World champion Adrian Lewis renews his rivalry with former Premier League champion James Wade on Thursday in a game which bares huge significance for both players.
Lewis produced a mixed bag of performances last week, losing in a limp showing to Andy Hamilton, before returning to thrash Raymond van Barneveld.
He has played at least one game more than the rest of the field and knows that any more slip ups could end his play-off hopes.
Wade has made up for a sluggish start to the campaign by surging up to second in the table; he will be full of confidence going into the game on the back of his 8-0 hammering of Simon Whitlock last week.
The Machine won their last meeting 8-5 in the league earlier in the season and has proved deadly on the doubles in his matches since.
Both players are capable of heavy scoring and clinical finishing percentages, combined with previous on-stage controversy which should make for a highly entertaining encounter on Thursday evening.
The duo have met 29 times in all competitions, including a number of finals, and Wade will be encouraged by his overall good record against the Stokie having taking 19 victories.
The bookmakers cannot pick a winner and price both players at 5/4 for victory. The game could go the distance and the draw is a realistic 4/1 chance with Bet365.
The match gets underway at 8.00pm on Thursday and will be streamed live over the best of 14 legs from the Capital FM Arena, Nottingham.
