World Matchplay darts final: Gary Anderson v Dimitri van den Bergh predictions, odds, betting tips, statistics, H2H record & Sky Sports TV start time

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There may have been no fans inside the Marshall Arena to see it, but the piped-in crowd noise certainly accompanied no shortage of drama over a memorable week in Milton Keynes, which saw the world's top three knocked out by the second round, thrilling comebacks, stellar performances, nail-biting finishes and, of course, a smattering of controversy.

But as the second biggest major in darts reaches its conclusion, we now know the Phil Taylor Trophy will be lifted by either one of the game's greatest legends or one of its brightest stars.

For Gary Anderson, this represents a chance to win his ninth PDC major title in his 20th final and his second in the World Matchplay having so memorably won it two years ago, while victory would also complete a behind-closed-doors double following on from his 2018 UK Open exploits.

Dimitri Van den Bergh, meanwhile, is appearing in his first major senior final on what has been a superb World Matchplay debut, but there will undoubtedly be more to come regardless of tonight's outcome.

Here, I've pulled together a whole host of statistics, head-to-head records, routes to the final and my match verdict, while you can also look back on the tournament results and previous finals.

Gary Anderson (4/7) v Dimitri Van den Bergh (11/8)

• World Matchplay final: Sunday July 26
  TV Coverage: Sky Sports (2030 BST)
• Best of 35 legs. Must be won by two clear legs, with up to a maximum of five additional legs being played before the sixth additional leg is sudden-death

Head-to-head record (Anderson first)

• Overall H2H: 1-1
• Televised Meetings: 0-1
  7-8: 2018 German Darts Masters (SF)
• Other Meetings: 1-0
  5-1: 2020 PDC Home Tour (Last 128)
• Senior Career PDC titles: 47-0 (TV: 15-0)
  Major PDC Titles/Finals: 8/19 - 0/0
  Titles this season: 1-0 (TV: 0-0)
• PDC Order of Merit: 8th - 26th
  ProTour Order of Merit: 25th - 28th

Obviously there's not much to go off in terms of head-to-head record and the two previous meetings couldn't have been more different. Most recently they met on the Home Tour, with Van den Bergh being thrashed 5-1 from Peter Wright's house by the eventual runner-up but the first was in front of a record-breaking 20,000-strong crowd at the Veltins Arena, which was transformed into a "Darts Music Arena".

Having just thrashed Michael van Gerwen 8-3 in the 2018 German Darts Masters quarter-finals to show us one of his earlier signs of rich potential, he again showed zero sign of stage fright by beating the Flying Scotsman 8-7 with the help of a stunning checkout in the 14th leg. He lost the final to Mensur Suljovic but just take a look at this and hopefully we'll have more of the same tonight...

Also, it's important to point out that the PDC Order of Merit rankings above are now meaningless. If Anderson wins he will move up to seventh on £470,750, with Van den Bergh soaring to a career high 16th on £256,250. If it's the opposite result then Anderson drops to ninth on £390,750 and Van den Bergh climbs even higher to 12th on £336,250.

Routes to the World Matchplay final

GARY ANDERSON

• Rd 1: 10-5 Justin Pipe
  Average: 90.59
  180s: 2
  Doubles: 10/28 (35.71%)
  100+ Checkouts: 120, 112
• Rd 2: 11-7 James Wade
  Average: 92.91
  180s: 9
  Doubles: 11/27 (40.74%)
  100+ Checkouts: N/A
• QF: 16-12 Simon Whitlock
  Average: 98.09
  180s: 9
  Doubles: 16/51 (31.37%)
  100+ Checkouts: N/A
• SF: 18-16 Michael Smith
  Average: 97.99
  180s: 7
  Doubles: 18/41 (42.9%)
  100+ Checkouts: 128, 127, 116

It took a while for Gary Anderson to get going in this behind-closed-doors setting and although he has triumphant memories of persevering in similar conditions at the Storm Emma affected UK Open two years ago, the atmosphere must be much different with the piped-in crowd noise in a much more polished arena. Justin Pipe and James Wade were hardly ideal opponents either in terms of bringing out his best but after labouring through those encounters he raised it enough against a confident Simon Whitlock and his average would have been far better if he wasn't so flaky on his doubles.

