Everybody happy with how things work? Excellent, let's have a look at what we have to look forward to tonight...

• Chris Dobey v Gerwyn Price
• Stephen Bunting v Rob Cross
• Luke Littler v Michael van Gerwen
• Nathan Aspinall v Luke Humphries

Every Thursday, the eight players go head-to-head in a straight knockout tournament. So, each player will be entered at the quarter-final stage, before moving to the semi-finals and then a final.

These matches are all played over the best of 11 legs (or games of darts).

Players take home points from each of these rounds. The winner of the night gets five points, the runner-up three points, and each semi-finalist wins two points.

All eight players are re-entered into the tournament for the next round on the following Thursday.

The players will meet each other once at the quarter-final stage from weeks one to seven, and then again in weeks nine to 15. The matches in weeks eight and 16 will be played based on position in the league at that point.

The four players at the top of the table by the end of night 16 qualify for the final play-offs, which take place on Thursday, 29 May.

The semi-finals of the play-offs are played over 19 legs, while the winner is crowned in a final match played across the best of 21 legs.

Former world champions Peter Wright and Michael Smith are not included in the line-up despite featuring in the 2024 league.

Dave Chisnall, world number six when the line-up was announced, is the highest-ranked player in the PDC Order of Merit not to feature.

Jonny Clayton and Damon Heta also missed out despite being rabked above three selected players - Gerwyn Price, Chris Dobey and Nathan Aspinall.

World Grand Prix champion Mike de Decker also misses out and is the first player to do so despite winning a major tournament.

"My first feeling immediately after the announcement was one of disbelief," said De Decker, speaking to Het Nieuwsblad, external last month. "The past 20 years, the Grand Prix winner was there every time.

"Of course, I can't change anything about it, the PDC is boss. But I think their decision, to be honest, is a bit scandalous."

Image source, Michael Cooper/PDC

• Night one - Thursday, 6 February, Belfast
• Night two - Thursday, 13 February, Glasgow
• Night three - Thursday, 20 February, Dublin
• Night four - Thursday, 27 February, Exeter
• Night five - Thursday, 6 March, Brighton
• Night six - Thursday, 13 March, Nottingham
• Night seven - Thursday, 20 March, Cardiff
• Night eight - Thursday, 27 March, Newcastle
• Night nine - Thursday, 3 April, Berlin
• Night 10 - Thursday, 10 April, Manchester
• Night 11 - Thursday, 17 April, Rotterdam
• Night 12 - Thursday, 24 April, Liverpool
• Night 13 - Thursday, 1 May, Birmingham
• Night 14 - Thursday, 8 May, Leeds
• Night 15 - Thursday, 15 May, Aberdeen
• Night 16 - Thursday, 22 May, Sheffield
• Play-offs - Thursday, 29 May, London

Stephen Bunting and Chris Dobey join the fray for this year's action.

The top four in the world qualify automatically, while the other four are wildcards.

The PDC says its board of directors "discusses a range of factors" when deciding who gets a wildcard place, including "form, achievements, whether a player is considered 'ready' for the Premier League, their experience and profile".

Image source, PA Media

It's that time of year again!

Premier League Darts is back which means for the next 16 weeks we will see eight of the world's top players battle it out for a place at finals night in May.

Luke Littler - who else? - is the defending champion but keeping hold of his crown will not be easy with such a high-class field of competitors.

But the world champ is certainly the man to beat and it all gets under way tonight in Belfast.