DARTS statistician 3 Dart Analyst looks ahead to the William Hill World Darts Championship final between Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson.
Michael van Gerwen (1) v Gary Anderson (2)
Michael van Gerwen
- In defeating Raymond van Barneveld 6-2 in the semi-finals Michael van Gerwen produced a World Championship record breaking average of 114.05; Van Barneveld himself averaged 109.34 which is the highest ever losing average at a World Championship. It was an incredible match in which 15 of the 32 legs were won in 12 darts or fewer.
- Van Gerwen has reached the final having averaged over 103 in each of his five matches, his overall tournament average is 106.68.
- Van Gerwen’s lowest average at the 2017 World Championship (103.08 in his quarter-final win over Daryl Gurney) is higher than any of the averages he produced when he reached the final in 2013 and 2014.
- His semi-final win increased Van Gerwen’s winning streak to 27 consecutive victories since losing to Daryl Gurney at the German Darts Championship in October. Since losing to Van Barneveld in the last 16 at the 2016 World Championship Van Gerwen has now won 39 consecutive matches in PDC televised ranking tournaments.
- Van Gerwen is aiming to win his seventh PDC major ranking tournament in a row, having previously won the UK Open, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, European Championship, Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals over the last twelve months. Van Gerwen has now reached the final in 13 of the 14 major ranking tournaments played since losing to Gary Anderson in the semi-finals at the 2015 World Championship.
- This is Van Gerwen’s third appearance in a World Championship final; he lost 7-4 to Phil Taylor in 2013 and defeated Peter Wright by the same score in the 2014 final.
Anderson
- Gary Anderson defeated Peter Wright 6-3 to reach his third consecutive World Championship final and the victory extends his winning streak at the World Championship to 17 matches.
- Anderson’s tournament average is 104.10, which is ahead of his pre-final average during the last two World Championship tournaments.
- His total of 15 180s in his match against Wright means he has now hit the most of any player at the 2017 World Championship (Anderson has hit a total of 49). Anderson needs to hit 16 180s in the final to pass his record total of 64 at a World Championship which was set in 2015.
- This will be Gary Anderson’s 50th World Championship match (PDC and BDO included) since he made his debut at the Lakeside in 2002.
- Anderson is making his fourth appearance in a World Championship final and of course has won the title in each of the last two years, beating Taylor 7-6 in 2015 and Lewis 7-5 in 2016. In his first final back in 2011 he lost 7-5 to Adrian Lewis.
Head to Head (Van Gerwen leads 22-13, they have also drawn once in the Premier League)
As you would expect Michael van Gerwen and Gary Anderson have met many times over the years, and it is Van Gerwen who holds a winning record overall in their head to head matches. The last time they faced each other was in the final of the World Grand Prix last October when Van Gerwen won 5-2. Overall they met in three finals during 2016 with Anderson winning twice (at the Dubai Masters and Auckland Masters).
They have one win each from their previous two meetings at the World Championship, Van Gerwen won 4-3 in the last 16 on his way to winning the 2014 tournament (that was Anderson’s last defeat at the World Championship), Anderson defeated van Gerwen 6-3 in the 2015 semi-final on his way to winning his first world title.
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