That area improved against Michael Smith but overall he wasn't happy with his 98 average or how he let his former apprentice back into the match from a 14-9 lead. "I can’t throw me darts right, it’s driving me bonkers. I can’t throw a dart, I can’t let go. I’m chilled out but I’m expecting to do what I was doing two, three, four, five years ago and it’s getting to me now."

I guess it's unrealistic to expect any sporting legend to be content with reaching major finals at the age of 49!

DIMITRI VAN DEN BERGH

• Rd 1: 10-5 Nathan Aspinall
  Average: 98.42
  180s: 4
  Doubles: 10/24 (41.67%)
  100+ Checkouts: 156, 103
• Rd 2: 11-9 Joe Cullen
  Average: 93.19
  180s: 5
  Doubles: 11/32 (34.38%)
  100+ Checkouts: 138, 118, 105, 104
• QF: 16-12 Adrian Lewis
  Average: 98.09
  180s: 11
  Doubles: 16/39 (41.03%)
  100+ Checkouts: 164, 104
• SF: 17-15 Glen Durrant
  Average: 98.97
  180s: 9
  Doubles: 17/46 (36.96%)
  100+ Checkouts: N/A

Some bookies had priced Dimitri Van den Bergh up at 200/1 before a dart was thrown and I'm sure I'm not the only one kicking myself for not at least throwing a quid or two on it. We all knew he'd spent months of lockdown in Peter Wright's house and speculated how it might help him enhance his performance and mentality on the big stages - even though he'd already shown an abundance of promise with four major quarter-final runs, including the the most recent World Championship and UK Open.

I'd even bloody referred to all that when tipping him to win his Home Tour groups, which he lost both including his second attempt with Gary Anderson! Those two nights as well as his below-par performances at the Summer Series put us off the scent but they were clearly, in hindsight, red herrings. It's on the stage where he's at his most dangerous and so it's proved with a stunning first-ever win over Nathan Aspinall before showing real character to fight back from 8-5 down to defeat Joe Cullen 11-9 in a real thriller and then producing a wonderful display of front-running to keep Adrian Lewis at bay.

An array of stunning 100+ checkouts at key moments underpinned those victories but there were none of those against Glen Durrant in a gruelling showdown which looked like it was going Duzza's way after he used his trademark mental strength to edge ahead at 14-13 and 15-14 having earlier been 12-8 down. However Van den Bergh's classy late burst saw him edge it 17-15.

World Matchplay overall tournament stats

As you can see for yourself below, Dimitri Van den Bergh holds the statistical advantage over Gary Anderson and I think it goes without saying that he's been far happier with his performances than the Flying Scotsman. Will the trend continue tonight or will experience of major finals make these numbers largely irrelevant?

GARY ANDERSON

• Tournament Average: 95.75
• 180s: 27
• Checkout percentage: 37.50% (55/147)
• 100+ checkouts: FIVE: 128, 127, 120, 116, 112
• Legs won/lost: 55/42

DIMITRI VAN DEN BERGH

• Tournament Average: 97.76
• 180s: 29
• Checkout percentage: 38.30% (54/141)
• 100+ checkouts: EIGHT: 164, 156, 138, 118, 105, 104, 104, 103
• Legs won/lost: 54/41

Player bios and career highlights

Not that you need reminding of any of this fluff, but here it is anyway before we get onto the tips and final verdict.

GARY ANDERSON

• Nickname: The Flying Scotsman
• Date of Birth: 22/12/1970
• Nationality: Scottish
• World Ranking/Seeding: 8
• Walk-on music: Jump Around, House of Pain
• Pre-tournament Sky Bet Odds: 14/1
• Career highlights: Eight major PDC titles including 2x World Champion (2015, 2016), World Matchplay champion (2018), 2x Premier League champion (2011, 2015), UK Open champion (2018), Players Championship Finals champion (2014), Champions League of Darts winner (2018), six televised World Series titles, 2019 World Cup winner (2019) and 32 non-televised PDC titles, runner-up in 10 other major finals including the World Championship, World Grand Prix & Grand Slam of Darts

DIMITRI VAN DEN BERGH

• Nickname: The Dreammaker
• Date of Birth: 08/07/1994
• Nationality: Belgian
• World Ranking: 26
• Walk-on music: Happy, Pharrel Williams
• Pre-tournament Sky Bet Odds: 100/1
• World Matchplay best: Debut
• Career highlights: Two-time World Youth champion (2017, 2018), quarter-finalist of five senior televised tournaments including the 2020 and 2020 World Championship

Betting Preview & Best Bets

On this night two years ago, Gary Anderson hit his famous World Matchplay nine-darter against Joe Cullen in an unforgettable quarter-final and obviously went on to win the prestigious title for the first time in his glittering career after an even better showdown with Mensur Suljovic.

