressive performances and his runs were ended by top ten Ranked players here and at Wimbledon.

The second of those defeats was to Alexander Zverev, who dismissed Marcus Giron at SW19 far more easily than anyone could have really imagined.

It is the kind of win that will give Zverev confidence as he heads out onto the court on Wednesday following the loss in Stuttgart on Sunday and the only real concern is whether he is that motivated for another long week with Wimbledon fast approaching. Having those wins in Stuttgart could be a distraction for Alexander Zverev, even if he is going to be well backed by the fans in the stands, although the match up is hard to ignore.

He has won all three previous matches against Marcus Giron and the two wins in 2024 both came in straight sets.

Overall it has been a real challenge for the World Number 41 to get into the Alexander Zverev service games and that has put too much pressure on his own serve.

It should be noted that Alexander Zverev is not the most convincing of return players on the faster surfaces, but he should have enough chances in this First Round match to win and go through with a cover of this handicap mark.

MY PICKS: Emma Navarro + 2.5 Games @ 1.85 William Hill (1 Unit)

Jack Draper - 3.5 Games @ 1.85 William Hill (1 Unit)

Alexander Zverev - 3.5 Games @ 1.72 Bet365 (1 Unit)

Weekly Update: 4-1, + 2.32 Units (5 Units Staked, + 46.40% Yield)

Tennis Picks 2025 (Monday 16th June)

After a positive start to last week, it took a historic failure from Ekaterina Alexandrova to help end the week with a negative number.

It was a hugely frustrating Friday and Saturday considering the chances that the players selected had created.

Sometimes you have to accept you've made a poor selection, but when those players picked have more than double the number of Break Points compared with their opponents, but can't convert, it really is a case of bad luck and that can be very frustrating and disappointing.

Over the last month, it has felt like some of the luck needed for any Pick has been missing, although I have to be happier that the read on the matches has been about right.

Again, if a player is creating two or three times as many Break Points as the opponent, it means they are playing well enough to win matches in the manner expected, rather than missing the majority of those and handing over breaks of serve to scupper the selections. You have to believe that will change back around as long as players are not finding ways to blow matches when having ELEVEN Match Points come and go.

It is a really big week on the grass with some of the very best names on the Tour playing in events to get themselves ready for Wimbledon.

The WTA draw in Berlin looks incredibly loaded with the top talents, while the two Men's Finalists at Roland Garros are also back in action ahead of the start of the third Grand Slam of the season.

There should be plenty of good tennis to watch for the fans, but I hope that is backed up by a decent week for the Tennis Picks, which have suffered over the last three weeks.

Emma Navarro v Marta Kostyuk: She may be the World Number 10, but it has not been a strong calendar year for Emma Navarro and she is looking for some consistency to take into Wimbledon.

There are plenty of World Ranking points to protect in SW19 after a surprising run to the Quarter Final in 2024 and Emma Navarro as shown a liking to playing on the grass.

However, her inconsistent season was all on display at Queens last week where Emma Navarro was able to get past Beatriz Haddad Maia in a tough match before losing to Amanda Anisimova, the eventual Runner Up. The first serve was not working as well as Navarro would have been hoping last week and that has put pressure on ther return.

She is at least going up against an opponent in the First Round in Berlin who has not played a grass court match this season and Marta Kostyuk has not always been at her most comfortable on the surface.

Her numbers over the last couple of years on the grass have been a little disappointing and the early exit at the French Open will have knocked the confidence of the World Number 26. Over the last twelve months, Marta Kostyuk has dropped ten places in the World Rankings and the match up with Emma Navarro has been a tough one for her.

Both previous matches have been played on the hard courts and Emma Navarro is leading the head to head 2-0 as she has been able to get her teeth into the return games with a little more consistency. On the grass, you would have to give Navarro a bit more of an edge and she can win this match in the opening Round in Berlin.

Katerina Siniakova - 4.5 games v Viktoriya Tomova: Qualifying for the main draw should stand Katerina Siniakova in good stead in this First Round match and the World Number 73 should be able to display all of her grass court capabilities in this contest.

Being a strong Doubles player certainly helps on this surface where getting up to the net and putting the finishing touch to rallies can be important.

Katerina Siniakova was beaten early in Hertogenbosch, which will have been a disappointment, but the two wins here in Berlin should have given her a lot of confidence. She has not only served effectively in those wins, but Siniakova has had her eye in when it comes to the return and she has been creating a lot of Break Point chances in those wins.

Viktoriya Tomova will know all about the qualities of her opponent having been beaten twice by her on the Tour, including earlier this season on a hard court.

Despite being Ranked lower than Siniakova, Viktoriya Tomova was not forced to go through Qualifying and that means her sole match on the grass was a defeat in Hertogenbosch to eventual Champion Elise Mertens. That defeat does not look so bad after Mertens went on to lift the title, but Tomova has been a little inconsistent on the grass courts over the last few seasons.

The handicap mark is a significant one and that will need to be respected, but the feeling is that Katerina Siniakova can use the momentum of Qualifying to get the better of this opponent.

She has been the significantly better server in the head to head matches too and Katerina Siniakova can come away with a solid First Round win.

Alexander Bublik - 2.5 games v Alexandre Muller: The surprising run at Roland Garros may have ended in a relatively one-sided defeat, but Alexander Bublik will have taken so much from that performance.

In recent years his numbers on the grass courts have been impressive, even if the win-loss record could, and perhaps should, have been improved and that confidence from the second Grand Slam could set Alexander Bublik up for a very good third Grand Slam of the season.

