Sporting Life
Michael van Gerwen faces Luke Littler in the opening round
Michael van Gerwen and Luke Littler will meet in the Premier League Darts season

Was the Premier League Darts line-up correct and is it time for the format to change? Paul Nicholson gives his verdict as world champion Luke Littler prepares to defend his title

By Paul Nicholson
Darts
Mon January 13, 2025 · 2d ago

The 2025 Premier League Darts line-up was hotly debated this week while the tournament format remains under scrutiny. Paul Nicholson reflects on both issues in his latest column.

Premier League Darts line-up: Paul's verdicts

LUKE HUMPHRIES
The world number one will be raring to go and has a point to prove after his World Championship disappointment. Finishing in the top four isn't a guarantee for anyone but I'd expect him to be plenty strong enough over the next four months to make it to the O2.

LUKE LITTLER
Defending Premier League champion and the new world champion. It's very hard to envisage how he doesn't make the top four and give himself a shot at defending his title.

MICHAEL VAN GERWEN
I expect a strong campaign after he grew in confidence at the World Championship, despite finishing runner-up to Luke Littler. If he manages his schedule better and cuts down on his exhibition work then I can see him winning at least three Premier League nights and reaching Finals Night.

ROB CROSS
If he hadn't finished the season in the world's top four then he wouldn't have been selected for the Premier League. Even Rob will admit he's been fortunate after a disappointing season and will need to make improvements to justify his selection. However, I don't see him finishing in the top four at this early stage.

STEPHEN BUNTING
Stephen Bunting's selection is an exciting one, isn't it? He's not only a great bloke, but he's pulled a blinder in creating this brand for himself and reached a personal best ranking at the same time. The walk-on song, the orchestrating of the crowd, the upturn in form, the social media popularity and the rise to number five despite not winning a ranked tournament in 2024! I think he'll win plenty of matches and challenge for a top-four spot.

GERWYN PRICE
It was great to see him get his love for darts back during the World Championship even though his performances weren't actually that great from a statistical point of view. There were blockbusting moments but was there enough to suggest he can be a major winner again? I think the main reason he's been included is because he makes more headlines than some other contenders, because his form in 2024 certainly didn't warrant selection. There's lots of work for him to do if he's going to challenge.

CHRIS DOBEY
Chris Dobey's inclusion for a second Premier League season - and first since 2023 - is very fair after what he achieved last year. The fact he was number one seed for the Players Championship Finals gives you an indication of his consistency while his statistics were also highly impressive. He may not have shone at the majors but reaching the World Championship semi-finals showed everyone just what he's capable of. He's got a great attitude and together with his work ethic and talent, he can make a better push for the top four than he did in 2023.

NATHAN ASPINALL
A lot of people are saying he's only been selected for his walk-on, and although that sounds harsh, I'm sure he'll feel quite fortunate to be included. Nathan didn't manage to win a title last year but his Premier League campaign wasn't bad while he's always very watchable with a great stage presence - which are obviously very important factors for this tournament. The PDC and Sky Sports want players who will make headlines and in Price, Aspinall and Bunting they definitely have brands that work.

What would Paul's line-up be?

  • Humphries
  • Littler
  • MVG
  • Cross
  • Bunting
  • Dobey
  • Heta
  • De Decker

Instead of Gerwyn Price and Nathan Aspinall, I'd have gone for Damon Heta and Mike de Decker.

I think sticking someone in from Australia would have been a nice way to open up the commercial avenues of the new ANZ Premier League in Australia - not to mention the fact he's highly entertaining and a potential major title contender.

As for de Decker, the PDC have suggested that they don't think he's quite ready but if it was down to me I would have given him a try, because I just think he may have thrived with the the constant action against the best.

Does the format need changing?

It's fair to say that the current format wasn't a universal hit when it was first introduced for the 2023 season and there were a lot of fans who wanted a swift return back to how it used to be with five matches per night.

However, the arrival of the two Lukes and the excitement they created throughout the 2024 campaign took a lot of attention away from the format and papered over its cracks.

