Premier League Darts: Nathan Aspinall snubbed as Stephen Bunting keeps spot and Josh Rock makes his debut
Jonny Clayton, Josh Rock, Stephen Bunting and Gerwyn Price are the four wildcard picks for this year's Premier League; you can watch Premier League Darts live on Sky Sports from February all the way through until the finale at The O2 in London on May 28
Monday 5 January 2026 19:31, UK
Stephen Bunting and Josh Rock have been included in the Premier League Darts line-up for 2026, with Nathan Aspinall missing out.
The top four in the PDC Order of Merit automatically qualify meaning world champion Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, World Championship finalist Gian van Veen and Michael van Gerwen were guaranteed their spots.
Then, Bunting, Rock, Gerwyn Price, and Jonny Clayton have been chosen as the wildcard selections.
That means there is three changes from the 2025 line-up, with Rock coming in for 'The Asp' and Chris Dobey and Rob Cross also missing out from 12 months prior.
Aspinall made it to Finals Night on the 2025 edition of the tournament but as the current world No 14 he misses out this time around.
It was a tough outing for Bunting in the 2025 Premier League as he lost his first eight opening games before going onto win on Night Nine in Berlin, but he will return to the Premier League for a second straight year.
Bunting won two World Series events and a Euro Tour tournament in the first half of 2025 but struggled in the majors in the second half of the year.
The 40-year-old has been given the nod though and will be hoping to improve on finishing bottom of the Premier League table last season.
Rock makes his debut in the Premier League after a strong year for the Northern Irishman and is the second debutant alongside Van Veen to be picked after a return to form in 2025.
He was a semi-finalist at the UK Open and World Matchplay before being stunned at Alexandra Palace by Justin Hood.
Despite a shock second-round exit at the World Championship, Gerwyn Price is in the Premier League field for an eighth time.
Although Price did not make any televised ranking finals in 2025, he largely performed well and was in the Play-Offs at last year's Premier League.
Meanwhile, Clayton is back for the first time since 2023.
The world No 5 made the semi-finals at the UK Open, World Matchplay and World Grand Prix last year and made the quarter-finals at the World Championship.
Mardle: Bunting will be feeling relief | Noppert very unlucky
Sky Sports Darts' Wayne Mardle on the line-up:
"I'm slightly surprised at Stephen Bunting. He's had a decent enough year but not as good as some in my opinion.
"He can consider himself a little fortunate. He played OK in the Premier League last year but results didn't go well, especially for the first eight weeks when he didn't win a game.
"You can't argue with any of them in terms of their ability and what they are capable of but Bunting will be the one who will breathe a huge sigh of relief.
"Danny Noppert has been really unlucky. He's reached the semi-finals of four majors.
"Nathan Aspinall had a squeak but Noppert I feel - what's he got to do? He won the UK Open a few years ago. Since then he's got better and better. Maybe he's got to reach a final or win one, but Stephen hasn't done that this year.
"With the performances of last year, I thought that would have gone against him rather than for him but he's got a massive following!"
Wade: Premier League omission 'hurts'
James Wade expressed his disappointment at being overlooked for the 2026 edition of the competition.
The 2009 Premier League champion wrote on X: "Hard work pays off… really? Disappointed, but proud of the work I put in this year chasing one goal getting back to the Premier League.
"Missing out hurts, but that's part of the journey. I trusted my performances in the big moments, two major finals and two major quarter-finals and I'll keep backing that process. Back to work now. 2026, I'll be ready."
How does the Premier League work?
Matches take place every Thursday night between February and May and are played in different venues around the United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe, including Germany, the Netherlands with Antwerp, Belgium a new venue this year.
Since 2022, the format has been an eight-person knockout bracket every night, with each of the players meeting once across week 1-7 and then again in weeks 9-15 with weeks 8 and 16 drawn based on league standings.
The points system is as follows:
- Nightly winner: 5 points
- Runner-up: 3 points
- Losing semi-finalists: 2 points
After week 16, the top four in the table contest the semi-finals and the final at The O2 in London.
First plays fourth and second plays third in the best-of-19-leg semi-finals before a best-of-21-leg final.
Premier League Darts winners
- 2005: Phil Taylor
- 2006: Phil Taylor
- 2007: Phil Taylor
- 2008: Phil Taylor
- 2009: James Wade
- 2010: Phil Taylor
- 2011: Gary Anderson
- 2012: Phil Taylor
- 2013: Michael van Gerwen
- 2014: Raymond van Barneveld
- 2015: Gary Anderson
- 2016: Michael van Gerwen
- 2017: Michael van Gerwen
- 2018: Michael van Gerwen
- 2019: Michael van Gerwen
- 2020: Glen Durrant
- 2021: Jonny Clayton
- 2022: Michael van Gerwen
- 2023: Michael van Gerwen
- 2024: Luke Littler
- 2025: Luke Humphries
Who will win this year's Premier League Darts? Luke Humphries will be defending his title and you can watch the action every single Thursday from February until May on Sky Sports. Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.
