Michael van Gerwen admits his finishing must improve to win his third world darts title
Michael van Gerwen believes an improvement in his finishing will be key to winning his third PDC World Darts Championship crown.
The world number one may have won 18 individual titles in 2018, including the Premier League, World Grand Prix and Masters but lost his grip on six televised majors - most recently the Players Championship Finals against Daryl Gurney.
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🎯 INCREDIBLE SCENES! 🙌
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) November 25, 2018
💪🏆 Daryl Gurney hits the bullseye to beat Michael van Gerwen and win the Players Championship Finals!
👏 That's how to become a crowd favourite! What drama! @Superchin180 pic.twitter.com/vd6goWbfdC
Van Gerwen arrives at Alexandra Palace hungry to win back the most prestigious of the lot, which he lost in the most epic of semi-finals against Rob Cross 12 months ago.
He told www.pdc.tv: "I've been a little bit unlucky lately but I have to finish better and I'm working on that. I've not had my best year but I've still won more titles than every other player. I've not been at my best when you compare to some of the other recent years, and people expect a lot from me.
"I've got high standards and I want to play well in every match. You can still win without averaging 100 but you have to play well now for a full tournament.
Van Gerwen will face Alan Tabern or Australia's Raymond Smith in the second round but he's in a tough half of the draw which includes Adrian Lewis, Raymond van Barneveld and Gary Anderson.
He said: "It's a very hard draw because there are a lot of good players in my half of the draw, but that's what I like because I know I have to play well.
"You have people like Raymond van Barneveld, Adrian Lewis, Simon Whitlock and Max Hopp, but I need to do my own thing.
"If you want to win the World Championship then you have to beat all the players anyway so it doesn't matter who is in your part of the draw."
MVG missed five match darts in last year's semi-finals and is now eager to put the record straight.
🎯Let that moment sink in. It really did happen...pic.twitter.com/RJvcNvR05C
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) December 31, 2017
He said: "Last year I had a great tournament until that moment. Rob played well last year but I can only blame myself, things like that happen and normally I would never miss five match darts.
"I know how it feels to lose and it's not nice. It hurts at that moment because you want to win it so much and hopefully this is my time."
Since reaching his first World Championship final in 2013, a tournament which famously saw him throw 17 perfect darts over two legs, Van Gerwen has only failed to reach the semi-finals on one occasion.
🎯🙌 One week to go until the World Darts Championship!
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) December 6, 2018
💚 Remember when MVG sent the Ally Pally crazy when going oh so close to back-to-back nine-darters...pic.twitter.com/Oi7n5jDZv7
The world number one has been the top performer on the PDC circuit over the last five years and hopes he will make his dominance count in the biggest event of the year.
"It feels amazing to win the World Championship title, you work so hard for it all year and it's a phenomenal moment of completion," Van Gerwen added.
"I've won two but I want to win more and to do that I have to make sure that I'm ready. I know I'll be a big favourite and there will be pressure on me, so I have to perform.
"People always play better against me than other players, maybe because there's no pressure on them so I have to play well and make sure I prepare well."
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