TheOche.com

By Phill Catterick:

Well it’s that time of year again; eight of the very finest players from the Professional Darts Corporation will battle it out over a period of fifteen weeks to compete for the 2010 Whyte and Mackay Premier League title.

James Wade goes into the tournament as reigning champion after defeating Mervyn King in last year’s final, and after a bad run of form on the circuit he’ll want to bounce back with a bang.

However, somewhat predictably Phil Taylor enters the competition as the firm favourite after a blistering run of form which has seen him pick up every major TV tournament in the past 12 months, except for the Premier League of which he was eliminated in the semi finals by King at the Winter Gardens.

This year’s line-up is perhaps the best ever in the five years of the event, and here at The Oche we’ve compiled our very own `official` guide to the 2010 Premier League.

Firstly, as per usual, each player will play each other twice over a 14 week period in the league format with the top four advancing to finals night at Wembley Arena in May. The competition this year includes one new face, and no doubt he’ll be looking forward to it more than the rest, and that’s Simon Whitlock.

`The Wizard` reached the World Championship Final and impressed immensely despite being beat 7-3 by Taylor, and shortly after he was granted the first wildcard entry for the tournament, and considering he has the ability to score well and checkout big numbers he could well be a dark horse for the play-offs.

Taylor, Raymond Van Barneveld, James Wade, Mervyn King, Ronnie Baxter, Terry Jenkins and Adrian Lewis will be the other seven players, and spectators will certainly be getting their money’s worth as the players travel the country in the hope of getting their hands on the coveted trophy.

The first meeting takes place on Thursday at the O2 Arena in London, and a positive start is what each competitor will be looking for as they try to get as many points on the board as soon as possible.

Phil Taylor and Simon Whitlock is the pick of the first week ties (presuming Taylor is given the all clear following a virus), and with the Australian looking for revenge in his first ever appearance of the competition the match is bound to be a nervy although an understandably competitive one.

Some players go into the tournament in pretty bad form, most notably defending champion James Wade who has failed to make an impact in any major tournament since the PL last year where he came 2nd in the league, and then went on to beat Barney and King on finals night.

Reports in newspapers suggested he was falling out of love with the game, but fans of his will be sincerely hoping his motivation will be sky high for this year’s competition, and if he plays well I see no reason why he can’t challenge for the trophy once again, and for the second year in a row switch off the power.

Premier League Fixture list- Week One at the O2:

Ronnie Baxter v Terry Jenkins
Mervyn King v Adrian Lewis
Raymond van Barneveld v James Wade
Simon Whitlock v Phil Taylor

Premier League Venues:

February 11th- O2 Arena, London
February 18th- Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth
February 25th- Odyssey Arena, Belfast
March 4th- Westpoint Arena, Exeter
March 11th- Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester
March 18th- Brighton Centre, Brighton
March 25th- LG Arena, Birmingham
April 1st- Cardiff International Arena, Cardiff
April 8th- Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow
April 15th- Sheffield Arena, Sheffield
April 22nd- Liverpool Echo Arena, Liverpool
April 29th- Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre, Aberdeen
May 6th- Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle
May 13th- Trent FM Arena, Nottingham

May 23rd- Wembley Arena, London (Finals night).