It was the perfect storyline that they would meet in the final, with Littler then hitting a magical nine-dart finish on his way to his first big televised title.

Now he enters the tournament as not only the defending champion but also the world champion, so the media attention and hype certainly won't be less than 12 months ago - but the novelty factor for the fans watching at home won't quite be the same.

The fans inside the arena each night will arguably prefer this format because they can see the likes of Littler up to three times per night and always have a champion to toast at the end of it.

Obviously it's great for the players too because they can earn £10,000 for one night's work on top of winning £250k at the end of the rainbow.

Even in the case of Peter Wright last year when he suffered the 'worst case scenario' of being beaten in almost every game and being mocked on social media - he still walked away with £60,000 for finishing last.

Pretty much any player on the planet would snap your hand off if they were offered that. And it's not just about the prize money. It's about you being in a shop window and attracting the highest sponsorship deals.

Last year Luke Littler won £275,000 for the title plus another £40,000 for the four nightly successes he had during the league phase.

Just think of what he earned on top of that from all his sponsorship deals - which increases the more TV airtime you get!

I wouldn't be surprised if, overall, he walked away with around £1million from that campaign.

Including bonuses from sponsors, your average Premier League player who doesn't walk away with the title might be looking at around £200k to £250k in earnings from being involved.

The best advertising window for a dart player, bar none. It is around four months of constant exposure, with a litany of photographs and videos in all kinds of different media. And that's what these sponsors want.

So the main negativity with this format comes from television viewers who find it too repetitive. You might get to see the same game six or seven times in a season which you did with Littler and MVG.

How will Luke Littler fare as defending champion?

Although the format comes under scrutiny, I certainly feel it helped Luke Littler achieve the levels he reached during a record-breaking season that saw him become world champion, win 10 other titles and bank well over £1million.

He got a lot more TV game time and winning experience against the very best players in the world in front of huge crowds rather than if he had done in the old format and it was no surprise to see his confidence grow as fast as his performance levels.

He was winning pretty much every month and even when he had a blip of first-round exits in majors, he was still picking up trophies elsewhere and never losing his belief.

But as far as 2025 is concerned, it's going to be a different challenge.

This will be the first year where there's no more debuts. Nothing is new anymore.
Being naive is like a superpower as a dart player in your first year. You've got nothing to lose and you enjoy trying to figure it all out.

But when you know all the intricacies and everyone knows a lot more about you, then things seem a bit more difficult. That’s just my opinion.

Littler will also be defending a lot of titles this year and you only have to ask Luke Humphries how much harder it is to do that.

Michael Smith is a good example of a player who struggled to stay at the top after spending years of trying to reach the summit.
Some people win their first title and then they can't go and repeat it. Sometimes it's because they're not really sure of how they got there in the first place. They rode the roller coaster and found their way to the end without realising the secret to the success.

That's why I always tell people to write down everything that happens during a successful period whether that's practice regimes, diet, sleeping habits, tricks and hacks. Everything.

Then when you lose your way you can look back and try and repeat the formula that brought you success. Unfortunately I realised this way too late in my career.

When I won by sole major title at the Players Championship Finals I was in a state of numbness for about two weeks.

I didn't really know what was going on, because my personal circumstances hadn't been great. I remember getting the train to Purfleet, where the tournament was held back then, in the freezing cold and thinking 'this darts is really not as glamorous as I was promised.’

I couldn't even afford a taxi and walked from the station thinking "this is not limousines and champagne. This is hard".
I just decided to treat darts like an escape but after that tournament I put too much expectation in my own mind to repeat it. And at that point I did think I was going to be world champion.

There was a time in my career around 2012 when I won a few titles close together and I felt like I probably was the best in the world.

But when a drought kicks in, you start thinking "Well, am I going to win again?" and it just gets harder and harder.
Fortunately for Luke, he's enjoyed serial success wherever he's been over the past few years.

If there is a gap of six months without a title, it'll be interesting to see how he snaps out of it. That’s a huge if at this stage, and it may never happen.

Of course he may never have something like that. Phil Taylor wouldn't have gone a few months without a tournament win and retired before that kind of drought was more likely to happen.

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