Whitlock Looks to Maintain Momentum

Simon Whitlock takes on Terry Jenkins this Thursday evening on the fourth night of Premier League action.

After three rounds of fixtures Gary Anderson leads the way in the Premier League with the only 100 per cent record in the tournament while Terry Jenkins is at the bottom having lost his last two matches.

Whitlock became the final player to register a Premier League victory this season when he defeated James Wade last week, and can now move into a top four position if he beats Jenkins. The Australian followed up last Thursday’s victory with two semi-final appearances in the weekend’s UK Open qualifiers and looks to be working his way back to form.

Whitlock has reiterated the widespread belief that this is the highest quality Premier League field that we have seen, and believes that any one of the eight players could qualify for the semi-finals.

"Gary's top of the table and Phil Taylor is playing really well," said Whitlock. "Phil's always going to be up there but you've got the best eight players in the world and I think anybody is capable of making the top four.

"He [Jenkins] is a player I do enjoy playing a little bit more than others, and you know exactly what you're going to get from him."

Whitlock is quoted at odds of 5/6 to pick up the two points on offer while Jenkins is 11/5 and a share of the spoils is quoted at 4/1.

Similarly to Jenkins World Champion Adrian Lewis has also lost his previous two games after opening his campaign with an emphatic victory over defending champion Phil Taylor.

This week Lewis is up against Welshman Mark Webster who also only has two points on the board from his opening week’s fixture.

Webster’s performance was disappointing against Gary Anderson last week and he lost 8-1 with a poor 84.81 three-dart average. He can be his own harshest critic when things don’t go right and it was clear for all to see that he wasn’t happy with his game last week.

Lewis, meanwhile, was on the receiving end of a powerhouse performance from the resurgent Raymond van Barneveld last week. He capitalised on a dip in form from Barney in the middle of the match but ultimately could do very little to stop the big Dutchman recording an 8-6 victory.

Lewis is 10/11 to get back to winning ways with Webster quoted at 2/1 and the 7-7 draw at a customary 4/1.