There may be an outside chance of earning a Seed for Wimbledon with a big run in Halle, but the reality is that Alexander Bublik is still going to be dangerous with his capabilities of playing on a surface that so many find alien.

He returns for the first time since the French Open and Alexander Bublik can get the better of Alexandre Muller in the First Round.

The latter enters the tournament as the World Number 40, which is above Alexander Bublik, but Alexandre Muller has not really not enjoyed the grass court season.

The Frenchman has a career 3-5 record on the surface, but Muller can serve pretty well at times and that should show up on the grass courts. In those eight previous matches, Alexandre Muller has only won 58% of his service points played, but two of those matches have been against top 5 Ranked players and he has had stronger returning numbers when facing opponents that are not Ranked that high.

Alexander Bublik can be tough to trust- he is certainly someone who has to have got out of bed the right side on the morning of his match- but he does have solid serving numbers on the grass. If he can stick to that kind of level, Bublik can keep this opponent under some pressure and that may see him find a break or two that is needed to win and cover this handicap mark set.

MY PICKS: Emma Navarro @ 1.95 William Hill (1 Unit)

Katerina Siniakova - 4.5 Games @ 1.80 Bet365 (1 Unit)

Alexander Bublik - 2.5 Games @ 1.66 Bet365 (1 Unit)

2025 Season: 93-79, + 6.75 Units (210 Units Staked, + 3.21% Yield)

Champions League Final 2015- Juventus v Barcelona (June 6th 2015)

Champions League Final

Juventus v Barcelona

Olympiastadion, Berlin

Saturday 6th June 2015

Juventus

The recovery of Juventus from the dark days of Serie B can be completed on Saturday as they take on Barcelona in the Champions League Final. They have already proven themselves back in Italy where they have won Serie A yet again, but finishing up the season with the treble and finally being on top of the European perch for the first time since 1996 would be beautiful for Juventus thirty years after the tragedy in Heysel.

After finishing 2nd in a Group containing Atletico Madrid, Juventus were the favourites in ties against Borussia Dortmund and Monaco, but not many would have predicted them knocking out Real Madrid in the Champions League Semi Final. It would have seemed even less likely after Juventus travelled to the Spanish capital having secured a 2-1 home win with that away goal expected to be critical, but now they have to prove themselves all over again against the best Spanish football can offer.

Juventus have won 9 in a row in all competitions since their surprising 2-1 defeat at local rivals Torino and they have completed the Serie A and Coppa Italia double in that time. Performances haven't been the best in recent weeks as the concentration and focus has shifted towards the Champions League Final and that has shown with 4 draws in their last 6 games heading into Berlin.

Barcelona

If you go back to the start of January and Barcelona were just coming off a 1-0 defeat at Real Sociedad, this side would not have been the favourites to win any of the three competitions they were still playing in. However Luis Enrique has recovered from that low point of his managerial first season at the Nou Camp and has got Barcelona playing the best football in Europe as they look to complete the treble and emulate Pep Guardiola's sides of recent years.

The goals have been flowing and Barcelona have shown how strong they are in the Champions League for much of the season. After finishing above Paris Saint-Germain in the Group Stage, Barcelona have beaten Manchester City and PSG in the next two Rounds of the competition before facing Guardiola and Bayern Munich. Even their former manager couldn't slow them down as Barcelona thumped Bayern Munich at home before allowing the Germans to win the Second Leg after a couple of away goals virtually assured Barcelona's place in Berlin.

The Catalan giants have lost just 1 of their last 22 games in all competitions and completed the domestic double last weekend with a 3-1 win over Athletic Bilbao in the Copa Del Rey Final. Barcelona have won 10 of their last 12 games in all competitions and are strong favourites to win in Berlin.

Prediction

This has the look of a fascinating European Cup Final between two big European names and Berlin is the lucky venue to host Juventus and Barcelona as both look to complete a famous treble.

A lot will be made of Juventus' win over Real Madrid in the Champions League Semi Final, but the 10 time European Champions were not playing at the same level as this Barcelona team and it is a completely different test. For example, the Juventus defence will be faced by a front three that have all been in very strong form, unlike Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema at Real Madrid.

Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez have the pace to really trouble a Juventus defence that did offer Real Madrid chances in the Second Leg if only Bale had better fortunes in front of goal that evening. Doing the same against this Barcelona team will be a big problem for Juventus as those front three are scoring plenty of goals and come in with some real confidence.

It will be down to Juventus to use their powerful midfield to try and constrict the space to feed the Barcelona front three, but even that might be more of an issue than previous years. While Barcelona have been known to build patiently through Andres Iniesta and Xavi in previous years, they are a much more direct team these days and can by-pass the Juventus strength to get at a defence that lacks speed.

On the other hand, I think the midfield led by Paul Pogba and Claudio Marchisio have the athleticism to push Juventus forward and attack the most vulnerable part of the Barcelona team which remains in their defensive areas. The set pieces are also key for this Juventus team which are 'bigger' than their opponents and that is where Barcelona are likely to be troubled the most.

However, I can't ignore the chances that Juventus gave Real Madrid in the Second Leg and this Barcelona team seem to be stronger going into the final game of the season. Juventus have had a great season, but they have shown some tiredness in their play and going against Barcelona can be physically wearing.

The first goal, as the cliche goes, is very important, but I think Barcelona will eventually prove too good as their front three continues to face up the Juventus defence. A late counter-attack may be required to finish the Italian Champions off, but I like Barcelona to win this one by a couple of goals and confirm they are the best Europe has to offer right now.

MY PICK: Barcelona - 1 Asian Handicap @ 2.05 Bet365 (2 Units)