Phil Taylor has earmarked James Wade (7/1 to win the title on outright coupon) as the man who could prevent him winning a 15th title at the World Darts Championship.

The Stoke-on-Trent star goes into the Alexandra Palace tournament as the favourite and gets his title ambitions underway against Colin Monk in the first round on Friday evening (Taylor 1/200 to win, Monk 20/1 on match coupon).

Taylor has been using new technology to improve his game and has transformed the chassis and wings of his darts to ensure they are more accurate than ever before – winning 47 of the 60 tournaments he has competed in since making the changes.

According to ‘The Power’, Wade is one man which could halt his progress to add to his 14 world titles, with the Aldershot arrowsmith to open his account against Steve Brown in the first round (Wade 1/20 to win on match coupon).

“James Wade is a talented lad, but he’s a bit like Ronnie O’Sullivan in snooker, it depends which character turns up,” Taylor told the Daily Mirror.

“If he’s in the mood, he’s a world-beater, but at other times he doesn’t seem bothered if he gets beat.”

Elsewhere in the first round, world number two Raymond van Barneveld (11/1 for the title on outright coupon) will take on Warren Parry while fifth seed Mervyn King will play Matt Clark.