Once again, the upcoming Players Championship double-header arrives with two recurring themes.

Firstly, it’s in Leicester, which now seems to be the Germany of the ProTour when it comes to staging floor events. At this rate they’ll be renaming the M1 the Autobahn.

Secondly, there are plenty of absentees, which is, of course, music to the ears of the Challenge Tour brigade, who must spend every Sunday night sat by the phone like bargain hunters waiting for the Boxing Day sales to begin.

World Champion Luke Littler won’t be there for starters. No surprises whatsoever. The Nuke hasn’t played a single Players Championship this year and won’t be altering that trend next week.

One suspects if he ever does give them a go it’ll be Wigan, largely because it’s only 20 minutes from his house. But being a Warringtonian myself, and all too familiar with the traffic around the North West, he could probably get to Hildesheim quicker.

That said, it still wouldn’t guarantee his suitcase arriving. If the history of dart players’ luggage has taught us anything, it could quite easily end up on the moon, a baggage carousel in Botswana or his clothes being worn by someone in Bolivia

Messrs Humphries and Clayton won’t be in attendance either. We know there’s more chance of an actual ferret beating Jonny Clayton at darts than persuading him to play a German Players Championship. Even Leicester isn’t quite as troublesome, although I suspect this pair’s absence is more about sensible diary management than suddenly discovering they’ve both got a new kitchen being fitted that week.

It’s rare Dimitri van den Bergh plays truant. Okay, so the two-time PDC major winner skipped quite a few events last year, but he’s been an ever-present this campaign. With two Euro Tour qualifiers coming up immediately afterwards, and given he hasn’t made enough of those this season, you do have to question the decision.

All that said, everybody is aware of The Dreammaker’s struggles on the oche and his loss of form. Sometimes stepping away is exactly what the doctor ordered. After all, if you’ve already got a face the colour of a freshly boiled beetroot thanks to this glorious weather, the last thing you fancy is another afternoon sunbathing.

As for Niko Springer… absolutely no idea. Maybe he’s on holiday. If you happen to be somewhere on the continent this week and spot a Meenzur Bub beach towel reserving a sun lounger at 4am, you’ll probably have solved the mystery.

Dutch chucker, Richard Veenstra will miss the first of the two events. Travelling over from the Netherlands for a solitary tournament that could technically last all of ten minutes isn’t exactly the world’s greatest business model.

But with valuable Euro Tour places still up for grabs on day three, it’s ultimately worth the journey. Without those qualification spots dangling like a carrot, though, I doubt he’d have been remotely arsed.

That leaves Oskar Lukasiak and Matthias Ehlers who, had they been schoolchildren, would’ve accumulated enough letters home by now to wallpaper the living room.

German Ehlers hasn’t featured at the last eight Players Championships. In fairness, whenever he has turned up this year, he’s generally back in his hotel in time to catch whatever repeats ITV have on before lunch.

With just one victory all season, you’d think playing more rather than less would be the obvious solution. Clearly, Matthias has adopted the bold strategy of missing everything, preserving absolutely no ranking money whatsoever, then reappearing in a couple of years hoping everyone has forgotten. It’s certainly a strategy. Just not a very good one.

Lukasiak finds himself in much the same boat. Apart from a recent visit to Leicester where he managed back-to-back victories, he’s lost every other outing. It must be soul-destroying travelling all the way from Sweden only to head home with precisely the same amount of prize money you arrived with.

Those are the risks, though. Professional darts isn’t a charity, and unfortunately you don’t earn prize money for frequent flyer points. The reality is simple: if you’re not there, you definitely can’t win matches, and right now victories are exactly what the Scandinavian desperately needs.

Of course, there will be more withdrawals than someone with a seriously unhealthy ATM fetish. There always are. Somebody will wake up with a sore wrist, a dodgy back, food poisoning, a family commitment or suddenly remember they’re supposed to be getting married. By Monday morning the list will probably have changed more times than the British weather forecast. But for now, that’s your lot.

So let’s take a look at the call-up merchants, and, unsurprisingly, it’s the usual suspects.

First up is Joe Hunt, who hasn’t missed one yet. The Isle of Wight thrower sits proudly atop the Challenge Tour rankings and, barring an act of divine intervention or being kidnapped, looks a certainty for a call-up. Littler’s absence alone this year was enough for Joe.

Whenever he’s been called upon this season he’s acquitted himself admirably too, collecting a couple of cheeky quarter-finals along the way and enough prize money to stop living exclusively on meal deals.

Next on the ‘I’ve played the most’ list is Tommy Morris, absent only once. The little fella also reached the quarter-finals on his latest outing, making it a career-best showing and proving he’s far more than just another name making up the numbers.

Derek Coulson and Tommy Lishman also return, with the least Welsh-sounding Welshman in darts and arguably the gingeriest man ever to pick up a set of tungsten both receiving another well-earned opportunity. If nothing else, Lishman’s hair provides enough luminosity should the Mattioli Arena suffer a power-cut.

Then come another trio who have featured on the ProTour seven or eight times already this season: Danny Ayres, Aden Kirk and the magnificently bearded Chris Wickenden, who still looks less like a professional darts player and more like a bloke who’s just completed a six-month Arctic expedition in search of a missing polar bear and a razor blade.

Finally, Nathan Potter already has a dozen ProTour appearances under his belt this season but, unless Richard Veenstra decides to bin the entire trip from the Netherlands altogether, he’ll only feature in the first of the two events.

Mind you, if history tells us anything, somebody else will almost certainly knob Leicester off between now and then. In fact, you’d probably get shorter odds on that happening than Littler deciding to show up and sell merchandise outside the venue.

Should another place become available – and let’s face it, that’s practically nailed on the young Wizard will be extending his stay. Not something anyone ever should wish to do in that East Midland’s city.

Oh… and don’t be remotely surprised if the next batch of withdrawals comes from Blighty, given England’s next World Cup clash kicks off at 1am on Monday morning. After seeing them overcome DR Congo, a fair few players have probably already texted PDC Tournament Director Keith Bisby to say they won’t be making Leicester.

Nothing ruins a Sunday night watching the football quite like a last-minute withdrawal landing in your inbox. Mind due, all the Geordie does is read everyone’s name out at around 12pm so about time he had some real work to do. Joking Keith!

OUT

Luke Littler, Luke Humphries, Jonny Clayton, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Niko Springer, Oskar Lukasiak, Matthias Ehlers, Richard Veenstra (PC23 only)

IN

Joe Hunt, Derek Coulson, Tommy Lishman, Daniel Ayres, Tommy Morris, Aden Kirk, Christopher Wickenden, Nathan Potter (PC23 only)