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Wade: top of the table

The quote of the night came when John Gwynne joined me in the commentary box and said: "Sid, as long as I keep coming in here, You'll Never Talk Alone."

Sid Waddell
Quotes of the week

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Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts heads to Wembley Arena after wowing 8,000 people in Liverpool last week.

Sky Sports commentator Sid Waddell will be here every week of the season in 2008 to share his thoughts on skysports.com. and he's expecting big things from the young stars at Wembley.

Sid on Jenkins v Mardle
Sid on Manley v Wade
Sid on Lewis v Van Barneveld
Sid on Part v Taylor

The road to Wembley

We certainly gave the Beatles puns a good workout in Liverpool last week.

But the quote of the night came when John Gwynne joined me in the commentary box and said: "Sid, as long as I keep coming in here, You'll Never Talk Alone."

We also threw in some references to Liverpool poets such as Roger McGough and Adrian Henri and at one point we even claimed the Liverbirds were in the arena.

The Liverpool crowd got really involved. When Adrian Lewis was throwing 180s, the crowd were shouting "ole" after each sixty, like football fans in the Nou Camp.

There is a campaign to move the world championships to Liverpool and the people of the city certainly supported that.

There was a good turnout with plenty of former darts players and celebrities like Ricky Hatton and Joe Longthorne. Phil Talyor was laughing and joking around with some of those guys while he was practising and I've rarely seen him looking more relaxed.

Taylor's shadow is starting to loom large over the Whyte & Mackay Premier Darts League. This time last year he was in the middle of a 10-week run of 100-plus averages and he's on a similar run this year - and making it look incredibly easy.

Thursday night at Wembley should be amazing, although I don't think there will be as many references to the local pop groups this time!

There will be 5,000 people there and I'm expecting three brilliant matches and yet another win from Taylor, who will be the most laid-back guy in the arena.

Terry Jenkins v Wayne Mardle

Both of these guys were brilliant last week, but both ended up losing so it will be interesting to see how they react.

I felt sorry for Wayne Mardle in Liverpool. He had a 97 average, produced shutouts of 123 and 121 and was 4-0 up against James Wade in no time. He must have thought he had him beaten, but Wade's comeback was amazing.

This week, Mardle knows a win or draw would take him up to fourth place, at least temporarily. There are three players on 10 points and Mardle has more to do than Peter Manley because his legs difference is not as good.

But this is a must-win for Jenkins, who is sitting on a mere eight points. A draw is not good enough for him and, like Mardle, he will be have been bamboozled by the fact he didn't get a win last week.

Against Manley he had a 99 average and produced shutouts of 137, 130 and 114 and he still lost.

Because Mardle is such a surge player, I would have to back the solidity of Jenkins and I'll say he'll win this 8-6.

That would put four players on 10 points and would set up an almighty scramble for fourth place.

Peter Manley v James Wade

The most remarkable thing that happened last week was the way James Wade got to grips with himself and became the player we all know he can be.

He looked like Casper the Ghost during the walk-on and he was shaking on the practice board because he was clearly uncomfortable playing in front of 8,000 people.

It's easy to forget he's only 24 and he's a relative newcomer to all of this. But after going 4-0 down he recomposed himself superbly to come back and win.

What he did in the middle of his comeback against Mardle really impressed me when he threw a 161 shutout and then he did an 11-darter to go 5-4 ahead.

As for Manley, he came back from 3-1 down in Liverpool to beat Jenkins with a 103 average. The thing I like about him is that he doesn't raise his game when he plays against the likes of Taylor; he plays the same way against everyone.

Manley's the great survivor and he's the most likely to be the fourth over the line in the Darts Premier League. Every week he turns up, hot from exhibition matches, and he's full of himself - and full of pork scratchings!

But although he plays like an exhibition player, his underlying technique is very sound

When people like Barney, Part or Lewis play Manley they let his cheek and his verbals get in the way - but I don't think that will happen to Wade.

He won't start as badly as he did last week and I'm certain this is going to be the match of the night because we've got two guys coming in off 103 and 105 averages. I think Wade will win it 8-5.

Adrian Lewis v Raymond van Barneveld

I have been tipping him for big things, but even I was gobsmacked by Adrian Lewis last week when he climbed off his sickbed and played so well.

He'd only eaten one proper meal in two weeks, but then again he's only 23 and that meal might have consisted of six fillet steaks, a bucket load of chips and a couple of pints of bitter.

He played out of his skin and it was one of the great displays of darts we've seen for a while and I think he'll be world champion in the next two or three years.

Adrian has a Jekyll and Hyde relationship with the crowd and the fans either lift him or drop him to the floor. Last week the crowd gave him a huge boost and we are seeing him mature, week by week.

As for Barney, I listed in last week's column the things that I think are wrong with his game.

I'm worried by his body language. He usually stands like the sort of Dutch captain who would bash the British on the high seas in 1712, but now he looks like a soldier who's just lost the battle and put up the white flag. He just doesn't seem to have the teeth for the fight at the moment.

Thursday night will stir up memories of when he played Taylor for £100,000 at Wembley Arena in 1999. When he went 10-6 down in that match, it was as though he gave up. He started slapping the darts and lost the next six legs in a row.

I'm not saying it's that much of a crisis now, but he is starting to tremble under pressure and I think Lewis will win a tight match 8-5.

John Part v Phil Taylor

The amazing standard of this competition is shown by the fact that the world champion is bottom - and horribly bottom with a -23 legs average.

This is a must-win situation for John Part, but I can't see him getting more than a couple of legs with Taylor in such consistent form.

He's won six consecutive PDC Pro Tour events away from the TV cameras and he's been maintaining the form he's been showing in the Premier League.

Ernest Hemingway spoke about 'grace under pressure' and said the greats never get worried when the pressure was on; that can be applied to Taylor.

If he plays to his game, he cannot lose. Taylor has great respect for the young guys, Wade and Lewis, and when he plays those two he's not trying to hammer out a message to them. But when he plays the likes of Barney, Part and Manley he wants to try and damage their egos.

I can't see him averaging less than 104 in this match because he's been making those sorts of scores look comfortable in recent weeks. I'm going for 8-2 to Taylor.