The Premier League started to hot up at the penultimate night in Bournemouth. With only Newcastle left to experience the buzz of Premier League action this season, the race for a play-off place starts to conclude with the fourth spot up for grabs, and big free bet will find it hard to separate the contenders for the final play-off spot.
Phil Taylor, Gary Anderson and Raymond van Barneveld have already claimed their spots at Wembley Arena for finals night with just one spot left to settle.
Adrian Lewis moved a step closer to securing a top four spot with an 8-3 thrashing of Terry Jenkins. The world champion needs a point from his final game against Gary Anderson to make sure he will set up another showdown with his former mentor Taylor in the final four.
Terry Jenkins has once again struggled to be consistent and as a result will miss out on the top four.
Former BDO member Anderson suffered another defeat, this time at the hands of the in-form van Barneveld. Worrying for The Flying Scotsman is his form has dipped of late at the business end of the season and will need to drastically improve if he is to beat the Dutchman in the semi-finals.
Anderson had an explosive start, winning his first four games and has set the benchmark for the season but has struggled against the big names in the tournament which he will need to counter if he is to win the title.
Barney has looked good after getting over his opening night defeat to Jenkins and has looked like his usual best. Barney will need to keep improving if he wants to beat Taylor, something he has failed to do over the last two years.
Mark Webster, who will collect the wooden spoon after a difficult campaign, finally registered another point with a 7-7 draw against Simon Whitlock, who still has an outside chance of a play-off place. Webster, who beat Taylor in the World Championship quarter finals at the turn of the year, had suffered eight consecutive defeats, including four 8-1 hammerings.
The Wizard of Oz has to win his final game against Taylor which looks extremely unlikely considering the form the Power is in. The Australian also needs Lewis to lose heavily to improve his leg difference.
The current Premier League champion claimed his 13th consecutive win with a hard fought victory over James Wade, who despite being bigfreebet underdog put up a spirited resistance. Taylor hasn’t looked back since his opening night defeat to Lewis and is hot favourite to retain his crown, given the finishing he has shown over the last few weeks.
Wade, who emulated last season and came strong after a poor start, is in the same situation as Whitlock and needs to win and hope Lewis loses to steal a top four spot. Wade had the talent to perform but hasn’t been consistent enough to try and claim his second Premier League title.
The semi-finals looks set to be the best four players in the world, which is a mouth-watering encounter as they go in search of Taylor’s trophy.