World No.1 Michael van Gerwen believes only Gary Anderson can stop him winning a third world title if he finds his best form.
The Dutchman goes into the William Hill World Darts Championship at the Alexandra Palace later this month hoping to add to the crowns he won in 2014 and 2017.
To do so, though, he knows he has to fine tune his game after a difficult few months where he has dropped below his usually impeccable standards.
Van Gerwen certainly does not lack belief and is confident that if he is at his best, he will be the man to beat.
Anderson is also searching for a third title and the pair are on course for a semi-final meeting.
"Everyone knows when I am at one hundred per cent only one person can challenge me and that is Gary Anderson," said van Gerwen.
"They all need to play their best to beat me and they know that, that's nothing new.
"This World Championship is a big one for me, I need to make sure I am ready for it.
"It is the most important time of the year and I am looking forward to it.
"The last two months have not been what I have wanted them to be but I still have had good results and am playing well, so I need to make sure the last few percentage is going to get better, with a bit more preparation I will be ready for it.
"I need to do one or two things to improve the things I was not 100 per cent good at. There is more in the tank for me."
Van Gerwen might have to beat Raymond van Barneveld and James Wade before he even gets a look at Anderson, but the Dutchman was blunt in his assessment of his tough potential route to the final.
"They will have a tricky run as well coming up against me," he said.
The Dutchman and Anderson are two of four men who are locked on two world titles, with Adrian Lewis and John Part also winning twice.
But van Gerwen does not believe he needs a third crown to set him apart from the rest, citing his glittering back catalogue of PDC titles, which include two World Matchplays, four Grands Prix, four Grand Slams and four Premier Leagues.
"People always say you get judged on the World Championship," he said.
"It's not only the World Championship, I have won over 150 PDC ranking events and it's everything combined.
"With all due respect Adrian Lewis has won two world championships as well, but for the rest of his talent he hasn't won enough."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here