Live PDC Order of Merit Update: Nathan Aspinall set to plummet after early exit as Wade, Price and Rock rise

After two rounds at the 2025 World Matchplay, it is already clear that the PDC Order of Merit is going to be shaken up quite a bit. Nathan Aspinall will be the biggest loser of the bunch, while quite a few players will move up some spots.

Aspinall had won the World Matchplay two years ago and that ensured that 'The Asp' had to defend £200,000 in prize money at this edition. However, the Englishman flew out in the first round in Blackpool, forcing £190,000 in ranking prize money.

At the start of the tournament, Aspinall was still the world number seven, but he has now dropped to 23rd place. The damage could get worse if Andrew Gilding makes it to the semifinals.

Gilding is one of the winners anyway, as 'Goldfinger' has already moved up three spots after reaching his second consecutive World Matchplay quarterfinal. In the top-10 of the world rankings, especially James Wade, Gerwyn Price and Rob Cross are doing well. They are currently on a plus of three spots. Wade is now the virtual World Number Five in the world, followed by Price and Cross in places six and eight. The top four in the world rankings are still unchanged. Luke Littler can significantly reduce his gap with number one Luke Humphries with a title in Blackpool, though.

Littler has all of the cards heading into the latter stages of the year albeit 'The Nuke' has to be patient when it comes to wanting to become World No.1. While he is seen as the current king pin of the sport by many, he still isn't top dog by virtue of the two year system.

Humphries has to defend multiple titles though in the back end of the year off his rankings including the World Darts Championship from two years ago so the likelihood is that unless 'Cool Hand Luke' manages to defend said title, he will likely fall into the traps of The Nuke.

Him also losing in the opening round of the World Matchplay which he had to defend won't be an issue when it comes to this year but he potentially faces a Nathan Aspinall type scenario next year albeit without the serious injury that nearly ended Aspinall's career.

Chris Dobey drops one place anyway after his defeat to Price in the second round, while Clayton has virtually dropped four spots. Clayton is now ninth, but is still in the tournament and so can still make up his lost spots.

Josh Rock is getting closer and closer to the top-10. 'Rocky,' who was responsible for Michael van Gerwen's elimination, has already risen to thirteenth place. Gian van Veen is also on the move. He is up four spots to World No.18 and if he beats James Wade on Thursday night, Van Veen will even rise to the seventeenth spot already. The Dutchman will have to win the World Matchplay to move into the top-10. Wessel Nijman also did good business by making it to the second round at the World Matchplay. Nijman moved up two spots and is now 40th.

Michael van Gerwen despite having a poor 12 months also doesn't move from his World No.3 spot and is unlikely to for a modicum of time. Of course he reached the World Matchplay and World Championship final last year which props up his ranking but even in the post World Championship Order of Merit, he is still World Number Three.

Stephen Bunting and Jonny Clayton are set to be World Number Four and World Number Five by current math which features the minimum they could win. This is despite Clayton moving down four spots despite still being in the tournament. Rob Cross in particular is currently slated to be World No.12 after Ally Pally while Chris Dobey will be marginally behind 'The Ferret'.

There is also the Gary Anderson of it all who currently sits World No.11. He rose alongside Dave Chisnall. But Anderson unlike Chisnall is likely to rise again, he is slated to be World No.7 and there could be a scenario realistically where he rises up towards the top five in the coming months with one good run. A player who often has said he would decline a Premier League invite if they included him but if he has a Grand Slam type run again, he could be in automatically. So there is a dilemma there.

There will also be a semi changing of the guard in the top ten with Ross Smith, Josh Rock as mentioned and Damon Heta all ascending. Aspinall, Michael Smith and Peter Wright who were all previous cogs of the darting elite may yet miss the boat and find themselves out of contention entirely. So the World Matchplay certainly provides the tonic for future events.

Already it is playing out as Peter Wright is nearly out of the top 16. Martin Schindler is behind while Gian van Veen could take him out already with a run to the final. Ryan Joyce too further down in World No.24 up two spots may have lost early in Blackpool but also with his consistency holds all the cards to pick off any top names who fall even further and with events coming off from two years ago, others could be in trouble.

This Order of Merit has knock-ons too for those who played in the tournament previously and either qualified or didn't at all. Joe Cullen for instance has plummeted five spots after his early exit. Ricardo Pietreczko (28th), Cameron Menzies (33rd), Raymond van Barneveld (35th) have all risen one spot just by playing.

But this has been at the detriement of the likes of Krzysztof Ratajski, Brendan Dolan as well as Callan Rydz. Kevin Doets who in reality was a player who was screwed by the new top 16 European Tour rule and could've made it to Blackpool if not alongside Niels Zonneveld and William O'Connor also has fallen.

Kim Huybrechts and Jose de Sousa also continue to plummet down to World No.50 and World No.55 so while the moves at the top are apparent it is just as big for those further down the Order of Merit.