2022 Premier League Darts player profiles & betting odds

Joe Cullen has two reasons to celebrate having claimed his first major TV title and being handed his Premier League invitation just hours later.

Cullen clinched the eighth and final place in the revamped eight-man 2022 Premier League b at the weekend.

Here's a rundown on the eight players who will be toeing the oche from Thursday in the 18th edition of one of the richest tournaments in darts.

Gerwyn Price

Outright odds 10-3
World ranking 1
Premier League best 5th (2019, 2020)

The world number one and former world champion is the man the crowds love to hate – except in Cardiff, where the tournament starts.

The Welshman returns after missing last year's event with Covid and is determined to improve on a record of never having made the playoffs.

He won six times in 2021, starting at the worlds and finishing with the Grand Slam in November, before succumbing to Michael Smith in the quarter-finals at Ally Pally.

Price will back himself to beat any of his seven opponents such is his confidence – however, he also needs to beat the fans, especially in England where they remain constantly hostile.

Michael van Gerwen

Outright odds 4-1
World ranking 3
Premier League best Winner (2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)

The Green Machine is primed for a tenth successive tilt at the Premier League, an event he has won five times before.

Remarkably, he finished top of the regular-season table in each of his first seven Premier League campaigns. More remarkably, in the first year he missed out – 2020 – he didn't even make the top four.

Van Gerwen lost in the semis last summer, the mid-point of a horror run which would see him go without a title of any kind for ten months, the longest drought of his professional career.

Peter Wright

Outright odds 9-2
World ranking 2
Premier League best Runner-up (2017)

Snakebite rounded off last season by landing the biggest pot of the lot when he was crowned world champion for a second time.

Added to glory at the World Matchplay in the summer, it was little wonder Wright was crowned player of the year.

His Premier League record, however, is abject for an arrowsmith of his calibre. He has failed to make the playoffs in six of his previous eight appearances.

His form going into this year's event is also something of a mystery having been surprisingly floored by fast-fading Simon Whitlock in his opening match at the Ladbrokes Masters.

Jonny Clayton

Outright odds 5-1
World ranking 8
Premier League best Winner (2021)

Clayton took advantage of a last-gasp invitation by going on to win the tournament last year, becoming just the fifth player to win it on his debut.

Clayton got called up only after winning the season-opening Ladbrokes Masters 12 months ago – and he only got himself into that event because the field had been expanded to 24 players from 16.

You make your own luck in life, though, and The Ferret cashed in, not only winning the Premier League but also landing the odds at the Grand Prix and World Series.

Michael Smith

Outright odds 15-2
World ranking 5
Premier League best Runner-up (2018)

The perennial darting bridesmaid, Bully Boy was inconsolable once again at Alexandra Palace at the turn of the year when he lost a thrilling world final to Peter Wright, going down 7-5 after blowing a 5-4 lead.

That was Smith's sixth major televised final and he's lost the lot, including in the Premier League four years ago when he was thumped 11-4 by an inspired MvG.

Smith is doubly determined to take the title this year, first to prove that he should never have been left out of last year's field and second, to prove he has the game to finally land one of the big prizes.

Joe Cullen

Outright odds 14-1
World ranking 11
Premier League best Debut

Joe Cullen becomes the 38th different player to line up in the Premier League (excluding challengers) and the only newcomer in this year's field.

Rockstar clinched his place by winning the Ladbrokes Masters in Milton Keynes on Sunday, a win which saw him break his televised duck.

Cullen has been a hugely consistent floor player – he won two more Pro Tour events in 2021 – but had never gone past the last eight of a major TV event on these shores until dotting up at the weekend, when he shrugged off ten missed match darts to pip Dave Chisnall 11-9.

Gary Anderson

Outright odds 16-1
World ranking 6
Premier League best Winner (2011, 2015)

Besides Michael van Gerwen, Gary Anderson is the only multiple Premier League winner in the field, although he's had a mixed relationship with the competition.

In the two years following his first triumph he finished bottom of the table both times and in 2019 didn't even take part after crying off with a back injury.

Comes into the event after a disappointing 2021 – he failed to win a single event in a year for just the second time since he joined the PDC, even missing out on Scotland's World Cup triumph.

And he kicked off 2022 by getting battered 10-1 by Joe Cullen in his first competitive match of the season at the Ladbrokes Masters.

James Wade

Outright odds 25-1
World ranking 4
Premier League best Winner (2009)

The most experienced Premier League player in the field is making his 12th appearance after being gifted a place in last year's field courtesy of Gerwyn Price's withdrawal.

Regularly written off yet Wade continues to deliver good results when not particularly fancied, especially at last year's UK Open where he copped at 40-1, his 11th major TV success and 14 years after his first.

He went on to be easy to back at the Grand Slam, where he made the semis, and also the worlds, where he reached the last four once more, and no one grinds out results better than the left-hander.

Wade has reached the final three times, winning in 2009.

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