Stephen Bunting has hit back at criticism of the decision to include him in this year’s Premier League Darts line-up.The world no.7 was included in the eight-player field when it was named earlier this month.PABunting has vowed to deliver ‘great performances’ in this year’s Premier League[/caption]It will be his second consecutive appearance as well as a third overall as part of the weekly line-up.Bunting also previously appeared as a one-off challenger on night six in Liverpool back in 2020.However, the decision to name the Bullet as one of four wildcards this time around came as a surprise to some fans.The 40-year-old has endured a difficult year on the oche since reaching the semi-finals of the 2025 PDC World Darts Championship. Bunting failed to reach the last four of a single televised event, with his best performances being the quarter-finals of the World Masters and World Matchplay.Meanwhile, he finished bottom of the Premier League on his return after a ten-year absence from the main field.His poor form in the weekly format included failing to win a single match at any of the first eight events before a nightly win in Berlin.The former BDO world champion’s season then ended with a third round exit to James Hurrell at Alexandra Palace.Bunting reacts to Premier League recallHowever, Bunting believes he ‘deserved’ to be recalled by the PDC for this year’s Premier League.He discussed the decision after beating Ryusei Azemoto in the first round of the Bahrain Darts Masters on Thursday.Bunting revealed he was ready to quit darts after being snubbed from the 2016 Premier LeaguePABunting explained: “I’m a bit disappointed that people thought it was between me and Nathan (Aspinall) to be honest.“I believe I deserve to be in. I’m world number seven, I had a great year last year, I won six tournaments, I was in ten finals.“It’s one of them, I’ve got a great fanbase, I’ve got a great walk-on and people don’t talk about the walk-ons.“I honestly believe I deserve to be in there and I’m going to show everyone why I deserve to be in there.“It really killed me when I played 11 years ago and then got dropped out of the Premier League. It affected the rest of my career.“Two or three years after that, I was down in the dumps and literally looking to pack it in.View Tweet: https://t.co/J7Ukben5re“I’m just thankful the PDC have seen the opportunity to put me in, I’m grateful and I’m going to repay their faith with great performances and a lot of wins, I hope.”Despite underwhelming on major darts TV events, Bunting enjoyed success across Players Championship, EuroTour and World Series of Darts events last year.However, some fans were still surprised by his inclusion ahead of Nathan Aspinall, who had featured in six of the last seven years.The Asp also reached the final of the Players Championship Finals in November as well as finishing third in the Premier League.As for Bunting, his first appearance in the Premier League back in 2015 saw him finish eighth out of ten players.Despite moving up eight places in the world rankings ahead of the following year, he was omitted from the line-up.AlamyAspinall missed out on a wildcard spot as Bunting earned a recall from the PDC[/caption]When does the Premier League Darts start?This year’s Premier League is scheduled to get underway in Newcastle on Thursday, February 5 at the Utilita Arena.Defending champion Luke Humphries and world No.1 Luke Littler are once again involved alongside Michael van Gerwen.Welsh duo Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton join Bunting in the line-up.Meanwhile, there will be debut appearances for Gian van Veen and Josh Rock.