Michael van Gerwen believes that he will have to continue his recent impressive form to ensure that he defeats Stephen Bunting in the Premier League on Thursday night.

After starting his campaign with a win over Kim Huybrechts, Van Gerwen won two UK Open qualifiers at the weekend to consolidate his status as world number one, and the Dutchman has admitted that he couldn't have asked for a better start to the year.

The 25-year-old told PDC.tv: "I'm delighted with how my form is at the moment and I've had a great couple of weeks. I hope that I can keep this going throughout the tournament, but I still have to perform on Thursday on stage.

"Stephen's a good player so I'll have to try as hard as I can. I need to try to beat him as well as possible because every leg could be important in this tournament."

The Dutchman also won The Masters in Milton Keynes at the start of February.