2018 Premier League Darts
# 2018 Premier League Darts

The 2018 Unibet Premier League Darts was a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation – the fourteenth edition of the tournament. The event began on Thursday 1 February at the 3Arena in Dublin and ended with the play-offs at The O2 Arena in London on Thursday 17 May. This was the first year that the tournament is sponsored by Unibet.

Michael van Gerwen won his fourth Premier League title (and his third in a row, after winning in 2016 and 2017) by defeating Michael Smith 11–4 in the final.

This was also the first time that the event has had a round in Germany, when the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin hosted the 4th round on 22 February.

Storm Emma resulted in the Exeter round of the event being postponed on 1 March. This was the first time ever since the Premier League started in 2005 that a whole round in the league phase of Premier League Darts was postponed. The same extreme conditions would also go on to cause severe problems in the staging of that weekends UK Open in Minehead which resulted in the event having to be played entirely behind closed doors. In 2010, the play-offs were postponed for 24 hours after a power cut at Wembley Arena.

## Format

The tournament format was identical to that since 2013. During the first nine weeks (Phase 1) each player played the other nine players once. The bottom two players were then eliminated from the competition. In the next six weeks (phase 2) each player played the other seven players once. Phase 2 consisted of four weeks where five matches were played followed by two weeks where four matches were played. At the end of phase 2, the top four players contested the two semi-finals and the final in the play-off week.

## Venues

| Dublin | Cardiff | Newcastle | Berlin |
| - | - | - | - |
| 3Arena Thursday 1 February | Motorpoint Arena Cardiff Thursday 8 February | Metro Radio Arena Thursday 15 February | Mercedes-Benz Arena Thursday 22 February |
| Exeter | Leeds | Nottingham | Glasgow |
| Westpoint Arena Thursday 1 March (cancelled) | First Direct Arena Thursday 8 March | Motorpoint Arena Nottingham Thursday 15 March | SSE Hydro Thursday 22 March |
| Belfast | Liverpool | Sheffield | Rotterdam |
| SSE Arena Belfast Thursday 29 March | Echo Arena Liverpool Thursday 5 April (Judgement Night) | FlyDSA Arena Thursday 12 April | Rotterdam Ahoy Wednesday 18 & Thursday 19 April |
| Manchester | Birmingham | Aberdeen | London |
| Manchester Arena Thursday 26 April | Arena Birmingham Thursday 3 May | BHGE Arena Thursday 10 May | The $O_2$ Thursday 17 May |

## Players

The players in this year's tournament were announced following the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship final on 1 January, with the top four of the PDC Order of Merit joined by six Wildcards. This was the first time in the event's history in which Phil Taylor did not take part, following his decision to retire. Unlike in previous years the six wildcards were joint decisions by the PDC and Sky Sports this year. There were no PDC specific wildcards or Sky Sports specific wildcards.

The tournament was noteworthy for its high-number of debuting players. Rob Cross qualified by right due to being in the world's top four at the end of the season, with wildcards going to World Grand Prix champion Daryl Gurney, Champions League winner Mensur Suljović, and world number 12 Gerwyn Price. In fact, only four of the previous year's ten players (van Gerwen, Wright, Anderson and van Barneveld) were included this year.

| Player | Appearance in Premier League | Consecutive Streak | Order of Merit Rank | Previous best performance | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Michael van Gerwen | 6th | 6 | 1 | Winner (2013, 2016, 2017) | PDC Order of Merit |
| Peter Wright | 5th | 5 | 2 | Runner-up (2017) | PDC Order of Merit |
| Rob Cross | 1st | 1 | 3 | Debut | PDC Order of Merit |
| Gary Anderson | 8th | 8 | 5 (4) | Winner (2011, 2015) | PDC Order of Merit |
| Daryl Gurney | 1st | 1 | 6 | Debut | Wildcard |
| Mensur Suljović | 1st | 1 | 7 | Debut | Wildcard |
| Simon Whitlock | 6th | 1 | 9 | Runner-up (2012) | Wildcard |
| Raymond van Barneveld | 13th | 13 | 12 | Winner (2014) | Wildcard |
| Michael Smith | 2nd | 1 | 10 | 10th (2016) | Wildcard |
| Gerwyn Price | 1st | 1 | 13 | Debut | Wildcard |

* ↑ Phil Taylor, who was ranked 4th in the PDC Order of Merit following the 2018 PDC World Darts Championship, retired following the tournament. Anderson therefore received the 4th automatic spot.

## Prize money

The prize fund remained the same as last year, £825,000.

| Stage | Prize money |
| - | - |
| Winner | £250,000 |
| Runner-up | £120,000 |
| Semi-finalists | £80,000 |
| 5th place | £65,000 |
| 6th place | £55,000 |
| 7th place | £50,000 |
| 8th place | £45,000 |
| 9th place | £30,000 |
| 10th place | £25,000 |
| League Winner Bonus | £25,000 |
| Total | £825,000 |

## League stage

* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Please note these are not calculated properly and are not indicative of actual averages for each night.

