World Youth Champion Luke Humphries will return to the Premier League in front of a sell-out crowd at Westpoint Exeter, having appeared at the venue 12 months ago before reaching the quarter-finals of the World Championship for a second successive year in December.

Widely-regarded as one of the hottest prospects in the sport, the 25-year-old believes that becoming the first Challenger to win a Premier League match would be the ideal next step for his development as he prepares to take on two-time champion Gary Anderson.

Anderson, meanwhile, is enjoying life back in the Premier League having sat out the 2019 campaign through injury, and made it two wins from four against Rob Cross in Dublin last time out.

However, the two-time World Champion insists he is not paying much attention to the league table at this stage of the competition.

World number three Price is the form player heading into Night Five, with the Welshman looking to extend his 13-match winning run against Glen Durrant.

Having picked up his first title of the year at Players Championship Six, Price defeated Peter Wright to claim his opening win of the 2020 Premier League campaign, before winning the first European Tour event of the year in Belgium on Sunday.

In contrast to Price, Michael van Gerwen enters March without a PDC title to his name for the first time since 2011 as he prepares to take on Michael Smith in a repeat of the 2018 Premier League final.

However, the world number one got back to winning ways in the Premier League in Dublin last week, holding his nerve to defeat Challenger William O’Connor who was well backed by over 9,000 Irish fans.

Smith produced the moment of the tournament so far in Dublin last week, as he ended the near three-year wait for a Premier League nine-darter in a 7-5 victory over Daryl Gurney.

With back-to-back Premier League wins to his name, Smith heads into the contest full of confidence having defeated Van Gerwen at the Belgian Darts Championship on Sunday on his way to the final, where he lost out to Price.

Night Five will also see Nathan Aspinall look to continue his impressive start to Premier League life against World Champion Peter Wright, while Gurney will hope to end his winless run against last year’s runner-up Cross in a key contest.

The first nine nights of Premier League action will see a different Challenger in action, culminating in Judgement Night in Rotterdam on March 26 where the ninth-placed player will be eliminated.

Following Judgement Night, the remaining eight players meet once more in the remaining seven league nights in Belfast, Sheffield, Manchester, Berlin, Birmingham, Glasgow and Leeds.d Leeds.

The top four players then progress to face off for the title, and 250,000 top prize, in the Play-Offs at The O2 in London on Thursday May 21.

UNIBET VIEW FROM JACK MILNER

“MVG suffered a somewhat shock defeat during last year’s PL campaign in Exeter, throwing away a 3-2 lead before losing 7-3 to James Wade 12 months ago, and Michael Smith will be hoping to inflict a similar punishment on the World Number One; 4/1 to follow-up last week’s two points and 9/1 with Unibet to be King of the Oche v The Dutchman in Exeter.”

Unibet Premier League of Darts – Outright
Michael Van Gerwen Evens
Peter Wright 5/1
Gerwyn Price 11/2 (From 8s)
Gary Anderson 9/1
Nathan Aspinall 9/1
Michael Smith 12/1 (from 20s)
Rob Cross 22/1
Glen Durrant 22/1
Daryl Gurney 100/1

Week 5 Matches – Exeter
6/5 Rob Cross – Draw 16/5 – Daryl Gurney 17/10
4/5 Gerwyn Price – Draw 17/5 – Glen Durrant 5/2
13/8 Nathan Aspinall – Draw 16/5 – Peter Wright 5/4
4/5 Gary Anderson – Draw 17/5 – Luke Humphries 5/2
4/1 Michael Smith – Draw 4/1 – Michael Van Gerwen 1/2

Enhanced Accas
Gerwyn Price, Gary Anderson and Peter Wright all to win 7/1
Gerwyn Price, MVG, Gary Anderson and Peter Wright all to win 12/1
Gerwyn Price, MVG, Gary Anderson and Rob Cross all to win 12/1
Rob Cross, Gary Anderson, MVG and Peter Wright all to win 14/1
Gerwyn Price, Rob Cross, MVG and Peter Wright all to win 14/1

Most 180s
Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright and MVG all to Hit the Most 180s 15/2
Gerwyn Price, Peter Wright and Gary Anderson all to Hit the Most 180s 15/2
Gary Anderson, Peter Wright and MVG all to Hit the Most 180s 9/1
Rob Cross, Gary Anderson and Peter Wright all to Hit the Most 180s 9/1

King of the Oche (Win the game, hit the highest checkout and have the most 180s in the game)
Gerwyn Price and MVG Both to be King of the Oche 20/1
Gary Anderson and MVG Both to be King of the Oche 25/1
Luke Humphries to be King of the Oche v Gary Anderson 10/1