The most unique year of Premier League Darts comes to a close tonight, and there's a 75 per cent chance that there will be a new name on the trophy.
Despite not being a ranked PDC title, the Premier League is the most prestigious of exhibitions, and we've seen great performances and nine-darters down the years - including two in one match by Phil 'The Power' Taylor in the 2010 final, where he defeated James Wade inside Wembley Arena.
The last two Premier League seasons have been completely different to anything we've seen before. 2019 was different in the sense that nine 'Contenders' were added on a week-by-week basis, due to the withdrawal of Gary Anderson due to a back injury.
The Contenders were re-named as 'Challengers' for 2020, with Fallon Sherrock being the headline act, but the season was curtailed by COVID-19 after just six weeks, and we didn't see another dart thrown under the PDC banner until the July 'Summer Series' which was staged in Milton Keynes' Marshall Arena.
And the same venue was to be used for the rest of the Premier League season, which was to host the final 10 nights of action between August 25 and September 5.
Darts fans witnessed somewhat of a shock as Michael van Gerwen faltered in the final nights to stumble to sixth place in the table, missing out on the Play-Offs for the first first time in his career - and you can see some of the biggest shocks from this years season in the video below.
The in-form Gerwyn Price also just missed out on Finals Night, which will emanate from the PDC's new behind-closed-doors base at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, leaving some new names to contest the final games of the season.
Nathan Aspinall v Peter Wright
Both of these men suffered disappointing first round exits at the World Grand Prix last week, but due to the unique double-start format, it's probably best you forget about those results.
Aspinall has certainly impressed in his first Premier League campaign. In September 2018 he was so close to giving the game up due to his finances, but later that month he won his first PDC ranking title at Players Championship 18.
The Asp has gone from strength-to-strength since then, getting to successive World Darts Championship semi-finals, winning the 2019 UK Open and the US Darts Masters in the same year, and currently sits at number six in the PDC Order of Merit.
But he comes up against the reigning World Champion in 'Snakebite', who has added a few Players Championship titles to his name since the sport returned in July, and won six of his last 10 Premier League games to finish in second spot.
Looking at the stats of both players in this years Premier League, they have averaged similar numbers, Wright shading it with his 99.66 average to The Asp's 98.62, and their last meeting saw the Scotsman defeat the Stockport native 8-5.
Bookmakers have Wright as the clear favourite going into the first to 10 leg semi-final, but as we've seen many times in the no crowd era, shock results come up from time-to-time - after all, who expected Dirk Van Duijvenbode to reach the World Grand Prix final?
Glen Durrant v Gary Anderson
Anderson is the only man in the final four who has his name already on the trophy, having won the Premier League in 2011 and 2015, but it's fair to say he's not the dominating player he was in the mid 2010's.
That's not to say Anderson is finished by a long shot - he's put in some great performances at times this year - but he is prone to putting in a sloppy showing when you least expect it.
And in Glen Durrant, he faces a man who has gone from strength-to-strength since gaining a PDC tour card for the first time ever last year.
Finishing at the top of the table in his first Premier League campaign is one thing, but he's already done so much more.
A World Championship quarter-final, two World Matchplay semi-finals, a Grand Prix semi-final, a Grand Slam semi-final and two Players Championship wins - not many players could say they've done so well in their first two years in the PDC.
Duzza racked up a victory and a draw in his two matches against the Flying Scotsman in their two match-ups this year, and away from the Premier League, Durrant finds himself 5th in the three-dart averages table since darts returned in July (headed by the Portuguese 'Man of Scores' Jose de Sousa), with Anderson in 9th.
It shows that the two men are playing at a similar standard, although Durrant had a bit of a shocker in the first round of the World Grand Prix, losing to Dave Chisnall with just a 78 average.
That could've been attributed to the fact that he re-installed the pear flights to his darts that he's used for most of his career, instead of the kite flights that had worked so well since he started using them a few months ago.
You'd have to assume that Durrant will make that switch back to the kites for Finals Night, and he won't feel the pressure one bit, having competed in many high-pressure matches over his career.
Who Will Triumph?
Unlike the regular season games which are best of 14 legs, both semi-finals are played under a best of 19 legs format, which is extended to a best of 21 for the final.
You could literally make a case for any of the four competitors to go on and win the £250,000 top prize, with the bookies having Wright as the 13/8 favourite.
But from personal opinion, Glen Durrant has been very hard to beat for the most part of 2020 and especially in the Premier League, and after his Grand Prix disappointment, he'll be looking to make up for it by winning his biggest prize (monetarily speaking) to date.
And I fancy him to take out Anderson in the semi-final, and then go on to defeat Wright or Aspinall in the grand finale.
Will Fans Be Back For The World Championships?
It will be highly unusual to have a Premier League Finals Night inside an empty arena, and considering the O2 Arena is set to host a few thousand people for music gigs in the coming weeks, it's perhaps frustrating to see the PDC not being able to have a socially-distanced crowd for a big final.
We have seen the PDC in recent weeks go to Germany and Austria with crowds present, and both are countries they will be visiting in the next few weeks and months for the European Tour, European Championship and the PDC World Cup of Darts.
There has been talk that the World Championship, that has been hosted at Alexandra Palace since 2008, may be shipped abroad for this year to get fans in cheering on the crowd, and in theory it's not really a bad idea.
The PDC would gain much-needed money from tickets if they go to a place like Germany, a country with a huge darts fanbase, and lets face it - who really wants to watch the World Championship with no crowd?
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