Van Gerwen (Lawrence Lustig)
Van Gerwen (Lawrence Lustig)

Michael van Gerwen admits he got out of jail like never before as he retained his Premier League Darts title


Michael van Gerwen admits he got out of jail like never before as he retained his Premier League Darts title at the O2.

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After seeing off Gary Anderson 10-7 in a breathless play-off semi-final, the world number one returned to the oche later in the night to face in-form Peter Wright with the trophy on the line but promptly found himself 3-0 and 7-2 down after a poor start and wasteful finishing.

Van Gerwen produced a stirring comeback after the interval to get back on level terms only for Wright to edge 10-9 ahead and then leave 32 after just nine darts.

But Snakebite, on the brink of the biggest title of his career having finally broken his TV major duck at the UK Open earlier in the year, incredibly missed six match darts - one at double 16 and five at double 8 - as MVG capitalised to force a deciding leg which he romped away with in four visits.

The Dutchman's victory means he's now won three of the last five Premier League finals since his tournament debut back in 2013 but he accepts Wright let him off the hook big time.

A relieved van Gerwen, who also topped the regular season for the fifth straight year last week, told www.pdc.tv: "It felt fantastic. Normally it doesn't happen that someone misses six match darts against me, it's the first time in my life I've won a game like this.

"I'm over the moon of course because things like that don't happen very often. When he gets three darts for the match you think you're done.

"I didn't play well in the beginning of the game but after the break I came back really strong. I thought it was won but then he stepped up again, playing well and then he missed six darts. I had a chance and took it."

Wright, who knocked out Phil Taylor in a final-leg decider in the semi-finals, headed into 2017 on the back of a 16-match losing streak against van Gerwen but had managed to beat him three times out of five this season, including two in European Tour finals and one of those was by a 6-0 scoreline.

It should have been a fourth but for his last-gasp collapse and van Gerwen feels it may have been down to the pressure of such a big occasion.

He said: "He probably doesn't know how it feels to have that pressure against him. He's never beaten me in a really important game and I think this was one of those moments where I used that mental advantage.

"He's a fantastic player, more steady and he's one of the big boys now - but still I kept him off the big trophies!"

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