Nathan Aspinall makes surprise call as he names the darts GOAT

Aspinall, Humphries and Littler are all into the quarter-finals of the UK Open on Sunday afternoon in Minehead, while MVG suffered a shock defeat on Saturday.

The Dutch legend was beaten 10-8 by Robert Owen in the fifth round, ending his bid for a fourth UK Open title.

The Asp booked his spot in the last eight with an impressive performance in a 10-8 win over Willie O’Connor and he feels it was a win over MVG in the Premier League a couple of weeks ago that helped turn his form around from underwhelming to the strong position he is in now.

‘I thought I needed to win a ProTour or win a Premier League night for it to change. Now I look back, I needed to beat Van Gerwen,’ he said.

‘For me, I don’t care about Littler or Humphries or whatever, for me Van Gerwen will always be the man to beat, in my eyes.

‘To get a win and the way I did it, I battered him, 100 average, played really well. That was the game that put back in my head “Nathan you deserve to be in the Premier League, you are still a good player”.’

Aspinall spoke again of that win in Dublin over Van Gerwen, which is when he labelled Mighty Mike as the darts GOAT.

‘It’s amazing to beat Michael,’ said the Englishman. ‘He’s the guy. I don’t see the other two as Van Gerwen to me, Van Gerwen’s the GOAT in my opinion, always will be.

‘When I beat him the other week I got a lot of confidence from it.’

Three-time world champ Van Gerwen is undoubtedly one of the best ever, but most would still have 16-time world champion Phil Taylor as their GOAT.

Aspinall was something of a controversial choice for the Premier League this year but he is proving that he is still one of the very best players on the planet.

The 33-year-old is fifth in the table after four weeks, proving very competitive, and is into the quarter-finals in Minehead where he is looking to win the UK Open for a second time.

‘It’s been a pretty rubbish couple of years for myself. But I’m back enjoying it,’ he said. ‘I said this when I got invited to the Premier League, it will bring me back and that’s what it is doing.

‘I’m finding my love again for the game, I’m a fan’s favourite. I love the fans and they’re the ones that keep me going. Even when I was down in the dumps.

‘I’m working very hard behind the scenes with a couple of people and for me my biggest problem is confidence. It’s now coming back. It’s so hard this game when you’re not playing well.’

Aspinall takes on Josh Rock in the quarter-finals, where Littler meets Gian van Veen and Humphries plays James Wade.

Michael Smith and Jonny Clayton clash in the other quarter-final on Sunday afternoon, before the semis and final in the evening session.