Darts / David Croft / 19 May 2009 / Leave a comment

David Croft believes that the Premier League has been a bit of a damp squib in recent weeks. Does he believe 'the Power' et al can help it go out with a bang at Wembley on Thursday night?

So after 14 nights of group fixtures, finally this year's Premier League Darts reaches its climax this week. Not helped by the withdrawal of Wayne Mardle through illness, to be honest not helped by the inclusion of Wayne Mardle in the first place, this year's tournament has rather limped it's way towards the finishing line.

It's not that I've got anything against the Premier League or it's format. To fill 14 large arenas throughout the country plus Wembley this week shows the popularity of the sport at the moment. But due to Sky Sports' need to fill up as many Thursday nights with live darts as it possibly can, I do think that the tournament now lasts about a month too long.

The other problem for me has been the line up this year. Right at the start I could see a clear split between the four that were going to make it to Wembley and the four that were playing to avoid the wooden spoon. Wayne Mardle doesn't produce enough consistent darts to challenge the best week in week out - of the nine matches he played in the Premier League this year he won only one of them. Jelle Klaasen says he's learnt a lot from his involvement but for me he should never have received a wildcard entry. John Part struggles to find his best form these days whilst Terry Jenkins is good, but not great. Why Robert Thornton and Gary Anderson weren't included is beyond me - I know Anderson wasn't a PDC player when the Premier League got underway, but it was Darts worst kept secret that he was going to be eventually and Barry Hearn missed a trick in not tempting him over sooner.

So hands up anyone who didn't think that the four players on duty at Wembley on Thursday would be the four in the finals back in February? Didn't think there would be many surprised by the line up. Taylor, Wade, Barneveld and King were the four quality players in this year's line-up which means we're in for a treat this week. The Sky plus is already set and the beers are in the fridge.

Mervyn King was the early leader and suffered more than most when Mardle pulled out. Once his wins over Wayne were taken away, King dropped into fourth place which sadly for him means he takes on Phil Taylor in the semi-finals. However, if there's one player who can stop Taylor taking his fourth Premier League title it's Mervyn King, currently the outsider of the four at [15.5] to be Champion. Taylor, who started out at [1.42] to win the title has shortened to [1.35] now. The 8-2 win to The Power last time out should have no bearing on Thursday's match - now is when it gets serious and at [8.6] maybe King is worth siding with. He's due a win over the world number one and came very close back in March when he drew in their first group match. I could be proved spectacularly wrong but I'm looking at an upset here, it's about time someone took the challenge to Taylor.

I half expected Raymond Van Barneveld to be the man challenging Phil this year but it wasn't to be. Barney couldn't manage a victory against James Wade in the round robin stages either which is why he starts as the outsider for their semi-final. This will be the fifth time the two players have met in 2009 with Barney's only win coming in the semi-final of the World Championship - a crucial stat as the other three games were played under matchplay conditions.

In other words, Wade is the man to be on when the game is played over legs - Barney is a better bet when it's legs and sets. I can see this being a match to remember and wouldn't be at all surprised to see over ten 180's being hit at [1.44]. Free from the pressures of meeting Taylor in the semi-finals, expect this to be highly entertaining and quite close. For me though, Wade should just sneak it at [1.92]

Which leaves 'The Machine' against 'The Power' for the final if my predictions come true. If this is to be the final, I'd stick with Wade to lift the title. King might just suffer a case of 'after the Lord Mayor's show' struggling to come down from the high of beating Taylor, leaving Wade, mentally at least, in better shape to win.