ASPINALL DRIVEN BY “EGO” AFTER PREMIER LEAGUE SNUB

NATHAN ASPINALL has been told his “ego” is driving a ruthless bid to prove he still belongs among darts’ elite after his Premier League snub.

The Asp has made a flying start to the season, winning the German Darts Grand Prix and reaching the final of Players Championship One.

It comes after Aspinall admitted he was “not enjoying playing darts at the moment” following his omission from the weekly roadshow for the first time since 2022. 

World No.14 Aspinall even switched things up in Germany, walking on to Lose Yourself by Eminem instead of his usual Mr. Brightside, a sign, some believe, of a fresh mindset.

Commentator Chris Murphy believes that early success could completely change Aspinall’s mindset for the rest of the campaign. 

He told the Love the Darts Podcast: “He’d have gone and lost his first match, he might have gone, ‘you know what, I’m not going to do the Euro Tour now for the rest of the year’.

“But he goes and wins the tournament and yeah, you’re right, he loves winning, doesn’t he? 

“He’s a real competitor. And that will probably change his outlook now for that tour and for travelling for the rest of the season.

“Different walk-on song, maybe, I don’t know if there’s anything in that. I don’t think he’ll use it for the bigger events, but yeah, he just went and enjoyed himself, didn’t he?

“And it worked out in his favour and he went and won the tournament.”

Pundit Michael Bridge says Aspinall and others in his position are driven by a desire to prove they still belong at the very top. 

He explained: “Yeah, I mean, he might do like a Euro Tour version, then we’ll have Mr. Brightside in the UK, mix it up a bit.

“But look, you know, I’m really pleased for him. And he’s got everything about him, he’s a Premier League guy.

“I get what he means because it’s like missing something from his calendar, but maybe it will do him good to have a year out of it and then go all out and try and get back in it next year. 

“I mean, you know, there’s already talk about the potential change of format. Does that mean maybe increasing it to maybe two more? That would be well under discussion. 

“[Chris] Dobey’s playing well. He’s another one who loves and probably misses the Premier League and this isn’t a criticism of them, it’s more of an ego thing. 

“They like to be part of the elite. Nathan will see himself as part of the elite. 

“But what I would say is, if you’ve got the likes of Luke Littler and [Luke] Humphries maybe not going to some of the Euro Tour events this year, then they’ve got to say, ‘right, I’m going to be one of the favourites and I need to go and win this tournament’.”

Image by Taylor Lanning.