Michael van Gerwen v Michael Smith live stream | World Darts Championship final preview
Michael van Gerwen and Michael Smith face off on a date with destiny in the 2022/23 World Darts Championship final at Alexandra Palace on Tuesday.
The box office duo meet in the sport’s show-piece fixture for the second time, with Smith eyeing revenge for his painful defeat in 2019.
For both, it is a culmination for a remarkable season of success, but only one can walk away with the Sid Waddell Trophy and £500,000 top prize.
The winner will also claim the world number one spot over 2022 World Champion Peter Wright.
Van Gerwen is vying for a fourth world title and has enjoyed a serene passage into his sixth final at Ally Pally courtesy of a series of blistering displays.
World Champion in 2014, 2017 and 2019, the Dutch sensation has been the dominant force on the circuit this season, storming to Premier League, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix and Players Championship Finals glory to take his tally of PDC major titles to 45.
He also racked up a further three European Tour titles, two ProTours and a World Series crown and put down an immediate marker upon his return to the capital by thrashing Lewy Williams in straight sets with a 101.8 average – dropping just one leg in the process.
The green machine fended off a spirited effort from a resurgent Mensur Suljovic to clinch a 4-2 victory with a stunning 107.6 average and followed that up with further ton-plus averages in dismantling Dirk van Duijvenbode 4-1 and Chris Dobey 5-0.
He then registered the highest average of the tournament so far (108.28) in a brutal 6-0 whitewash of Dimitri van den Bergh in Monday’s second Semi-Final, landing a 170 checkout in the process.
An incredible strike rate has seen MVG win 45 of his 56 major finals, two of which against Smith, and he has won 37 of their 50 previous meetings.
Smith, however, defeated his nemesis 8-4 in the final to claim the US Masters title in New York last June and heads into his third World Championship final as a major winner for the first time, following November’s Grand Slam triumph.
The St Helens star is out to atone for last year’s heartbreak when he squandered a 5-4 lead in the final to Peter Wright in an eventual 7-5 defeat.
The fourth seed got off to the perfect start by whitewashing Nathan Rafferty in nine consecutive legs, before surviving a major scare from Martin Schindler as he battled back from 3-1 down to snatch a narrow 4-3 victory.
He then averaged 103.2 in a dominant 4-1 defeat of fellow Premier League star Joe Cullen, before fending off a late rally from Stephen Bunting on New Year’s Day to seal a 5-3 victory despite registering his lowest average of the tournament so far (91.63).
A contrasting performance was to follow as ‘Bully Boy’ reeled off four consecutive sets to end the historic run of Germany’s Gabriel Clemens with a 6-2 success which included 19 maximums and a 101.8 average.
Victory over Van Gerwen would see Smith become the eleventh different PDC World Champion, the fifth Englishman and the 12th different PDC world number one.
The final commences from 8pm GMT and will be contested over the best 13 sets, best of five legs per set.
Deciding sets must be won by two clear legs, unless the score reaches 5-5, in which case a sudden-death leg will be played.
How to watch Michael van Gerwen v Michael Smith live stream
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1) Go to Bet365.com via this special link
2) Register an account, place a £10 first bet and get £50 in Free Bets* (18+ only, T&Cs apply)
3) Once registered, go to the sports homepage and select ‘Darts’ from the left-hand menu
4) Select the play icon next to the match in progress and the live stream window will appear
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