2018 Premier League Darts
| 2018 Unibet Premier League Darts |
| Winner |
 Michael van Gerwen |
| Runner-up |
 Michael Smith |
| Score |
| 11–4 |
| Dates |
| 1 February–17 May 2018 |
| Edition |
| 14th |
| Number of players |
| 10 |
| Venues |
| 15 |
| Premier League Darts |
| 2019 > |
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 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 each player played the other nine players once. The bottom two players were then eliminated from the competition. In the next six weeks 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
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 were included this year.
| Player | Appearance in Premier League | Consecutive Streak | Order of Merit Rank | Previous best performance | Qualification |
| 6th | 6 | 1 | |||
| 5th | 5 | 2 | Runner-up | ||
| 1st | 1 | 3 | Debut | PDC Order of Merit | |
| 8th | 8 | ||||
| 1st | 1 | 6 | Debut | Wildcard | |
| 1st | 1 | 7 | Debut | Wildcard | |
| 6th | 1 | 9 | Runner-up | Wildcard | |
| 13th | 13 | 12 | Winner | Wildcard | |
| 2nd | 1 | 10 | 10th | Wildcard | |
| 1st | 1 | 13 | Debut | Wildcard |
Prize money
The prize fund remained the same as last year, £825,000.League stage
1 February – Week 1 (Phase 1)
3Arena, Dublin8 February – Week 2 (Phase 1)
Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff15 February – Week 3 (Phase 1)
Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle22 February – Week 4 (Phase 1)
Mercedes-Benz Arena, Berlin1 March – Initial Week 5 Cancelled
Westpoint Arena, ExeterThe scheduled 5th week was cancelled due to Storm Emma. The matches, which were scheduled to be played that day, were instead played in Week 9 in Liverpool, with that week's games now being Judgement Night. In order to complete the schedule within the timescale, two rounds of Phase 2 were played on Wednesday 18 April and Thursday 19 April in the Rotterdam Ahoy complex.
8 March – Week 5 (Phase 1)
First Direct Arena, Leeds15 March – Week 6 (Phase 1)
Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham22 March – Week 7 (Phase 1)
SSE Hydro, Glasgow29 March – Week 8 (Phase 1)
SSE Arena, Belfast5 April – Week 9 (Phase 1 – Judgement Night)
Echo Arena, LiverpoolThe night was overshadowed by the sudden death of 5 time World Champion Eric Bristow, who suffered a heart attack outside the venue. His death was announced during the Gurney v Wright match. The crowd paid tribute to Bristow at the end of the night's play.
12 April – Week 10 (Phase 2)
FlyDSA Arena, Sheffield18 April – Week 11A (Double Header, Phase 2)
Rotterdam Ahoy, Rotterdam19 April – Week 11B (Double Header, Phase 2)
Rotterdam Ahoy, Rotterdam26 April – Week 12 (Phase 2)
Manchester Arena, Manchester3 May – Week 13 (Phase 2)
Arena Birmingham, Birmingham10 May – Week 14 (Phase 2)
BHGE Arena, AberdeenPlay-offs – 17 May
The O2 Arena, LondonTable and streaks
Table
After the first nine weeks, the bottom two in the table are eliminated. In the next six weeks 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.
Streaks
| Legend: | Win | Draw | Loss | Eliminated |