Premier League Darts news: Ranking every player’s season so far, from Luke Littler to Luke Humphries
With the 2026 PDC darts season in full flow and a host of major titles already claimed, things are heating up in the darts world.
Here, Sports News Blitz writer Charlie Fawcett grades the performances of eight Premier League stars so far this year.
Jonny Clayton – 3.5/5
The Ferret has not exactly been a trailblazer on the ranking circuit in 2026, with a second-round exit all he could muster at the Winmau Masters and a Pro Tour quarter-final his best tournament result so far.
However, on the big Premier League stages, Clayton has come to life.
He is yet to go winless in the 2026 Premier League campaign, with his latest venture on night three seeing him come out as the winner.
En route to Glasgow glory, Clayton saw off both of last year’s World Championship finalists – beating Luke Littler and Gian van Veen to grab the £10k nightly prize pot.
Last weekend was another poor display on the ranking side of things, though, as he limped out of the inaugural Poland Darts Open at the Last 16 stage.
Hence, the Welsh number one only picks up three and a half stars.
Michael van Gerwen – 4/5
It is absolutely no secret that 2025 wasn’t exactly a fun time for Mighty Mike as situations within his personal life meant that the Dutch darting icon may have lost some focus.
However, picking up the World Series Finals towards the end of the campaign felt like a seismic moment for MVG, especially as he defeated Luke Littler 11-7 in the final in Amsterdam.
This year has been a much more positive one for van Gerwen.
He has appeared at the back end of tournaments consistently, picking up a title on the World Series tour in Bahrain as well as being the first nightly winner of this year’s Premier League in Newcastle.
The only reason MVG misses out on a five-star rating is that he did exit at the first hurdle in Milton Keynes at the Winmau Masters.
MORE FROM CHARLIE FAWCETT: Premier League Darts 2026: Who to look out for
Gian van Veen – 4/5
Van Veen is a player that I tipped for success when he first burst onto the scene back in 2023, so seeing an abundance of positivity flying his way feels extra special to me as we watch a generational talent.
The Giant will absolutely win world titles in his career, of that there is no doubt, and he has shown plenty this campaign to suggest the title may be coming sooner than many suspected.
Already in 2026, van Veen has had an impressive run to the semi-finals of the Winmau Masters, which concluded with a 5-0 defeat to Luke Humphries.
However, most notably, GVV recently produced a run to the final of the Poland Darts Open, hitting his first big-stage nine-darter in a 8-4 final defeat to Luke Littler.
Gerwyn Price – 3/5
It feels like a lifetime since Gerwyn Price’s last ranking major win at the 2021 World Championship, although he did come agonisingly close in 2026 as he and Luke Littler played out a thrilling Masters semi-final.
In the end, the world champ saw off Price by five sets to four in an epic.
Price did also pick up the week two Premier League title in Antwerp, but unfortunately the Welshman has not done enough to warrant more than three stars for the time being.
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Luke Humphries – 4/5
It feels like a big year for Cool Hand Luke, and he has started it brilliantly by picking up a Pro Tour title as well as producing a run to the final of the Winmau Masters.
He even reached the semi-finals on the Euro Tour this past weekend.
Ahead of Thursday’s action, Humphries sits in fifth place and a point outside of the play-offs.
However, at this stage in such a tightly compacted league, it is still entirely possible that the Reading-born arrowsmith retains his Premier League crown come judgement day in May.
Luke Littler – 4/5
If this was based purely on Premier League results, The Nuke would be performing around the two-star mark, but, as you may expect, despite struggling in one tournament, the world champ is exceeding in all others.
Littler is the only PDC Major winner so far in 2026, picking up his second world title on the trot as well as his first Masters crown.
Furthermore, Littler landed the inaugural Poland Darts Open trophy on Sunday evening to mark a third-straight Euro Tour campaign in which he has picked up the first title of the year.
It feels like he is a PL nightly win away from a five-star rating, but for the time being he will have to settle for four.
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Stephen Bunting – 2/5
Onto the Premier League basement-dwellers now.
Despite The Bullet playing some of the best darts of his life until recently, Stephen Bunting has capped off a poor World Championship with a pretty woeful start to life in the 2026 PDC season.
He is yet to win a game in this year’s Premier League, admittedly coming agonisingly close against Jonny Clayton in week two, and with his opening opponent in Belfast on Thursday being Humphries, that stat doesn’t show signs of changing.
He does, however, avoid the dreaded one-star rating, because the People’s Champ did make it all the way to the final hurdle at Players Championship 3 last week, where he lost 8-1 to Chris Dobey.
Josh Rock – 1.5/5
The 2026 Premier League has been a disaster for Rocky, and this year’s season in general hasn’t exactly made for pretty viewing.
The young Northern Irishman is yet to pick up a point in this year’s PL, and he hasn’t really come close to doing so either, with three quarter-final exits being the tale of his tape.
In terms of ranking events, Rocky reached the quarter finals in Poland but was comprehensively beaten 6-1 by the eventual champ.
A Winmau Masters quarter-final, in which he was once more comprehensively beaten, is the only thing preventing a one-star review.
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