- Luke Humphries has won all of his last seven matches against Michael van Gerwen 
- Luke Humphries has averaged over 100 in all of his four contests in this year’s World Matchplay 
- Recommended Bet: Luke Humphries -2.5 legs

Luke Humphries bids to land a first World Matchplay crown and add the Blackpool trophy to the World Championship, Players Championship Finals, Grand Prix and Grand Slam titles that Cool Hand Luke already holds. 

Standing in the Newbury arrowsmith’s way is the irrepressible Green Machine and three-time Matchplay king Michael van Gerwen. 

MVG downed former world champ Michael Smith to book his place in the Winter Gardens final and the Dutchman is a 13/8 chance to land a fourth Blackpool crown. 

Humphries made no mistake when dominating James Wade in the semi-finals and the pre-tournament favourite is 12/25 to take the Matchplay title. 

The Stats 

Luke Humphries has won all of his last seven matches against Michael van Gerwen 

Luke Humphries has averaged over 100 in all of his four contests in this year’s World Matchplay 

Luke Humphries has been a handicap winner in all of his four Matchplay matches

Michael van Gerwen has won three of his last four Matchplay finals 

The latest Luke Humphries vs. Michael Smith odds are available on LiveScore Bet

Prediction 

Luke Humphries has towered over his Blackpool rivals on his way to the World Matchplay final and Cool Hand Luke can land his first Winter Gardens crown in comfortable fashion. 

The 29-year-old has dismissed the challenge of Ricardo Pietreczko, Stephen Bunting, Dimitri van den Bergh and James Wade in a superb Blackpool run, which has seen the Newbury arrowsmith average over 100 in all of those four victories. 

The relentless brilliance of Humphries is seriously impressive and the he can add the World Matchplay crown to the World Championship, Players Championship Finals, Grand Prix and Grand Slam titles that he currently holds. 

That’s relevant to tonight’s final, because Michael van Gerwen was once a title-winning green machine and the dominant force in darts. Humphries' career is developing to resemble the glory days of Mighty Mike, and MVG looks powerless to stop the supremacy of Cool Hand Luke. 

The Dutchman has performed well to reach the Matchplay final, but 95.49 and 96.99 averages in victories over Joe Cullen and Andrew Gilding are short of what is likely to be required against Humphries, and there has to be a doubt over Van Gerwen peaking above that level at this stage of his career. 

Cool Hand Luke is being asked to give MVG a 2.5-leg start in this best-of-35 final and that looks well within the compass of an arrowsmith who has been a handicap winner in all of his four matches in this year’s Blackpool extravaganza. 

Back Luke Humphries -2.5 legs at 4/5 with LiveScore Bet