Gary Anderson is set for another blockbuster with Michael van Gerwen.
Five World Championship titles will hit the Saturday night stage in Dortmund when the Scot and the Dutchman renew their magnificent rivalry. Two-time king Anderson delivered the goods in his first European Championship appearance since 2016 by when slamming Stephen Bunting in the first round.
Triple champ Van Gerwen then set-up the showpiece last 16 crunch when silnecing the partisan home crowd to gut local favourite Gabriel Clemens. Anderson and Van Gerwen have shared some sensational past meetings and the next is now on the cards in Germany after both hit ton-plus averages in their opening games.
The Tartan darts star said: “Me and Michael have had some belters. Apart from winning the World Championship, the best game I ever played in was when I beat Michael in Dubai! It would be fantastic to get my hands on this title, but there’s no pressure and no expectation on me.”
Van Gerwen is full of hunger and said: “I am enjoying my darts again and I think you need to have that if you want to perform well. You want to keep performing well, because there’s still a lot to fight for, and I think this is a really important tournament for me.”
Saturday schedule of play
Afternoon Session (11.45am to 4pm)
Ryan Searle v Luke Woodhouse
Dirk van Duijvenbode v Daryl Gurney
Michael Smith v Ritchie Edhouse
Mike De Decker v Danny Noppert
Evening Session (6pm to 10pm)
Michael van Gerwen v Gary Anderson
James Wade v Jermaine Wattimena
Luke Humphries v Jonny Clayton
Andrew Gilding v Ricardo Pietreczko
Best of 19 legs
What channel is the European Championship Darts on?
The Machineseeker European Championship will be broadcast live on ITV in the UK, through the PDC’s worldwide broadcast partners including DAZN and Viaplay, and on PDCTV (excluding subscribers based in the UK, Germany, Austria & Switzerland).