Phil Taylor (4/11 fav to retain the title) begins the defence of his totesport.com Players Championship crown with a clash against Peter Manley on Thursday.

‘The Power’ remains the man to beat but the top 32 players from the Players Championship Order of Merit will gather at Purfleet to claim his scalp and pick up the £600,000 top prize.

Speaking ahead of the tournament opener, Taylor (9/4 with Totesport to claim a 6-0 whitewash) admitted his liking for the Circus Tavern arena, describing it as a “home venue”.

The 15-time world champion said: “It’s a short format in the first round but that will suit me because I’ve not played competitively since the World Championship. I haven’t had a lot of time to prepare but I’m going into the tournament very relaxed.”

‘One-Dart’ Manley, currently 24th in the Order of Merit, has not won a PDC event since 2007 and couldn’t have wished for a tougher start to the Players Championship against the number one player.

Taylor’s protégé Adrian Lewis (16/1 in the outright winner market) is also in action on Thursday against Brendan Dolan, while world number four Terry Jenkins faces Vincent van der Voort.

Make sure you keep in touch with Totesport’s darts betting markets throughout the totesport.com Players Championship tournament.