Nathan Aspinall produced a thrilling comeback on home turf to claim his first nightly win of the 2025 Premier League season, defeating Luke Humphries 6-4 in the final in Manchester.
The Stockport-born star rose to fourth place in the overall standings after a dramatic evening at the AO Arena. Despite falling behind early, Aspinall rallied in front of a passionate local crowd to overcome the world number one and boost his playoff hopes.
Humphries had earlier booked his place in the final with a hard-fought win over Luke Littler in the semi-finals. The teenage sensation had started the night by ending a run of six straight defeats against Gerwyn Price, winning their quarter-final 6-3 – despite Price lighting up the match with a dazzling nine-darter. The Welshman hit the perfect leg with a 141 checkout, landing treble 19, treble 20, and double 12 to secure a sparkling set of 18-carat gold darts. Still, Littler proved too strong overall.
In the semi-final clash between Littler and Humphries, it was the world champion who struck first with a 2-0 lead after Littler missed crucial darts early on. Littler responded well and briefly led 3-2 but couldn’t maintain the momentum, as another slip allowed Humphries to close out a 6-3 victory. Remarkably, Humphries averaged 93.80, compared to Littler’s 96.63, yet still came through to set up the final against Aspinall.
Aspinall’s journey to the final began with a commanding 6-2 victory over Rob Cross. He then dispatched Michael van Gerwen by the same scoreline in the semi-finals. Van Gerwen, dealing with a lingering shoulder issue sustained under bizarre circumstances while trying on shirts, couldn’t match Aspinall’s intensity.
The final was a rollercoaster. Humphries came out flying, racing into a 3-0 lead before Aspinall responded in stunning fashion, winning five legs in a row. With the crowd behind him, “The Asp” started the 10th leg with six perfect darts and had chances to wrap it up earlier, but nerves took over as he missed five match darts. Humphries nearly forced a decider with a 170 attempt, but narrowly missed the bullseye. Aspinall finally sealed the win with double four, sparking jubilant scenes in the arena.
Afterwards, the 33-year-old admitted the nerves had nearly overwhelmed him during the final leg. “I’ve never felt that nervous at the end,” he said. “It was the most nervous six or seven darts I’ve ever thrown. I just wanted to win so much for this crowd. The support they’ve given me the last few years has been amazing. They came out in their thousands tonight and I wanted to win for them.”
Reflecting on the dramatic nature of the win, Aspinall added: “Luckily he missed a 170 and I won. It was the perfect final for me to win, wasn’t it? It wasn’t comfortable. I went 3-0 down and came back to win 6-4. That’s my career, isn’t it?”
After ten rounds of the competition, Littler remains top of the standings with 28 points, five ahead of Humphries. Aspinall’s victory brings him level with Price on 15 points and into the top four, with the race to secure playoff spots heating up.
