Is Phil Taylor in terminal decline?

The 16-times world champion has made a mockery of previous career obituaries. But it has never been as serious as this

When a sportsman reaches a certain age, he forfeits the right to be out of form. Every poor performance is analysed not in the context of form, but whether he is finished. Phil Taylor's career obituary has been tentatively written a number of times in the past decade, and every time he has thrillingly reasserted his status as one of sport's great champions. But it has never been as serious as this.

Taylor has lost four of his first five Premier League games, and if he loses to Dave Chisnall on Thursday night he will be in serious danger of relegation. In the past it was unthinkable that he would not qualify for the semi-finals; the idea that he might be relegated was beyond ridiculous. A drama turned into a crisis last Friday night when he was knocked out of the UK Open dubbed the FA Cup of darts by Aden Kirk, the world No137 and managed to bust 130 with consecutive throws. In one sense it was the greatest shock in darts history. Except by the end, it wasn't that shocking. In the last two months Taylor has been so unusually vulnerable that nothing comes as a complete surprise.