• Top seed sees off England’s Nathan Aspinall 6-3 in semi-final• Wright beats Gerwyn Price in an ill-tempered last-four clashAnd so, with 94 out of 95 matches played, we find ourselves pretty much where we started: Michael van Gerwen against the field. As the world No1 and heavy favourite has carved a regal swath through the world championship draw, beating Nathan Aspinall 6-3 in Monday’s semi-final, one by one his closest rivals have fallen away: Rob Cross, Michael Smith, Gary Anderson, Gerwyn Price. Only Peter Wright, the man they call Snakebite, now separates him from a fourth world title.
![Champion Michael van Gerwen and Peter Wright to meet in final fling](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/a529983b50001b4abb0ad72182930f2bbd55af38/0_195_4300_2580/master/4300.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=963ca98e7eae08ab14af7807263e36a7)
On pedigree alone, it should be no contest. Van Gerwen is the indisputable master of modern darts, a silverware machine who treats all his opponents as impostors. Though he has looked several notches below his best over the last fortnight – and even his moment of victory here was greeted with a rueful shake of the head – his B-game has been more than good enough so far. Whether it will be good enough for Wright, however – a man who delights in upending the conventional maxims of the sport – is a matter of some interest.