Top Two Clash in Premier League of Darts
- By Jaymes Monte on April 27, 2011 13:15 GMT
Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor takes on Gary Anderson at the Liverpool Echo Arena as the top two in the Premier League of darts face off knowing that they have already qualified for the semi-final stages.
Taylor ended Anderson’s unbeaten start to the Premier League when the pair first met back in early March. Since then Taylor himself has been unbeaten and The Power has now won 10 consecutive Premier League matches.
That ten match unbeaten sequence culminated with revenge over Adrian Lewis last Thursday.
“It was a great game and I'm happy to have got revenge over Adrian,” said Taylor. “It was important to win tonight even though I'm in the play-offs because it keeps the other players on their toes, and I won't be taking my foot off the pedal.”
Taylor is now the strong favourite to win a sixth Premier League title this year and also goes into this Thursday’s fixture against Anderson as the strong favourite to pick up maximum points.
The bookmakers have Taylor as a 4/9 chance to win the race to 8 legs while Anderson is 7/2 to gain his revenge and it is 9/2 that the match ends in a 7-7 draw.
At the other end of the table Terry Jenkins takes on Mark Webster as both players battle to avoid the embarrassment of finishing bottom of the table.
Jenkins picked up a point in his match against Raymond van Barneveld last week and in doing so moved two points clear of bottom-of-the-table Webster who lost to James Wade.
Webster’s defeat to good friend Wade was the Welshman’s seventh consecutive beating and fourth consecutive loss by an 8-1 scoreline. It was a victory that left a bitter taste in the mouth of the in-form Wade.
“Although I'm delighted with how I played I didn't like beating Mark 8-1,” said Wade. “He's having a bad time at the moment and I know it's hurting him.”
With Webster now mathematically unable to qualify for the semi-finals and Jenkins requiring a highly unlikely sequence of results in order to finish in the top four there is little more than pride to play for in this fixture.
The bookmakers have The Bull down as the strong darts betting favourite at odds of 10/11 to pick up the two points on offer. Webster is 2/1 for the victory that he needs to improve his chances of avoiding finishing bottom of the table and the 7-7 draw is priced at 4/1.
