Action underway on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports Darts from 8pm
Tuesday 3 January 2017 10:52, UK
Defending champion Gary Anderson will meet world No 1 Michael van Gerwen in a mouthwatering World Darts Championship final on Monday night
The Flying Scotsman has made serene progress in his pursuit of a third successive Sid Waddell trophy and he recorded a 17th straight victory on the Alexandra Palace stage in his semi-final success over Peter Wright.
Standing in his way will be all-conquering Van Gerwen, who has 25 titles to his name for 2016 and saw off the considerable threat of fellow Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld thanks to a world record display in his own last four encounter on Sunday night.
Van Gerwen was the last person to beat Anderson on the Ally Pally stage, his 4-3 third round win coming in the 2014 championships although the Scot was to have his revenge in 2015 beating Mighty Mike 6-3 in their last four encounter on the way to the first of his back-to-back titles.
The first world champion of 2017 will be crowned in north London when the tournament's top two seeds meet in the final for the first time since Phil Taylor's victory over Barney in 2009.
MVG has been the dominant force in darts for the last few years but while he has hoovered up the majors in that time, including the Premier League, UK Open, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and Grand Slam this season he has only one world title to his name and that came back in 2014.
The brilliant Dutchman has said he would trade them all for another world title but he may not need to if he can reproduce the sparkling form he showed in seeing off Barney with a 6-2 victory that saw him record a world-record average of 114.05, beating Taylor's 111.21.
However, Anderson himself has managed four successive 100+ averages on his way to the final and having beaten Taylor and Adrian Lewis in the last two years will now need to beat the best the tungsten world has to offer to claim a brilliant three-peat.
Only Taylor and Eric Bristow can boast three successive titles and a win on Monday will put Anderson alongside the legends of the game, while a win for MVG will surely be the second of many more world titles.
The pair met in the World Grand Prix final earlier this year when Van Gerwen claimed the title via a 5-2 victory, while Anderson was victorious in their first major final meeting, the Premier League in 2014, and Sky Sports expert Wayne Mardle is expecting a high quality encounter.
"Some people wilt and don't want to be up there - others look out and see a see of people and think they want to be a part of this," Mardle said.
"Michael van Gerwen is a show off and he loves performing - Gary Anderson loves being the one that goes about his work quietly but at the end lifts the trophy, he has done it for the last two years
"It has to be a cracker, they will not play badly, there will be big shots and big outs. It will be timing, it will be who wins that fifth leg to claim the sets, it has to be that."
You can follow all the action from Monday's final on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports Darts from 8pm and if you can't watch you can keep up to date with our live blog right here on www.skysports.com/darts and across our digital platforms
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