Nicholson believes in Wade's chances at World Matchplay: "He's playing like in his best days again"

On Saturday, the PDC World Matchplay gets underway in Blackpool. Former winner James Wade, will take on Chris Dobey in the opening round.

"There’s a lot of people talking about James Wade right now," Paul Nicholson, himself a former World Matchplay participant, told Sportinglife. "He played brilliantly at the European Darts Matchplay and despite losing in the semi-finals to Luke Humphries, he averaged 109 and hit 10 180s! When does he hit that many?"

Nicholson therefore believes in Wade's chances at the World Matchplay. "I mentioned during commentary that he was showing a different level of freshness and his darts were standing up again like they did in his younger days when he used to destroy people. That's why he scored more than in more recent times. And if he's got that scoring prowess back, everyone's got a problem."

And Nicholson sees another advantage for Wade. "He also loves Blackpool. His wife is from Blackpool, he’s obviously more familiar with the venue than anyone else and everyone in his quarter might be thinking the old Wade is back."

"The Machine also won't like being 16th seed and with a point to prove, I think that's another reason why he can come through this section."