Humphries beats Price in Birmingham to clinch Premier League play-off spot
Humphries sealed play-off qualification with a 110.98 average in Birmingham, while Price also booked his Finals Night place. The top four is now set with two nights to spare.
Birmingham settled the Premier League play-off race and sharpened the picture heading into Finals Night. Luke Humphries and Gerwyn Price claimed the last two places at The O2 in London on 28 May 2026, joining Luke Littler and Jonny Clayton after a night that showed Humphries arriving in peak form and Price still dangerous under pressure.
The Night 15 event at Utilita Arena Birmingham on Thursday, 14 May 2026 came with only two regular-season nights left in the 17-night campaign. In a format where the nightly winner gets five points, the runner-up three and the losing semi-finalists two, every result carried weight, but Birmingham removed the final uncertainty. The top four are now locked after Night 15, with the league table no longer able to shake the play-off line-up beyond the established quartet.
Humphries, the defending champion, produced the standout performance of the evening to win his first night of the 2026 season. He beat Stephen Bunting 6-0 in the quarter-finals, then Luke Littler 6-3 in the semi-finals before overcoming Price 6-4 in the final with a 110.98 average. That run mattered beyond the trophy: it was the clearest sign yet that Humphries, who had climbed to fourth after reaching the Leeds final a week earlier, is carrying the kind of form that makes him one of the most serious threats for the title at the end of the month.
Price also handled the pressure when it mattered. He reached the final by beating Michael van Gerwen 6-4 in the quarter-finals and Gian van Veen 6-4 in the semi-finals, enough to confirm his play-off place and undercut the late surge of the two players chasing him in the table. Going into Birmingham, Humphries was fourth, one point ahead of Van Gerwen and two ahead of Van Veen. Had Humphries won and both pursuers gone out early, the play-off field could have been completed with a night to spare.
That scenario is now academic, but the bigger read remains important. Littler had already qualified and Clayton had already booked his Finals Night place, leaving Birmingham to determine whether Humphries could turn a precarious position into control. He did exactly that, and with a 110.98 average in the final, he left the strongest impression of anyone in the field. Price qualified, but Humphries emerged as the player who looks most capable of carrying this week’s momentum into London.
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