World Matchplay darts final: Dimitri Van den Bergh v Peter Wright predictions, odds, betting tips, statistics, H2H record & Sky Sports TV start time

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The World Matchplay's unforgettable and raucous return to the Winter Gardens reaches its crescendo on Sunday night when defending champion Dimitri Van den Bergh meets Peter Wright for the Phil Taylor trophy and a cheque for £150,000.

This time last year, the Belgian won his maiden PDC senior title with the second biggest major in darts behind closed doors in Milton Keynes - and that was in no small part down to an invaluable period of lodging at Snakebite's palace during the first lockdown.

Twelve months on they clash at the event's spiritual home of the Winter Gardens in front of a packed Blackpool crowd, who will no doubt expect fireworks based on what we've seen from both players so far this tournament.

My in-depth preview will hopefully provide you with everything you need to know, including details of all their previous meetings, detailed tournament stats and their routes to the final and best bets.

Dimitri Van den Bergh (6/5) v Peter Wright (4/6)

• World Matchplay final, Sunday July 25
• TV Coverage start time: Sky Sports (2015 BST)
• Best of 35 legs. Each game 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: Van den Bergh v Wright

• Overall H2H: 2-9, 1 draw
• Televised Meetings: 0-2, 1 draw
  2021 Premier League: 5-8 (Group, May 25)
  2021 Premier League: 6-6 (Group, April 8)
  World Cup of Darts: 2-4 (Jun, 2019)
• Other Meetings
  Players Championship: 4-6 (Nov, 2020)
  Players Championship: 2-6 (Sep, 2020)
  Austrian Darts Championship: 5-6 (Aug, 2019)
  Players Championship: 1-6 (Jul, 2019)
  Players Championship: 6-5 (Jun, 2019)
  Players Championship: 4-6 (Jun, 2018)
  Players Championship: 4-6 (Sep, 2016)
  Players Championship: 2-6 (Oct, 2015)
  Players Championship: 6-5 (May, 2015)
• Senior Career PDC titles: 2-37
  Televised PDC Titles/Finals: 1/1 - 8/25
  Titles this season: 1-3 (TV: 0-0)
• PDC Order of Merit: 9th - 2nd
• Previous World Matchplay appearances: 1 - 10
• Previous World Matchplay best: Champion (2020) - Runner-up (2017)

We can probably assume Wright and Van den Bergh would have played a lot more matches in Snakebite's mansion during the first lockdown than they ever have in official matches, having remarkably only met 12 times in six years.

Their first clash came in 2015 - two years before the Belgian won the first of his two World Youth titles and when Wright had yet to win a major crown at the age of 45. Van den Bergh won on that occasion but since then Wright has dominated the rivalry quite comfortably and has yet to lose to his former lodger on TV.

The only two meetings worthy of relevance are from this season's Premier League. Their first battle was a keenly-fought 6-6 draw featuring a big 160 checkout from VDB but Wright ran out an 8-5 winner towards the end of the campaign which neither made the play-offs.

Just one interesting albeit pointless fact to finish on in this section; of the five occasions Wright has beaten Van den Bergh - including at the World Cup of Darts in 2019 - he has gone on to win that tournament, although none have been the final.

2021 World Matchplay: Tournament Statistics

(Van den Bergh stats listed first on the left)

• Tournament Average: 99.95 - 104.57
  Tournament Best: 103.68 (v Chizzy) - 110.37 (v MVG)
• Total 180s: 38 - 31
  180s per leg ratio: 0.45 (85 legs) - 0.40 (78 legs)
  Most 180s in a match: 14 (v Chizzy) - 12 (v MVG)
• 100+ checkouts (Highest): 5 (128) - 7 (149)
  Most 100+ checkouts in one match: 3 (v Ratajski) - 3 (v MVG)
  100+ checkouts to win legs ratio: 0.06 - 0.09
  Checkout % overall: 37.50% (54/144) - 45.38% (54/119)
  Best match checkout %: 45.95% (17/37 v Ratajski) - 55% (11/20 v Cullen)
• Legs won/lost: 54/31 - 54/24

The two players with the highest tournament averages are meeting in the final and although there looks to be a sizeable difference between Wright's 104.57 and Van den Bergh's 99.95, you have to bare in mind the higher figure was somewhat inflated by that stunning 110.37 against Michael van Gerwen in the semi-final.

