Michael van Gerwen has warned Peter Wright that he is not allowed to miss and ‘has to do better’ against him in the PDC World Darts Championship final to have any hope of lifting the Sid Waddell Trophy on New Year’s Day.
Mighty Mike and Snakebite will take to the oche on Wednesday with the Dutchman looking for his fourth world crown and the Scot aiming for his first.
As the defending champion and pre-tournament favourite, it is no surprise that MVG is widely backed for more success on the Alexandra Palace stage.
However, Wright has been the better player in the last two rounds, averaging a monstrous 105.86 in his quarter-final win over Luke Humphries, before seeing off man-of-the-moment Gerwyn Price in the semis.
Snakebite has been impressive while Van Gerwen has been underwhelming, only really hitting peak form in his fourth round trouncing of Stephen Bunting.
The world number one is typically blase about this, though, insisting that Wright will have to play still better than he has been in order to topple him when it really matters.
‘Till this game I had a higher tournament average than him,’ said MVG after the semi-finals. ‘Strange. He’s playing quite well everyone’s saying, so that must say what my standard is.
‘I don’t mind. People can judge me however they like, they’ve got the right to.
‘I’m still in the tournament, I think he’s more worried about me than I am about him so I’m looking forward to the final.
‘He can say whatever he wants. A couple of very important moments against Gerwyn Price he nearly blew it as well.
‘He has to do better if he wants to beat me, he knows that.
‘Against me he’s not allowed to miss the doubles he missed against Gerwyn Price.’
Wright will need to improve on his doubling in the final, having hit just 22 of 61 attempts at the outer-ring against the Iceman.
However, he showed how sharp he is on the finishes against Humphries when he checked out at 52% and landed enormous 170 and 161 finishes.
The world number seven agreed with Van Gerwen, to an extent, after downing Price, telling Sky Sports: ‘I played rubbish, I have to play better than that to win this and I think I will.’
MVG must also step up, though, having been well below his best in his semi-final win over Nathan Aspinall, in which he averaged under 97.
Snakebite not only must play well, but also battle some mental demons after losing seven major finals to MVG, never beating the Dutchman in a showpiece match.
Most recently Van Gerwen beat Wright in the final of the Champions League of Darts in November with the 49-year-old missing match darts to claim the title.
When asked if he planned to remind Snakebite of that failure, the world champ said he sees no need.
‘I feel good and I need to make sure I play a little bit better than him,’ continued MVG.
‘I don’t have to remind him, he knows that anyway, otherwise his wife will tell him.’
Wright and Van Gerwen contest the PDC World Championship final on New Year’s Day at 7pm.
