Gerwyn Price has set his sights on claiming darts' coveted world number one spot from Michael van Gerwen on January 3 - and is dreaming of a William Hill World Championship final showdown with the Dutchman.
Van Gerwen and Price are locked in a battle with reigning World Champion Peter Wright to top the PDC Order of Merit, adding a tasty side-show to the Alexandra Palace action.
Wright is currently provisionally poised to end Van Gerwen's seven-year reign as world number one, should he progress further than the Dutchman in the World Championship.
However, a World Championship win for Price would see the Welshman - currently sat third - move to the top of the two-year rankings.
Price takes on Brendan Dolan in his third round tie at Alexandra Palace, but has admitted that he has one eye on a potential winner-takes-all showdown with Van Gerwen if they can progress to the final in the New Year.
"It is realistic," said Price. "I think about, I'm sure Peter thinks about it and I know for a fact that Michael is thinking that if he loses, he loses that top spot and he doesn't want to do it.
"Fair play to him for playing the way he did in his first game. I know it's a lot of pressure on Michael's shoulders to not lose that number one spot.
"He's had the pressure of number one for the last couple of years so I don't think it will affect him, but it will be in the back of his head.
"I think he'll get to the final and have a good run, and I hope he does because he's the sort of player I like to play - I hope I beat him in the final!"
Price overcame a scare against fellow Welshman Jamie Lewis in the second round before Christmas, and conceded that he took some time to adjust to the behind-closed-doors World Championship experience.
"It's a different kind of atmosphere but we have to deal with it and I'll try to perform the best I can," added Price. "I will be better next time.
"Sometimes darts go like that - you can't hit a barn door with a shotgun but some other times I can't miss!
"I'm lucky I came through that game and sometimes you need that bit of luck, not just to win games but to win tournaments. Hopefully I can perform a lot better because that wasn't good enough."
Global coverage of the £2.5 million tournament is headlined by the dedicated Sky Sports Darts channel, while the PDC's international broadcast partners will include RTL7 in the Netherlands, DAZN in various territories, Fox Sports in Australia, Sky Sport in New Zealand, PDCTV for Rest of the World Subscribers and at matchroom.live.
William Hill World Darts Championship
Sunday December 27
Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)
3x Third Round
Krzysztof Ratajski v Simon Whitlock
Kim Huybrechts v Ryan Searle
Dimitri Van den Bergh v Jermaine Wattimena
Evening Session (1800 GMT)
3x Third Round
Joe Cullen v Jonny Clayton
Peter Wright v Gabriel Clemens
Michael van Gerwen v Ricky Evans
Monday December 28
Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)
3x Third Round
Jose de Sousa v Mervyn King
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Adam Hunt
Nathan Aspinall v Vincent van der Voort
Evening Session (1800 GMT)
3x Third Round
Gary Anderson v Mensur Suljovic
Gerwyn Price v Brendan Dolan
Glen Durrant v Danny Baggish
Tuesday December 29
Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)
3x Third Round
James Wade v Stephen Bunting
Daryl Gurney v Chris Dobey
Jason Lowe v Devon Petersen
Evening Session (1800 GMT)
1x Third Round
Dave Chisnall v Danny Noppert
2x Fourth Round
TBC
Wednesday December 30
Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)
3x Fourth Round
TBC
Evening Session (1800 GMT)
3x Fourth Round
TBC
Friday January 1
Afternoon Session (1200 GMT)
2x Quarter-Finals
Evening Session (1800 GMT)
2x Quarter-Finals
Saturday January 2 (1800 GMT)
Semi-Finals
Sunday January 3 (1930 GMT)
Final