Tonight is the night. It’s all been leading to this. Alexandra Palace hosts the PDC World Darts Championship final as Michael Smith goes head-to-head with Michael van Gerwen to be crowned the best in the world.
Both have turned in some outstanding performances over the last couple of weeks. Smith suffered a dip in his unconvincing quarter-final victory over Stephen Bunting, but Van Gerwen has looked his explosive best throughout as he eyes up a fourth world title.
Smith has now made back-to-back final appearances on the Ally Pally stage, having missed out on his first major title to Peter Wright a year ago. ‘Bully Boy’ has since overcome that hurdle of claiming his first major title when he won the Grand Slam of Darts in Wolverhampton in November.
We are certainly going to get a more experienced Smith in this year’s final as opposed to last year, and Van Gerwen will be well aware of that. Smith overcame history-making German Gabriel Clemens in the semi-finals 6-2 while MVG blitzed Dimitri Van den Bergh 6-0 in yet another commanding performance.
This is set to be a thrilling final and given that the two players have hit 76 180s between them (Smith 44, Van Gerwen 32), we can expect a lot of maximums in Tuesday’s showpiece and hopefully some large checkouts too - both players have already checked out for 170 this tournament.
There isn’t a great deal to split the two players heading into this one, but what are the bookies saying?
On this occasion they are favouring the man who has won this tournament three times already. Betfred are offering 3/10 on Van Gerwen to triumph, while Bully Boy is priced at 5/2.
If you are feeling more audacious you can back either of these players to win but also to throw the most 180s and complete the highest checkout. Betfred have this priced at 6/1 for Smith and 10/3 for Van Gerwen.
They are also offering 1/2 on Smith to hit the most 180s which is not surprising considering he has thrown 12 more than the Dutchman, but you can get 19/10 on MVG to land the most maximums.
As already mentioned, both players have already hit the ‘big fish’ this tournament. Can they both do so again or do you think only one will?
If you feel that Smith can checkout for 170, Betfred have him priced at 7/1. Van Gerwen? You can get him at 5/1. However, if you are unsure who to choose you can just opt for there to be a 170 checkout in the match, which is available at 7/2.
Another interesting market is choosing which player will achieve the highest checkout of the match. Betfred have Smith marked as 6/5 while Van Gerwen is priced at 4/6.
The final coverage begins at 7:45pm on Sky Sports Darts.
*18+ | BeGambleAware | Odds Subject To Change
