2024-08-21

Premier League Darts - Best Debuts

Premier League Darts is hugely competitive each season, as players battle all year long to earn ranking points to qualify for this star-studded event over 17 nights each spring.

This is where darts betting comes alive, as players have little room for errors. One missed double or a loose leg can quickly turn into an early exit.

Betting on Premier League Darts is far less predictable than other tournaments like the World Championships or Masters. That’s because players at this level are fairly equally matched, so the odds swing wildly when someone makes an error.

But how did the current crop of players fare in their debut DPL season? In this guide, we’ll look at the eight competitors from the 2024 Premier League Darts campaign, and which can boast to have the best debut campaign.

Ranking Players in Darts Premier League Debut Performance

Before we look at each player individually, it’s worth reminding ourselves how you qualify for the Darts Premier League.

The top four players in the PDC Order of Merit automatically qualify. After that, four wildcards selected by the PDC make up the eight players. Wildcards are usually selected from among the winners of other major tournaments over the year, or big-draw names.

It's also worth noting that the Darts Premier League format changed in 2022 from 10 players to the current eight. This meant those who made their debuts before 2022 were given an official ranking at the end of the whole thing, while these days players either fall at the group stage, the semi finals, the final, or they win the title.

Below are the eight players who competed in the 2024 edition and how they fared in their debut season, ranked from worst to best performance…

8. Gerwyn Price – 2018 debut

The Iceman won the world title in 2021 but he has often struggled to make an impact in the Premier League. Gerwyn Price endured a disastrous debut campaign in 2018, finishing 10th without winning a single match. He earned just two draws over the nine weeks he participated, before he and Mensur Suljovic were cut for Phase 2.

It was a miserable campaign in which he averaged just 89.67 and won just 32 legs across nine matches. His checkout rate – on the occasions he had a chance to close a leg out – was a miserable 32.99%.

First Darts Premier League match result: 6-6 draw with Peter Wright
First Darts Premier League season result: Last/10th

7. Michael Smith – 2016 debut

Gerwyn Price isn't the only player to suffer humiliation in their debut Darts Premier League season. Two years prior, in 2016, Michael Smith secured a spot in the competition after reaching the Worlds and Masters quarter-finals earlier that year.

He had a dreadful time in the Premier League though. he lost 7-2 to Peter Wright on the opening night in Leeds and had to wait five weeks for his first win, against Raymond van Barneveld. By that stage he was already cut adrift in the Darts Premier League table and he hit rock bottom when losing to fellow relegation battler Robert Thornton in Liverpool.

Thornton survived the chop, while Smith crashed out in 10th place after just one win and a draw from his nine outings.

First Darts Premier League match result: 7-2 defeat to Peter Wright
First Darts Premier League season result: Last/10th

6. Peter Wright – 2014 debut

Peter Wright had reached the World Darts Championship final the month before his Premier League debut. Plenty was expected from the Scot back in 2014 and he began the tournament at an exceptional rate, going undefeated in his first seven weeks (W5, D2).

He was even first for two weeks and looked destined to make the playoffs. But a draw against Phil Taylor in Week 14 gave Gary Anderson the chance to move into fourth spot, and Wright then lost to Michael van Gerwen in the last week of the regular season to settle for fifth.

It was a respectable debut. Wright and Anderson were effectively neck-and-neck all spring, but Snakebite just missed out on the playoffs.

First Darts Premier League match result: 7-3 win over Wes Newton
First Darts Premier League season result: 5th

5. Rob Cross – 2018

Rob Cross won the world title in his debut at the Ally Pally in 2018 and naturally qualified for the Premier League that spring. He was considered a possible challenger to Michael van Gerwen's period of dominance in the 2010s but couldn't keep apace with the Dutchman or Michael Smith.

Cross started the campaign with two sorry defeats but then got into his groove, winning eight of nine matches to move into Phase 2. He somewhat stumbled into the playoffs in fourth place, having gone winless for the last five nights.

