Darts / David Croft / 16 July 2009 / Leave a comment

Fresh from their trip to Las Vegas a fortnight ago the stars of the PDC return to a more appropriate summer venue this weekend when the World Matchplay gets underway in Blackpool. David Croft selects the best bets.

After the subdued atmosphere of the morning sessions in Vegas, where those fans who did turn up appeared to be half asleep, we can now expect eight days of packed houses and great noise at the Winter Gardens.

It's a perfect venue for darts and ranks alongside the Lakeside now as the best venue for the sport in the UK. Unlike the arenas the PDC visit for the Premier League, Blackpool seems to be populated by proper fans as well. Fans who go for the sport not just to get their faces on TV. All in all it promises to be a top week by the seaside.

And for Phil Taylor it promises to be a winning week as well. The world number one has been so consistent of late and on paper has little or no realistic challenger en route to the final, so it's hardly surprising that he's currently trading at a paltry [1.58]. Since losing to Mervyn King in the last four of the Premier League, The Power has been averaging roughly 106/107. Of course, averages don't always tell the whole story, you can still lose a match even with the best average, but that sort of scoring puts a heap of pressure on the opposition and quite frankly they haven't been up to it of late.

Gary Anderson pushed Taylor close in Vegas, closer I believe than Raymond van Barneveld did in the final - I still think the dutchman gave up towards the end. But unless Anderson, [15.5] this week, has discovered a way to hit those key doubles in the big matches, and Barney [9.2] finds a way to mentally compete, they could be mere subplots to a 10th Taylor Matchplay title in 16 runnings of the event.

Of Taylor's challengers in the top half of the draw only Mervyn King at [42.0] has any current form against the world number one. But sadly King won't get his chance against Phil until the semi-finals should they both make it that far. That of course makes King's job doubly difficult as although this matchplay format - legs not sets - allows for an upset or two, the longer duration come the quarter finals onwards suits Taylor perfectly.

Meanwhile, in the bottom half of the draw things lot a lot more interesting. James Wade at [10.5] will fancy his chances, along with Barney and Anderson, of making the final at least. The World Matchplay is the tournament that really launched Wade into the big time. Twice he's finished runner up to Taylor, in 2007 he went one better of course.

James is drawn to meet Gary Anderson in the quarter-finals. I hope they both get there as I want to see how these two square up to each other. On ability, I think Anderson just shades it whereas on big match temperament, Wade gets the nod. Either way, whoever wins will take enormous confidence into a semi-final meeting with Barney and I would fancy either to continue into the final. Which is why the price of Wade at [4.1] and Anderson at [5.6] to win the event without Taylor, stands out for me.

I can't see Taylor not making it to the final and hand on heart I can't see him not winning his 10th Matchplay, so follow the value and go for a leading light from the bottom half of the draw to win without him. The prices on both of these two are better for backers than they are for just reaching the final, so it makes sense in my book to take them.

The action kicks off on Sunday and even though the first round is fairly straight forward I like the look of Co Stompe at [2.56] to beat Adrian Lewis; Wayne Jones at [2.2] to cause an upset and beat Colin Lloyd, the only other winner of the tournament still playing in it; Vincent Van Der Voort at [1.88] to knock out John Part and Dennis Priestly at [1.69] to beat Dennis Ovens.

A few predictions to make the early stages a little more interesting as once get into the business end, I can see Phil Taylor reigning supreme again.