Taylor and Barneveld to be last men standing at the PDC World Championships

Darts / David Croft / 17 December 2007 / Leave a Comment

The BBC's David Croft tells us why he'll be betting on Barneveld and "The Power" to make the final as well as picking out a few tasty outsiders

22 years ago Eric Bristow won the last world championship to be played at Jollies in Stoke and 12 months later followed it up by lifting the first Embassy at the Lakeside. This year one of his greatest fans has the chance to emulate that feet by winning the PDC World Title at Ally Pally to add to that epic title win in Purfleet last New Year's Day. Standing in Raymond Van Barneveld's way will be Phil Taylor and with all due respect to the 62 other players competing for the £605,000 prize fund this title is between the two big boys again.

The PDC has attracted some top class players in the last couple of years but whilst the standard this year may the be best this championship has ever witnessed, the return to form of Taylor and the brilliance of the Dutchman when it comes around to world title time, should ensure that we get a repeat of the 2007 showdown.

The Power, by his admission has struggled at times this year but still stands in second place in the order of merit, not bad for a duff 12 months. Talking to him a couple of weeks ago however it was clear that not only was he back in the zone after some aggravation away from the oche but was chomping at the bit to get started and win back his crown. He does have a tricky first round tie against the former world master Michael Van Gerwen, a man who has the game to win a world title one day. But that game has rarely been seen in 2007 and I think the move to the PDC, in my opinion a couple of years too soon, hasn't helped him. Phil meanwhile, was talking about how any predictions that he was finished and no longer the force he once was were now spurring him on, which is bad news for his competitors, who like myself before the Grand Slam of Darts, felt that maybe The Power wasn't the complete dominant force he once was. How that cost me over the week in Wolverhampton!

One thing I did get right in Wolverhampton was that Barney wasn't the man to back. This time around though he might be worth getting on. This man lives for the world championship and after netting 5 of them will be re-arranging his trophy cabinet as I write to make room for more silverware. It's true that his form in the second half of the year hasn't been the best but I've seen that before with Barney. In 2004 he was dumped out in the last 16 of the world masters looking far from a world-beater, but a few months later he still stored to the world final, losing in the end to Andy Fordham and famously quoting that The Viking had benefited from Alien intervention! Barney is seeded to meet Adrian Lewis in the quarter finals, his first real test of the Championship and whilst some of you may pencil in Lewis as your outsider for the title, I'd suggest you think again. Lewis is a talent certainly but as he found out in the Grand Slam of Darts group stages, Barney is a Dutch master and more than able to dump the youngster on the canvas.

Looking at the draw I expect Terry Jenkins the 'steady Eddie' of the PDC world and John Part the two time former champion, to join Taylor and Barneveld in the semis. Jenkins has had a fine couple of years and always gives his backers a good shout, Part has the game to beat anyone on his day, but in backing him you always take a risk, sometimes for no explicable reason his A game doesn't show and he can let himself down. But maybe it's a bit of blind loyalty or maybe I don't fancy the likes of Andy Hamilton and James Wade to reproduce their form at the world championships, but I've got a sneaky feeling Part could go well.

Betfair punters can back John Part at [48] with Jenkins an attractive price at [19]. Barney is [4.5] to retain his title whilst the Power is short at [2.64] but not as short as he has been in the past. Whoever you back, for Darts fans this a great time of the year, and the action won't stop until the BDO final on January 13th. So then, if you're ready, IT'S GAME ON.