Van den Bergh 'only' managed 98.51 against Krzysztof Ratajski, whose wasteful finishing played no small part in the Belgian roaring back from 6-2 down to win 15 of the next 18 legs and book his place in tonight's final.

That's not to take too much away from the defending champion whatsoever, because it was a great act of character as well as high scoring and clinical finishing to pressurise a stunned Polish Eagle into mistakes, but he will need to return to the levels we saw against Gerwyn Price and Dave Chisnall in which he averaged over 102 in both.

Wright ominously branded his 100 averages during dominant wins over Danny Noppert and Michael Smith as 'rubbish' while his 105.46 against Joe Cullen didn't come under much pressure due to his opponent's lacklustre performance.

They are obviously both capable of producing fireworks at this level but Wright was pretty much unplayable last night and anything close to that will be very hard for Van den Bergh to live with, especially if he makes a slow start again.

One thing we can almost be certain of is there will be A LOT of 180s. Throughout the tournament Van den Bergh's 180s per leg ratio is a stunning 0.45 and Wright's is 0.4 so if we see a close final of at least 30 legs, we could be looking around 25+ maximums. The highest betting line is over 23.5 180s with Sky Bet at 11/10.

Regular readers will know Carl Fletcher has been writing half of our daily previews during the tournament and he's sent me these great graphics of other stats that might be of high interest. You can follow him on Twitter at @CarlyFletch for more darts stats.

World Matchplay: Routes to the final

DIMITRI VAN DEN BERGH

• Rd 1: 10-5 v Devon Petersen
  Average: 94.6
  180s: 6
  Doubles: 10/32 (31.25%)
  100+ Checkouts: 108
• R2: 11-7 v Dave Chisnall
  Average: 103.68
  180s: 14
  Doubles: 11/34 (32.35%)
  100+ Checkouts: 121
• QF: 16-9 v Gerwyn Price
  Average: 102.27
  180s: 10
  Doubles: 16/41 (39.02%)
  100+ Checkouts: None
• SF: 17-9 v Krztsztof Ratajski
  Average: 98.51
  180s: 8
  Doubles: 17/37 (45.95%)
  100+ Checkouts: 128, 112, 110

You wouldn't have thought this was Dimitri Van den Bergh's Winter Gardens debut considering the way he's handled the unique venue and heat this week with a string of sensational displays. No player has ever lifted this prestigious trophy on their first outing in Blackpool - apart from when Larry Butler won the inaugural event back in 1994 - although Ronnie Baxter and James Wade both managed to reach the final on debut in 1998 and 2006 respectively.

The defending champion's toughest clash in terms of scoreline came against Dave Chisnall when he hit a second-round record number of 180s with 14, but his most impressive was the manner in which he blew Gerwyn Price away in the quarter-finals.

Van den Bergh never really looked fazed when trailing Ratajski 6-2 in the semi-finals as he remarkably won 15 of the next 18 legs - but this was mainly down to his sublime finishing, which included three 100+ checkouts, compared to his opponent's wastefulness rather than a barrage of high scoring.

If he can combine both areas of the game against Peter Wright, we will see something truly special.

PETER WRIGHT

• Rd 1: 10-3 v Danny Noppert
  Average: 99.75
  180s: 3
  Doubles: 10/19 (52.63%)
  100+ Checkouts: 121, 105
• R2: 11-5 v Joe Cullen
  Average: 105.46
  180s: 7
  Doubles: 11/20 (55%)
  100+ Checkouts: 106, 103
• QF: 16-7 v Michael Smith
  Average: 100.37
  180s: 9
  Doubles: 16/43 (37.21%)
  100+ Checkouts: None
• SF: 17-10 v Michael van Gerwen
  Average: 110.37
  180s: 12
  Doubles: 17/37 (45.95%)
  100+ Checkouts: 149, 121, 121

Peter Wright has hardly broken sweat to reach his second World Matchplay final - and first since losing to Phil Taylor in his farewell in 2017 - as he sucked the life and spirit out of his opponents with some sensational finishing.

