Having lost his world title crown Phil Taylor will be eager to return to the Sky cameras and recapture his domineering qualities. The Power relinquished his crown to fellow Stoke thrower Adrian Lewis and Taylor will want to show he is still the best in the world when the Premier League starts on Thursday.

A five-time winner of the competition Taylor is unsurprisingly favourite with the bookmakers at 13/8 but with the rest of the field improving year-by-year could there be a new name on the trophy this year?

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Gary Anderson was a gallant runner-up to Adrian Lewis in the World Championships and after steamrolling his way to the final with some exceptional darts he just came up short against an on-song Lewis. The Flying Scotsman is 11/2 second favourite with most firms and his heavy scoring will surely give him a chance of dethroning Taylor.

Lewis is next best at 7/1 and after his World title heroics he is one definitely to watch out for. However, he has suffered with consistency throughout his career and he will have to bring his A game for the whole 14 weeks and he will probably struggle to do that and at 7/1 marks no value.

Both Simon Whitlock (15/2 Boylesports) and James Wade (8/1 Totesport) have been disappointing of late and will face an uphill battle to make it to finals day.

Mark Webster (14/1 various) makes his debut in the Premier League and after knocking Taylor out of the World Championships will fancy his chances and he could be the each way selection to cause a shock in this year’s tournament

The final duo look to have their work cut out as Raymond Van Barneveld (16/1 various) has been on a downward spiral and seems to have lost his cutting edge, whilst Terry Jenkins (25/1 various) has struggled in this format over the years and is another to avoid.

Rarely has Phil Taylor started a darts tournament at such huge odds and he has shown over the years he has the pedigree for this competition and at 13/8 is definitely the one to be with.