PDC tournament to culminate in clash of the titans final: Taylor versus Van Gerwen

Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor has reached the nineteenth world championship final of his illustrious career after outpointing Raymond van Barneveld in a nail-biting semi-final clash at Alexandra Palace. Taylor will meet the latter’s compatriot Michael van Gerwen in the final on New Year’s Day.

Bet365 are unable to separate them, going 10-11 each of two. If recent matches are anything to go by, we can expect a cracker between the two players that have been at the head of the tournament betting since the book was opened.What a way for darts fans to see in 2013.

Having recommended Barney at 8-1 to lift the trophy, here at TVBet we were a tad deflated to see the Dutchman come a cropper at this stage of the competition. However, Van Barneveld was very much the underdog going into the match and, having made a nervous start to the tie, he fought back admirably to make a real game of it with 15-time champion Taylor.

The Power’s class shone through in the end, though. Having been 5-1 ahead and looking very much in control, but Taylor missed the match darts in seventh set and Barnie produced a tremendous fight-back to narrow the gap to just one set; he produced a 125 finish and two bullseyes in the ninth set, which put everyone in the north London venue on the edge of their seats.

However, Taylor held a darts advantage in the tenth and was able to hang on for a 6-4 victory. The score was the same in favour Van Gerwen in his semi-final with Englishman James Wade, the feature of which was a nine-darter from the Dutchman – the second nine-darter of this year’s tournament. In fact, the 23-year-old came agonisingly close to becoming the first man in history to hit successive nine-darters.

Van Gerwen told the BBC: ‘I have never done it in practice [successive nine-darters]. I was close but I didn’t do it. I was very concentrated. I thought to myself ‘carry on’ because I was 2-1 down. I still lost that set but it is not about nine-darters, it is about winning games and I am happy with myself for getting into the final.’

In a mouth-watering final such as this it’s difficult to envisage which way it will go. However, the greater momentum is with the Dutchman and Van Gerwen is our fancy to emerge victorious.

At 13-2 with Bet365 a couple of quid on Mighty Mike to prevail 7-5 in the set betting at 13-2 is recommended.