Luke Humphries relishing Premier League return and has eyes on world title
Coverage of the Premier League continues on Thursday March 5 from Westpoint, Exeter at 7pm on Sky Sports Action & Sky Sports Mix
Thursday 5 March 2020 18:08, UK
Luke Humphries insists there is more to come from him as he gears up for his return to the Premier League stage in Exeter on Thursday night.
The two-time World Championship quarter-finalist will face Gary Anderson as he bids to become the first Challenger ever to win a match in the competition.
Humphries went close to making history last season as he played out a 6-6 draw with Gerwyn Price on his debut as a contender.
Having flourished on the big stage early on in his career, the 25-year-old has welcomed a second exposure to what he deems an unrivalled darting experience.
"I'm really looking forward to it," Humphries told Sky Sports News.
"I obviously had a taste of what the Premier League action was like last year so this year I'll hopefully know what to expect and settle in quicker than last year.
It's completely different to any other TV stage or anywhere else I've played before so the feeling of playing up there is hard to describe, it's probably the best feeling in darts
"It's like a football sort of atmosphere, they're usually packed with about between 6,000 and 12,000 people and it feels like you're in a football stadium.
"I think Gary is the only person I haven't played at the top elite level on TV yet so probably in my eyes it was the perfect draw because we're both heavy scorers and if we both sort of come alive it could be a really good game."
While the reigning world youth champion has impressed on stage, his ability to continue doing so is reliant on the floor form that he has openly admitted needs improvement.
Nonetheless, that shouldn't deter what has been a striking emergence as one of the up-and-coming talents that arguably epitomises what the 'Challengers' concept stands for.
"I've only been professional for two years, so I've reached quite high heights already and there's a lot more to come from me," added Humphries.
"Experience will help me over the years to get bigger and better and I've had some good performances, a couple of quarter-finals at the World Championship and the Premier League last year.
"There's a lot more to come from me but it's going to take a bit more time for it to come out and start showing on TV I can play a lot better as well."
Despite falling at the same hurdle in successive World Championship appearances, Humphries draws on the level of performance required to beat him as major encouragement in his own mission to tick off an Ally Pally title.
Eventual finalist Michael Smith averaged 103 as he beat 'Cool Hand Luke' 5-1 in the 2018/19 quarters, before 2019/20 champion Peter Wright pushed close to a 106 average to see off Humphries 5-3.
"It was a great game of darts, the first five sets he blew me away," Humphries said of December's defeat to Wright.
"The same thing happened to me against Michael Smith, he kind of blew me away as well so if them two performances didn't happen against me I could have been world champion possibly, who knows?
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"Peter was fantastic and it was nice to see him go on and win the world title because he deserves it.
"I've been there a couple of times now and I seem to really get on with the set format. I've proved up on that big stage that I can perform with the best in the world so hopefully in the next five to 10 years I can grab a world title."
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Coverage of the Premier League continues on Thursday, March 5 in Exeter at 7pm on Sky Sports Action with Luke Humphries taking on Gary Anderson. Don't forget, the Premier League is on every Thursday all the way through until the Play-Offs in London on May 21.
