ARCH rivals Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis will face off at the BIC when the Premier League Darts season visits Bournemouth next month.

World champion Michael van Gerwen will also take on Robert Thornton at the popular event which has become an annual fixture on the Dorset sporting calendar.

This year will be the ninth time that the Premier League showpiece has come to town with the February 13 date being the second week of the 10-player tournament.

The league night at the BIC will be headlined by the all-Stoke clash between six-time Premier League winner and 16-time world champion Taylor and Lewis, who is a two-time world king and reigning European champion.

In the duo’s most recent clash, during November’s Grand Slam of Darts, Taylor secured a 16-9 semi-final victory in a game regarded by some as the greatest ever played as the pair shared 32 maximums and both averaged more than 109.

New world champion van Gerwen, who jumped above Taylor to the top of the PDC Order of Merit with his win over Peter Wright at Alexandra Palace on New Year’s Day, will lock horns with Thornton, the 2012 UK Open winner, in his Bournemouth clash.

The night’s five matches will kick off when world number eight Wes Newton plays five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld – who memorably hit a nine-dart finish at the BIC in 2006 – before Wright takes on fellow Premier League debutant Dave Chisnall.

There will also be a showdown between 2011 champion Gary Anderson and former finalist Simon Whitlock.

Tickets for the Premier League Darts at the BIC are still available by calling 0844 576 3000 or visiting bhlivetickets.co.uk.

Premier League Darts week two, Bournemouth: Newton v van Barneveld, Chisnall v Wright, Anderson v Whitlock, Lewis v Taylor, Thornton v van Gerwen.