Sure, Danny Noppert and Joe Cullen were way off their usual levels but Snakebite was over 50% on his doubles in both matches and didn't really give them a chance to get going.

His victory over Michael Smith was strangely one-sided when you look at how their stats were so similar (Bully Boy averaged 99 and was 36.84% on his doubles) but he was ultimately more clinical in the key legs.

There's few words that could do justice to his performance against Michael van Gerwen but majestic and spectacular would come pretty close. There was a spell in the match when he won four legs in a row in just 45 mesmerising darts as he stormed into a 10-4 lead and while MVG did mount a high-quality comeback to trail 10-8, Snakebite soon hit the turbo blasters again.

Can he reproduce the magic tonight?

World Matchplay final: Prediction and best bets

Anyone who followed my otherwise dismal pre-tournament betting preview - in which all my outsider tips fell in the first round - will be hoping Dimitri Van den Bergh can make history and become the first player since the inaugural 1994 edition to win the World Matchplay on their Winter Gardens debut.

Quite a feat when you consider he became the first debutant to win the event 12 months ago in the sterile behind closed doors environment of Milton Keynes but we can't be too surprised considering the levels of performance he's reached on a consistent basis.

The two-time World Youth champion has obviously always embraced the crowds but perhaps in hindsight he needed a 2020 of quietness and less dancing to focus purely on performance and reach that next level on the oche. Now he has that, the returning fans and bouncing atmosphere are seemingly enhancing his game even further and he's revelling in it. You can tell by the way he speaks so eloquently and confidently in press conferences that he's in such a good place right now and exactly where he wants to be.

A famous triumph tonight will make him just the fourth player to defend the title behind Phil Taylor, Rod Harrington and Michael van Gerwen but if last night is anything to go by he will need one more big performance to see off Peter Wright for the reasons previously discussed.

During the press conferences this week, Van den Bergh frequently spoken about the need for darts players to focus on their performances rather than gamesmanship and giving it the big I am before matches, and while he wasn't specifically referring to Peter Wright, nobody can deny Snakebite is one of the best at backing up his words.

Last month he told everyone to put a pound on him to win both the World Matchplay and World Championship this year which was around 86/1 at the time but that same double is now just 14/1. Was anyone on?

I asked him whether playing his former lodger would be the dream final and he laughed, saying he didn't teach him everything he knew. Well, from what we've seen in the last 18 months he's probably taught him enough to win tonight if Wright isn't at his sparkling best.

I am going to stick with Van den Bergh because I feel it will be close and he might just have that extra bit of stamina to maintain world-class levels if we head towards extra legs territory. Sure, Wright has the benefit of experience but perhaps the pressure and desire to win this trophy for the first time could play a part - although you could have said the same before he won the world title against MVG.

Van den Bergh has been so prolific on 180s so if you are siding with him then you can get enhance his odds to 9/4 by throwing in most maximums but his Player Performance targets of winning, scoring over 11.5 180s and a checkout of over 123.5 interests me more at an appealing 9/2.

If you think Wright will win then you might be interested in his 9/2 equivalent of winning, more than 11.5 1870s and a checkout of over 127.5.

At the rate they are both hitting 180s, even a 30-leg contest they should exceed 11.5 while you'd expect them both to have plenty of chances at the chunky checkouts.

I'm going to back Wright to hit 12+ 180s and have a 130+ checkout with Betfred at 3/1 which could obviously come in regardless of the result.

My final bet is an intriguing treble of VDB to win, throw most 180s and Wright to have the highest checkout at 6/1.

I'm rolling the dice with that one too when you consider just how many Wright has hit compared to VDB so far and the fact he's managed the highest of the two with a 149.

• Score Prediction: Van den Bergh 18-16 Wright
• Suggested Bets:
  Van den Bergh to win the match, score over 11.5 180s and checkout over 123.5 at 9/2 (Sky Bet)
  Wright to score over 11.5 180s and checkout over 130 at 3/1 (Betfred)
  VDB to win, hit most 180s & Wright to hit highest checkout at 6/1 (Sky Bet)
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