Michael van Gerwen is undoubtedly the most talented player in darts, so it makes it somewhat of a surprise that he has 'only' won three PDC World Championships.
The Dutchman enters every tournament as favourite, although he has yet to win the event in consecutive years. That is a record he will want to improve on.
2020 certainly wasn't his best year. He won only two ranked televised events, while also limping to a sixth place finish in the Premier League. That is before you even mention his shock loss at the World Championships, with van Gerwen losing 5-0 to Dave Chisnall in the quarter-finals.
All of these factors combined would see the 31-year old lose his spot as world number one, with Gerywn Price now taking the top position. It has also resulted in Gary Anderson saying that the aura once present around van Gerwen has now dissipated.
However, the player himself doesn't feel that way. He had a quick comeback to Anderson's comments, while also responding to Peter Wright's jibes over no longer being world number one.
It's easy for Gary to say that, but most of the time when they play against me, they lose against me.
If you look back at the stats over the year, I had my worst year in eight, nine, ten years, and I still beat them most of the time...
Every year (Wright) says he is going to be No.1 in the world, but he wasn't right. It is very easy, they will always say things, but I am not going to involve myself in silly games like that.
Let them talk with the darts... but they all still have a really, really bad record against me.
So let them try and turn that around, but I know they are not capable of doing that. I know that for a fact.
If you look at his interviews, he never answers the question, he says 'I'm going to be No.1' and 'he's not a threat for me', but it doesn't get to me at all...
If I was any other player in the top 10, I would say now the pressure is on the No.1, but I am not like that.The pressure is always on me because they still want to beat me.
I am not going to say now that all the pressure is on Gerwyn Price, because that is nonsense and I don't like nonsense.
The first chance for van Gerwen to get back on track will come in the Premier League, with the competition getting underway in Cardiff on February 4th.
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