The Flying Scotsman sent the Winter Gardens crowd into sheer pandemonium on both occasions but while it remains a big shame that those scenes can't be repeated in Milton Keynes tonight, the achievement would be no less impressive.

Over the past couple of years, Anderson's lifespan at the very top of the sport has been constructively questioned due to his back problems, age and inconsistency to perform to the same astonishing levels of his true heyday.

One match "he's back", the next he's seemingly on the decline.

His semi-final against Michael Smith epitomised this rollercoaster of emotions, albeit without those bursts of outstanding brilliance. For large periods he was bossing it, but then he suddenly lost all momentum with the finishing line in sight and was running on empty against one of the hungry younger stars of the game.

Just when you thought he was gone, he pulled it back out of nowhere to reach yet another major final and there can be no doubting how much he still wants these big prizes.

However, Dimitri Van den Bergh has shown during all his wins this week that he now has the mental strength and endurance to support his major-winning potential, which could well be fulfilled tonight.

His attitude and showmanship has always bordered on affable arrogance - the kind fans don't mind sportspeople possessing - and that's almost priceless when it comes to sinking match-winning doubles and holding your nerve at crunch moments of the biggest matches.

We've already mentioned his track record of reaching quarter-finals at such a relatively early point of his senior career while he didn't seem fazed when stepping up with three darts in hand to reach his first major final. As Glen Durrant waited to come back on 48, Van den Bergh missed the first, but made no mistake with the second.

What makes him even more dangerous to Anderson is that there's no mental demons of previous near-misses as might have been the case with the likes of Michael Smith or Dave Chisnall, for example.

Weighing up the aforementioned tournament stats, performances and morale in getting to this final, I've got to go with the debutant at a much skinnier price than his pre-tournament odds! His player performance targets are pretty tame if he is to lift the Phil Taylor Trophy while going for over 31.5 legs also covers a close final that he loses.

The boldest tip below is found in Sky Bet's match action markets but the way Van den Bergh has been finishing doesn't put me off, especially if it's the high-quality memorable final I'm expecting.

Prediction: 15-18

Suggested bets:

• Dimitri Van den Bergh to win the match, score over 7.5 180s and checkout over 107.5 at 5/2
• Over 31.5 Legs at evens
• Match to have over 31.5 legs, highest checkout to be over 140.5 and over 18.5 total 180s at 4/1

SKY BET'S PRICE BOOSTS

• Gary Anderson To Win The Match and Hit Most 180's & Highest Outright Checkout - 3/1 from 5/2
• Dimitri Van den Bergh to win the match and score over 9+ 180s and checkout over 123.5 - 11/2 from 5/1
• Click here for all the Sky Bet odds

World Matchplay: Full tournament results

• Players must win by two clear legs unless it goes to a sudden-death leg

ROUND ONE (Best of 19 legs)

• (1) Michael van Gerwen 10-7 Brendan Dolan
• (16) Simon Whitlock 10-4 Ryan Joyce
• (8) Gary Anderson 10-5 Justin Pipe
• (9) James Wade 12-10 Keegan Brown
• (4) Rob Cross 8-10 Gabriel Clemens
• (13) Krzysztof Ratajski 10-4 Jermaine Wattimena
• (5) Michael Smith 10-3 Jonny Clayton
• (12) Mensur Suljovic 12-10 Jamie Hughes
• (2) Peter Wright 10-8 Jose De Sousa
• (15) Glen Durrant 10-3 Jeffrey de Zwaan
• (7) Daryl Gurney 10-5 Ricky Evans
• (10) Dave Chisnall 6-10 Vincent van der Voort
• (3) Gerwyn Price 7-10 Danny Noppert
• (14) Adrian Lewis 11-9 Steve Beaton
• (6) Nathan Aspinall 5-10 Dimitri Van den Bergh
• (11) Ian White 12-13 Joe Cullen