Cross lost 10-6 to MVG in the Premier League semis that year. It was a respectable finish but darts betting fans were left wondering what could have been. Cross just couldn't maintain the consistency over 15 nights. He reached the final a year later, only to lose to Van Gerwen again.

First Darts Premier League match result: 7-2 defeat to Michael van Gerwen
First Darts Premier League season result: Semi-final

4. Nathan Aspinall – 2020

Nathan Aspinall's first full season in the Darts Premier League was a rollercoaster. COVID delayed the tournament midway through, but the PDC still got 16 nights and a playoff night out of the campaign. Aspinall started well, defeating John Henderson 7-3 in his opening night. He also toppled MVG, Gerwyn Price and Michael Smith en route to a third-place finish.

He rocked Peter Wright 10-7 in the semi-finals in Coventry that autumn, only to suffer an 11-8 final defeat to another debutant Glen Durrant.

Aspinall had a near-identical average to Durant over the course of the season and nailed almost double his average score. Yet it was Duzza who walked away with the title.

First Darts Premier League match result: 7-3 win over John Henderson
First Darts Premier League season result: Final

3. Luke Humphries – 2024

Luke Humphries reached the final in his full Premier League Darts debut, having briefly appeared in the competition as a stand-in during the 2019 and 2020 campaigns. His 2024 venture was almost as good as it gets. He won 21 of 33 matches in the group stage, and four nights in total. He was the only player to average over 100 across the tournament and he boasted an impressive 41.42% checkout rate.

So what went wrong? Luke Littler. The teenager also made his debut in 2024 and was a step ahead of Humphries the whole way through. Humphries lost in the final, having stuffed MVG 10-5 in the semis.

Still, it was an impressive debut for Cool Hand Luke, who actually lost two of his first three matches of the tournament before hitting his stride.

First Darts Premier League match result: 6-2 defeat to Luke Littler
First Darts Premier League season result: Final

2. Michael van Gerwen – 2013

Michael van Gerwen's debut at the 2013 Darts Premier League marked a changing of the guard from Phil Taylor to a new generation of players. Gary Anderson and Raymond van Barneveld were also making heatwaves in the sport by that point but it was MVG who came to conquer the oche.

In 2013 Van Gerwen played his first Premier League season after losing his first World Darts Championship final, to Taylor, weeks earlier. He didn't wait long to get his revenge. The Dutchman won 11 of his 16 group games, which included a 7-3 demolition of Taylor in Sheffield.

He cruised into the playoffs after topping the group stage and beat James Wade 8-4 in the semis. But it was the final showdown with Taylor that darts betting fans remember. Taylor was favourite in the Premier League Darts odds and took a 5-2 lead, only for MVG to bounce back after the Englishman missed doubles in the ninth and 10th legs.

Van Gerwen missed two darts to win the match at 9-7, but a leg later nailed a 132 finish to claim the title.

First Darts Premier League match result: 6-6 draw with Phil Taylor
First Darts Premier League season result: Champion

1. Luke Littler – 2024

Whatever Michael van Gerwen can do, it seems Luke Littler can do better. He was just 16 when he reached the World Darts Championship final and lost to Luke Humphries. A couple of months later he began his debut Premier League Darts campaign and never looked back.

Littler beat Humphries 6-2 in his first-ever DPL match in Cardiff. He reached the final of Night 2 in Berlin, before losing to MVG. It wouldn't be until Night 9 in Belfast that Littler won his first event, which he then repeated in Manchester the following week.

Littler topped the group stage in 2014 having won four of the 16 nights. He ended Humphries in the league table and they were almost guaranteed to meet in the final.

On 23 May 2014 Littler made history by becoming the youngest finalist and champion of the Darts Premier League. He crushed Humphries 11-7 on a night where he nailed a nine-darter when the match was tied at 5-5. He cruised to the title from there!

First Darts Premier League match result: 6-2 win over Luke Humphries
First Darts Premier League season result: Champion

Will Luke Littler eventually be the greatest darts player of all time? That's too much pressure to put on the Nuke at this stage in his career but it looks like he could handle it!