The eight arrow-smiths who have given us some excellent entertainment over the past four months will become four after Thursday's action and although it would seem that this week's matches are meaningless - with Taylor, Barneveld, Wade and King already assured of their semi-final places, that most certainly is not the case; there is still the small matter of who will play who in each of the semi-finals. Let's take a look at this week's action.
There will be two exciting challenge matches taking place to get this week's action under way. In the night's opening match, the young Dutchman Jelle Klaasen will go toe to toe with the 2008 Lakeside World Champion Mark Webster. Webster has been one of the top stars in the BDO over the last three years and will be looking to stamp his mark on the PDC. A win here over Klaasen will be the perfect start to his PDC televised games.
Following that match, another PDC debutant in the 'Dream Boy' Gary Anderson, a multiple BDO tournament winner, will take on John Part. Anderson has already shown that he can mix it up with the PDC big boys by reaching the semi-final of the PDC Grand Slam for the last two years. He will be determined to get the victory here and the double of Webster and Anderson looks on the cards.
Raymond van Barneveld v Terry Jenkins - Match Betting
Although he probably won't admit it, van Barneveld will be desperately trying to avoid getting Phil Taylor in the semi-finals. The format sees first position playing fourth position and second place playing third place. With King taking on Phil Taylor in the last game of the night, Barneveld will know that should Taylor overcome King, a win here would push him up to third place and out of Taylor's path to the final.
'Barney' produced a confident display against Lewis last week with five 180s and an average of 101, which gives him the edge here to get the better of Jenkins. 'The Bull' had an extremely impressive 8-3 win over Part last week and he knows that a draw or better will ensure that he clinches a respectable fifth place in the league. With both men having different but important agendas, this match could well go all the way with Barneveld possibly nicking it 8-5 or 8-6.
Phil Taylor v Mervyn King - Match Betting
Phil 'The Power' Taylor played his part in taking us on a trip down memory lane last week with another high quality tussle with his compatriot Dennis Priestly. Taylor was in a relaxed mood, hitting a 98 average, but he knows that he will have to be at the top of his game if he is to get the better of his rival Mervyn King.
As we saw in their battle earlier in the league, there is certainly no love lost between these two men and after being angered by King's alleged bad sportsmanship, 'The Power' will be vying for revenge.
However, King will be fresh and raring to go after a two week break and he will be extremely tough to beat because of his clinical finishing. The match could go either way, so don't rule out the draw, but a checkout of over 120.5 seems to be an excellent bet.
Outright betting
Phil Taylor N/A
Raymond van Barneveld N/A
Mervyn King N/A
James Wade N/A
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