World Darts Championship: Dave Clark's five to watch at Ally Pally

The PDC World Darts Championship is back at Alexandra Palace, with Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor taking to the oche at the game’s biggest tournament for the final time before retirement.

The 57-year-old begins his title bid on Friday night, but he’s not the only one to keep your eye on as Sky Sports’ Dave Clark takes us through his five to watch at Ally Pally.

Michael van Gerwen

He’s understandably the bookmakers’ favourite and again he has dominated this season off the back of winning the title last time. He’s raised the bar for the rest, even averaging 123.4 in a match a few years ago.

Phil Taylor

The Power hasn’t won this title since 2013 but never write off the 16-time world champion. This is his last World Championship before he retires so he’s looking for that fairytale ending. He won the World Matchplay, the second biggest tournament, in July and tends to come good at this time of year.

Gary Anderson

In his BDO days, he’d be the favourite but would never quite follow it through. The back-to-back PDC world wins (2015 & 16) have changed all that, and again he made the final at the turn of the year. I’d fully expect him to be in the final again against Van Gerwen.

Raymond van Barneveld

You can never quite discount Barney. And how mouthwatering is it he could meet Van Gerwen in the quarter-finals? Barney has got into his fellow Dutchman’s head in the past. This tournament does funny things to even the best so that contest could go either way if it happens.

Ryan Cross

This is the first time he’s qualified for the World Championship and I’ve been really impressed with him this season. He’s come out of nowhere to move into the top 20 and what a story it would be if the former electrician was to win.

Dave Clark will present Sky Sports Darts’ exclusive coverage of the PDC World Championship at Alexandra Palace, which runs until January 1.