ROUND TWO (Best of 21 legs)

• (1) Michael van Gerwen 4-11 Simon Whitlock (16)
• (8) Gary Anderson 11-8 James Wade (9)
• Gabriel Clemens 10-12 Krzysztof Ratajski (13)
• (5) Michael Smith 14-12 Mensur Suljovic (12)
• (2) Peter Wright 8-11 Glen Durrant (15)
• (7) Daryl Gurney 5-11 Vincent van der Voort
• Danny Noppert 7-11 Adrian Lewis (14)
• Dimitri Van den Bergh 11-9 Joe Cullen

QUARTER-FINALS (Best of 31 legs)

• (16) Simon Whitlock 12-16 Gary Anderson (8)
• (13) Krzysztof Ratajski 13-16 Michael Smith (5)
• (15) Glen Durrant 18-16 Vincent van der Voort
• (14) Adrian Lewis 12-16 Dimitri Van den Bergh

SEMI-FINALS (Best of 33 legs)

• (8) Gary Anderson 18-16 Michael Smith (5)
• (15) Glen Durrant v Dimitri Van den Bergh

FINAL (Best of 35 legs)

• (8) Gary Anderson 18-16 Michael Smith (5)
• (15) Glen Durrant 15-17 Dimitri Van den Bergh

Prize Fund

• Winner - £150,000
• Runner-Up - £70,000
• Semi-Finalists - £50,000
• Quarter-Finalists - £25,000
• Second Round Losers - £15,000
• First Round Losers - £10,000
• Total - £700,000

World Matchplay Past Finals

• 1994 - Larry Butler 16-12 Dennis Priestley
• 1995 - Phil Taylor 16-11 Dennis Priestley
• 1996 - Peter Evison 16-14 Dennis Priestley
• 1997 - Phil Taylor 16-11 Alan Warriner
• 1998 - Rod Harrington 19-17 Ronnie Baxter
• 1999 - Rod Harrington 19-17 Peter Manley
• 2000 - Phil Taylor 18-12 Alan Warriner
• 2001 - Phil Taylor 18-10 Richie Burnett
• 2002 - Phil Taylor 18-16 John Part
• 2003 - Phil Taylor 18-12 Wayne Mardle
• 2004 - Phil Taylor 18-8 Mark Dudbridge
• 2005 - Colin Lloyd 18-12 John Part
• 2006 - Phil Taylor 18-9 James Wade
• 2007 - James Wade 18-7 Terry Jenkins
• 2008 - Phil Taylor 18-11 James Wade
• 2009 - Phil Taylor 18-4 Terry Jenkins
• 2010 - Phil Taylor 18-12 Raymond van Barneveld
• 2011 - Phil Taylor 18-8 James Wade
• 2012 - Phil Taylor 18-15 James Wade
• 2013 - Phil Taylor 18-13 Adrian Lewis
• 2014 - Phil Taylor 18-9 Michael van Gerwen
• 2015 - Michael van Gerwen 18-12 James Wade
• 2016 - Michael van Gerwen 18-10 Phil Taylor
• 2017 - Phil Taylor 18-8 Peter Wright
• 2018 - Gary Anderson 21-19 Mensur Suljovic
• 2019 - Rob Cross 18-13 Michael Smith

World Matchplay Most Titles

• Phil Taylor - 16
• Michael van Gerwen - 2
• Rod Harrington - 2
• Rob Cross - 1
• Gary Anderson - 1
• Larry Butler - 1
• Peter Evison - 1
• Colin Lloyd - 1
• James Wade - 1

Click here for full 2020 World Matchplay guide

Related Darts Content

• Chris Hammer's Player-By-Player Guide
• Paul Nicholson's World Matchplay analysis
• World Matchplay betting preview & tips
• 2020 World Matchplay draw and schedule
• Carl Fletcher's vital statistics
• 2020 Premier League venues & dates
• 2020 PDC event calendar & results
• 2020 World Darts Championship results
• 2019 PDC event results
• Sky Bet's darts odds

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