The 2016 PDC World Darts Championship has been one of the greatest of all time and fittingly it is set to conclude with what should be a fantastic final when Adrian Lewis takes on Gary Anderson for the title at Alexandra Palace on Sunday night.
These two met in the 2011 final when Lewis won 7-5 and that was a brilliant final and the sell out crowd packed into the North London venue will be hoping for a repeat of that finale in this one.
They should get it too because these two have looked invincible in this tournament so far. Adrian Lewis might not have put up the staggering numbers that Anderson has but his performances have been no less dominant and emphatic.
Lewis has cruised into this final. He began with a comfortable 3-0 win over Jan Dekker in the first round before a whitewash of Andrew Gilding followed in round two. Mensur Suljovic came and went without troubling the scorers in the last 16 before Peter Wright was ruthlessly dismissed in the quarter final. Lewis then set up this final by holding off a Raymond Barneveld comeback to win his semi-final 6-3.
Anderson has been even more on easy street in this tournament. Like Lewis he won 3-0 in the opening round. Andy Boulton was his victim. Daryl Gurney put up a significant challenge in the second round but the Scot won 4-1 and then came a whitewash of Vincent van der Voort in the last 16. James Wade could only win one set in the quarter final and Jelle Klaasen failed to even achieve that in the semi-final.
There’s no doubt these two have been the best two players in the tournament and given that they are both playing in their third world final we know both will enjoy the occasion and know how to perform to their best amidst the pressure and the occasion so this really should be a classic.
From a betting point of view those who followed my tournament outright bets will already have place money on Lewis sewn up and are on him at 18/1 to win this match. They will be looking for 15 180s from this final for the tournament 180s to come in and a nine darter in the final would bring another bet in.
There’s no need to cover any of those outcomes again even though I fancy Lewis to win this final and for there to be stacks of 180s. There might even be a nine dart finish in this final just like there was when they met at this stage in 2011.
Anderson has looked awesome in this tournament so far but without taking anything away from him the players he has faced with the exception of Daryl Gurney have been perfect for him. The only way to beat Gary Anderson is to have pressure on his finishing and to do that you are going to have to score well.
No disrespect to Vincent van der Voort, James Wade and Jelle Klaasen but they were never going to have the sustained scoring power to stay with Anderson. Gurney had and did and should have made their match much closer but missed doubles. Lewis certainly does and I don’t think he’ll miss the crucial darts at double which is why I think this final will be close.
I think there will be a lot of holding of throw and plenty of sets which go to a fifth set. Both know how to deal with the pressure of holding in a deciding leg so largely I think this match will go with throw. We saw 12 sets when these two met in 2011 while Anderson went the distance last year. I suspect this one will go that sort of distance too so my only bet is over 11.5 sets.
Back Over 11.5 sets for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with BetVictor