## Play-offs – 17 May

The O2 Arena, London

| | Score | |
| - | - | - |
| Semi-finals (best of 19 legs) |||
| Michael van Gerwen 103.65 | 10–6 | Rob Cross 96.04 |
| Michael Smith 97.49 | 10–6 | Gary Anderson 95.35 |
| Final (best of 21 legs) |||
| Michael van Gerwen 112.37 | 11–4 | Michael Smith 97.01 |
| Night's Total Average: 100.32 |||
| Highest Checkout: Michael van Gerwen 128 |||
| Most 180s: Michael van Gerwen 16 |||
| Night's 180s: 40 |||

## Table and streaks

### Table

After the first nine weeks (phase 1), the bottom two in the table are eliminated. In the next six weeks (phase 2) the eight remaining players each play a further seven matches. The top four players then compete in the playoffs.

Two points are awarded for a win and one point for a draw. When players are tied on points, leg difference is used first as a tie-breaker, after that legs won against throw and then tournament average.

| # | Name | Matches | Matches | Matches | Matches | Matches | Legs | Legs | Legs | Legs | Scoring | Scoring | Scoring | Scoring | Scoring | Scoring |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| # | Name | Pld | W | D | L | Pts | LF | LA | +/- | LWAT | 100+ | 140+ | 180s | A | HC | C% |
| 1 | Michael van Gerwen W | 16 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 23 | 103 | 60 | +43 | 38 | 192 | 128 | 56 | 103.56 | 170 | 45.37% |
| 2 | Michael Smith RU | 16 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 20 | 90 | 66 | +24 | 37 | 157 | 119 | 41 | 95.21 | 160 | 42.45% |
| 3 | Gary Anderson | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 19 | 95 | 80 | +15 | 33 | 205 | 114 | 57 | 99.11 | 170 | 42.04% |
| 4 | Rob Cross | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 19 | 87 | 82 | +5 | 32 | 192 | 103 | 54 | 97.33 | 144 | 44.85% |
| 5 | Daryl Gurney | 16 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 16 | 89 | 88 | +1 | 32 | 195 | 132 | 67 | 96.77 | 167 | 38.70% |
| 6 | Raymond van Barneveld | 16 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 80 | 88 | –8 | 27 | 215 | 131 | 42 | 95.01 | 167 | 38.28% |
| 7 | Peter Wright | 16 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 74 | 94 | –20 | 27 | 226 | 142 | 31 | 96.17 | 132 | 39.78% |
| 8 | Simon Whitlock | 16 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 13 | 74 | 92 | –18 | 26 | 169 | 105 | 43 | 92.77 | 164 | 37.00% |
| 9 | Mensur Suljović | 9 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 40 | 53 | –13 | 12 | 153 | 87 | 14 | 99.06 | 138 | 44.44% |
| 10 | Gerwyn Price | 9 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 32 | 61 | –29 | 12 | 112 | 53 | 11 | 89.67 | 148 | 32.99% |

Last updated: 10 May 2018 Source: Match reports from the results section.

Top four will qualify for the Play-offs after Week 14. NB: LWAT = Legs won against throw. A = Average. C% = Checkout percentage. HC = High checkout.

### Streaks

| Player | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 14 | Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 14 | Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 14 | Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 14 | Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 14 | Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 14 | Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 14 | Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 14 | Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 14 | Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 14 | | Play-offs | Play-offs |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 11A | 11A | 11B | 11B | 12 | 12 | 13 | 14 | | SF | F |
| Michael van Gerwen | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | L | L | L | D | W | W | L | | W | W |
| Michael Smith | W | W | W | W | L | W | L | W | W | L | L | L | L | W | W | W | L | D | D | | W | L |
| Gary Anderson | L | W | L | D | D | D | W | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | L | L | W | | L | — |
| Rob Cross | L | L | W | W | W | W | W | L | W | W | W | W | L | D | D | D | D | L | D | | L | — |
| Daryl Gurney | D | L | D | L | D | D | W | W | D | W | W | L | L | L | W | D | D | D | D | | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Raymond van Barneveld | D | W | L | L | W | D | W | L | L | L | L | W | W | W | W | D | D | W | D | | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Peter Wright | D | W | L | D | L | L | L | D | D | L | W | W | W | D | D | L | L | W | D | | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Simon Whitlock | W | W | W | L | L | D | L | D | W | L | L | L | L | L | L | W | W | L | D | | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Mensur Suljović | L | L | L | W | W | L | L | L | L | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Gerwyn Price | D | L | D | L | L | L | L | L | L | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |
| Legend: | W | Win | D | Draw | L | Loss | — | Eliminated |

### Positions by Week

| Player | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 1, Weeks 1 to 9 | Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 14 | Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 14 | Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 14 | Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 14 | Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 14 | Phase 2, Weeks 10 to 14 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11A | 11B | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| Michael van Gerwen | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Michael Smith | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Gary Anderson | 9 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Rob Cross | 10 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Daryl Gurney | 6 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Raymond van Barneveld | 4 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Peter Wright | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 |
| Simon Whitlock | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 |
| Mensur Suljović | 8 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | Eliminated |
| Gerwyn Price | 5 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
