Premier League Darts 2015 live on Sky Sports

The 2015 Betway Premier League Darts season gets underway in February on Sky Sports and it promises to be one of the most competitive campaigns in its decade-long history.

All ten stars of this year’s competition will face each other once over the opening nine weeks of the league season in a round-robin format, before the bottom two players are eliminated on “Judgement Night” in Manchester on week nine.

The remaining eight players then meet each other once more in the final six league nights, before the top four progress to the Play-Offs at The O2 in London on May 21 to compete for the £150,000 first prize.

This year’s campaign will kick off at the First Direct Arena in Leeds on February 5, live on Sky Sports, and the five matches on the night will include the rematch of Sunday’s classic World Championship final, which saw Gary Anderson edge out Phil Taylor for the coveted title.

The Premier League has had four different winners in the past four year and defending champion Raymond van Barneveld faces a stiff challenge to hold onto his crown.

‘Barney’ renews acquaintances with Adrian Lewis in week one, having defeated ‘Jackpot’ at the World Championship. Lewis hit a nine-darter in that third round loss and he will be looking to atone for last year’s poor Premier League campaign, where he won just five of his 16 matches.

Gary Anderson has been a busy man since capturing his maiden world title. The Flying Scotsman plays Phil Taylor next Thursday in a repeat of this year’s final at Alexandra Palace, and the tough games keep on coming.

A Premier League winner in 2011, Anderson faces Peter Wright, Michael van Gerwen and James Wade in the next three rounds so he needs to hit the ground running.

Another player who has handed a challenging start is debutant Stephen Bunting. The 2014 Lakeside champion flew up the rankings in his first year in the PDC and was narrowly defeated in a thrilling World Championship quarter-final against Van Barneveld.

Bunting’s first game is against James Wade, who he defeated at the Grand Slam of Darts and Alexandra Palace. He meets Van Gerwen in round two before facing Taylor in front of a partisan Liverpool crowd a week later.

‘The Power’ made a dismal start to last year’s Premier League, losing four of his opening five games including a 7-0 whitewash against Van Gerwen. However, he recovered to reach the semi-finals and his form at the end of 2014 suggests he is well placed to compete for a record seventh Premier League crown.

Having failed to defend his world title, Van Gerwen faces a big test of character as he looks to bounce back from that disappointment. The Dutchman endured poor spells during matches at Alexandra Palace and it proved costly, but he has consistently registered high averages in the Premier League and was impressive form as he clinched the Unibet Masters last weekend.

James Wade is a Premier League veteran, having emerged victorious in 2009 and also reached two finals, while Dave Chisnall and Kim Huybrechts are both capable of competing for a top-four spot if they can add some consistency to their game.

A captivating season lies in store, and you won’t miss one minute of it with Sky Sports, with the 2015 Betway Premier League getting underway on Thursday, February 5, when the opening league night is held in front of 11,000 fans at Leeds’ First Direct Arena.

Sky Sports will screen all 16 weeks of the 2015 Premier League Darts campaign exclusively live from February 5 to May 21, with Dave Clark introducing the action alongside commentators and experts Wayne Mardle, Rod Harrington, John Part, Rod Studd, Stuart Pyke and Nigel Pearson.

The Sky Sports darts website will feature all the latest news, interviews and analysis from Sky experts, plus video highlights, while fans can also interact with the on-air team via Twitter during each event – @SkySportsDarts.

THURSDAY 5th FEBRUARY

Premier League Darts

Night 1 – First Direct Arena, Leeds

Dave Chisnall v Peter Wright

Raymond van Barneveld v Adrian Lewis

Kim Huybrechts v Michael van Gerwen

Gary Anderson v Phil Taylor

Stephen Bunting v James Wade