There may still be the best part of six months before the line-up for the 2018 Premier League is chosen, but talk has already begun among darts fans on who and who will not make the cut next year.

Daryl Gurney is one name generating plenty of support right now after his run to the final of the US Darts Masters in Las Vegas this past weekend. The Northern Irishman, who climbed into the top 16 on the PDC Order of Merit for the first time last week, beat the world numbers three and two (Peter Wright and Gary Anderson) to reach the final, where he was narrowly pipped to the title by the world number one Michael van Gerwen.

A run to the quarter-finals of the most recent World Championship at the end of last year saw Gurney push himself into contention for this year’s Premier League, and even PDC chairman Barry Hearn mentioned his name when asked about which players came close to getting into the 10-man field.

Even though he did not get the call-up for the Premier League, Gurney’s good form did earn him a spot in the World Series of Darts, and his debut could not have gone much better. The world number 16 hit 21 180s across his four matches as he made it through to his first televised final, where he led van Gerwen 5-3 before the reigning world champion won five of the next six legs to complete a comeback win.

Aside from reaching the final in Las Vegas, Gurney has also tasted other success across the PDC’s various tours so far in 2017. The most high-profile of those being a run to the semi-finals of the UK Open in March, while he has also won his first PDC title with victory on the Players Championship circuit in April and reached three other Pro Tour finals and a semi-final on the European Tour.

It may be too early to say Gurney will definitely be in the Premier League. A lot can change in the next five or six months. The majority of major TV events take place in the second half of 2017, starting with the World Matchplay, which gets underway this weekend.

But if you were basing it on the last 12 months, Gurney would be a shoe-in. Who else makes my current 2018 Premier League line-up if I had to choose right now? For me, there would be four changes from this year, with Gurney one of the players coming in.

Obviously Phil Taylor’s retirement from the professional circuit at the end of the current season means he would be one player not in next year’s line-up. Jelle Klaasen and Kim Huybrechts, the two players who were eliminated on judgement night in this year’s competition, currently look likely to miss out too in place of more in-form players.

As well as Gurney, I think Michael Smith and Gerwyn Price are good bets at the moment to be included, probably as two of the PDC’s four wildcards, while I can see Mensur Suljovic possibly getting a call-up next year. He will need a couple of decent runs in the TV majors before 2017 is out, but if he can push his ranking up a couple of places to five then it will be hard for him not to be picked.

2017 Premier League

Michael van Gerwen

Gary Anderson

Peter Wright

Adrian Lewis

James Wade

Phil Taylor

Dave Chisnall

Jelle Klaasen

Raymond van Barneveld

Kim Huybrechts

2018 Premier League (My line-up as of July 17, 2017)

Michael van Gerwen

Peter Wright

Gary Anderson

Dave Chisnall

Mensur Suljovic

James Wade

Michael Smith

Raymond van Barneveld

Daryl Gurney

Gerwyn Price