The Power switched on this year

15-time world champion Phil Taylor has warned his rivals that he has been putting in hours of practice over the Christmas period to ensure he is at his best for the conclusion of the 2012 PDC World Championship (Taylor 5/6 to win the PDC World Championship 2012).

The Power returns on Tuesday evening to take on Dave Chisnall for a place in the last 16 of darts’ premier event (Match betting with bet365 – Taylor 1/10, Chisnall 10/1).

The 51-year-old was eliminated at the quarter-final stage last year by Mark Webster following a tough year in his private life.

Taylor has admitted that he has been unable to concentrate fully on his darts recently and was not overly impressed with his first round performance over Japanese qualifier Haruki Muramatsu, despite coming through with a 3-0 scoreline.

“I wanted to average 110 in my opening match to put the heebee-geebees on the other players,” he told the Daily Star.

“So I resolved to practice three times on Christmas Day. I always watch the Queen’s speech – I wouldn’t miss it for the world – but if you want to win the World Darts Championship, you have to treat it as another working day.”

The winner of the tie between Taylor and Chisnall will face either Andy Hamilton or Vincent van der Voort.