With the announcement of the 2025 Premier League line-up earlier this week, it feels like attention is now moving firmly to the season ahead for darts players and fans.
Read more – PDC announce 2025 Premier League players
Luke Littler and Luke Humphries will look to build on an impressive few years from the pair while Michael van Gerwen is an ever present at the top of the rankings and will likely continue to be a threat.
2024 was the year of the underdog in darts though and ignoring the three players above, we’ve seen the balance of power start to shift.
The top 8 players are no longer nailed on favourites for deep tournament runs and we’re now seeing plenty of big names suffer early round exits from major tournaments.
As a result players are either falling down the rankings or not threatening to win major titles when just a few years prior they’d be close to odds-on favourites.
We’ve therefore selected 5 players that we think need a big year in 2025, this could be to maintain their position as an elite player or to halt their drop down the rankings…
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Nathan Aspinall
Nathan Aspinall did not have a bad 2024 campaign, despite what the record might indicate.
He didn’t have any deep tournament runs – with mostly first and second round exits – but disappointing would be a better word to describe his year.
This is because he was playing through injury for the first part of the year (whilst just missing out on Premier League Finals Night coming 5th).
He would eventually take three-four months away from the game to rehab and recover from repetitive strain injury in his elbow.
There’s also been talk of dartitis issues and he even had a rare head loss moment at a PC event which shows his frustrations at the oche.
See more – Nathan Aspinall has moment of RAGE at Players Championship event
His year-to-date ranking has him sitting 31st, so his inclusion in this year’s Premier League had many fans saying there were players more deserving based on form and 2024 achievements.
The Asp therefore has some doubters to prove wrong this year and he’ll also need some big tournament runs to make up for a lack of ranking money in 2024.
A quarter-final finish at the 2025 World Championship is a promising start though!
Gerwyn Price
Easily one of his worst campaigns to date, Gerwyn Price has had a season to forget in the PDC. His situation is very similar to Nathan Aspinall.
No deep tournament runs until the 2025 World Championship, where he also reached the quarter-finals, and an abysmal Premier League campaign where he finished 7th just a year after making the final in 2023.
This led to social media outbursts to say he was done with the Premier League before later admitting he’d lacked motivation due to medical concerns and had even discussed potential retirement from the game 👀
See more – Gerwyn Price announces ‘final decision’ on retirement from darts
He was another surprise selection for this year’s Premier League but failing to qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts, a tournament he’s won the joint-second most in history alongside MVG with three titles, seems to have been a real turning point for him.
He came back to the World Championship fired up and the Iceman put in some solid performances.
We feel he needs to replicate that this year though otherwise he will tumble down the rankings and at that point, his pantomime villain character won’t be enough for the invitational tournaments…
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Peter Wright
When looking at the leagues ‘old guard’, players like Gary Anderson, James Wade and Peter Wright are not simplay fading away down the rankings.
All are still inside the PDC Order of Merit top 16 and had deep tournament runs in 2024 that most wouldn’t have anticipated.
Anderson and Wade have both admitted to prioritising family over darts in recent years though but Peter Wright is in a different situation.
He still believes he is amongst the best players in the world and said multiple times in 2024 that a major title would be coming for him.
Anderson in contrast said he is “happy turning up and upsetting the big boys” and said he’d turn down a Premier League return even if he got the invite.
Wright has now lost his Premier League place after two consecutive years finishing bottom of the table and were it not for a win over World number one Luke Humphries at the 2025 World Championship, many would be talking about his downfall.
Now that he’s shown he still has the ability to play at an elite level, he needs to replicate it this year.
Multiple first round exits in 2024 won’t help his ranking money and if he has a similar year, we could see him topple down the rankings.
Mike De Decker
This might be a surprise name on this list but in recent weeks/months, Mike De Decker has dramatically risen in player popularity.
His surprise World Grand Prix win, beating reigning champion Luke Humphries in the final, was the moment that really kickstarted the year of the underdog.
He was ranked outside the top 32 when he lifted his first major title and many believed he had the game and likeability factor to push on and become a big name in the sport.
His recent omission from the Premier League line-up created history for the wrong reasons. He became the first World Grand Prix winner to not be included.
This led to PDC Chief Executive Matt Porter saying “winning a major is not enough and that players need to win stuff with regularity”.
He would even reference De Decker specifically saying he feels he will be in the Premier League at some point.
Fans were also surprised by his exclusion and felt he deserved selection.
He has since gone on to blast the PDC selection process saying Aspinall was chosen based on his “walk-on song” and that the decision was “scandalous”.
Had it not been such a talking point then he’d be nowhere near this list but now more eyes will be on him this year to see how he performs given the recent comments.
If he has a good year, he proves it was a mistake to leave him out.
If not…
Well, Matt Porter would be more justified in his comments.
Michael Smith
MIchael Smith has suffered one of the biggest and quickest drop-offs we’ve ever seen in darts.
The 2023 World Champion followed up an incredible 2022-2023 campaign with not much since.
In 2023, the champion admitted to taking it easy and taking his foot off the gas once he’d achieved that title.
He had some semi-final runs but pressure was mounting in 2024 as he was ranked 2nd in the Order of Merit with a LOT of prize money to defend.
See more – Michael Smith gives nine-word response when asked about “defending a king’s ransom”
After winning the World Cup of Darts with partner Luke Humphries, Smith claimed the “pressure was off” after winning a title for his sponsors but the results didn’t change.
A loss in his first match at the 2025 World Championship was a worst case scenario and Smith has tumbled to 16th in the Order of Merit and lost his Premier League and World Series of Darts invites at the time of writing.
Smith said without having to defend so much prize money he could play with freedom this year but he has now lost the additional ‘bonus’ money provided by the invitational events.
This is a pivotal year for Smith (as was last year), he now needs to start his ascent back up the rankings and become a major tournament threat again otherwise he will risk losing relevance in the game.
What do you think of our selections?
Do you agree or feel there are some players we’ve missed that need a bigger 2025 more than those above. Let us know in the comments below 👇
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