Michael van Gerwen believes that Gary Anderson put too much pressure on himself before suffering an early exit at the World Darts Championship.

'The Flying Scotsman' rocked up to the Alexandra Palace in fine form and averaged 92.51 in his opening game. But he was still outplayed by Jeffrey de Graaf, who sent him crashing out of the tournament with a painful 3-0 defeat.

Anderson cut a confident figure before the season's showpiece event, admitting he was playing his best darts since winning consecutive world titles in 2015 and 2016. According to Van Gerwen, that may have contributed towards him falling at the first hurdle.

"We all know Gary had a good year on the Pro Tour but we also know he put too much pressure on his shoulders in the last few weeks by telling everyone he could have done it," said 'Mighty Mike'. "But as long as you keep believing and doing the right thing for yourself, no one cares."

The worlds attracts bigger TV audiences and offers more in prize money than any other event on the darts calendar. With that comes immense pressure, and while Anderson succumbed to it in his loss to De Graaf, Van Gerwen has channeled it to reach the last 16.

The Dutchman believes that having 'proper balls' and self-belief is the secret to going far at the Ally Pally, where he has won three times before.

"As long as you stand by yourself anything is possible," he said. "To win this tournament you need to have some proper balls - everyone knows that. We're still so far away. We're only in the last 16 now so there is still a long way to go."

Van Gerwen is ranked third in the world, with Luke Littler and Luke Humphries largely fancied to challenge for the world title ahead of him next month. But the 35-year-old showed flashes of his best against Brendan Dolan on Saturday, and he is determined not to be counted out completely.

He said: "Can you imagine if I do throw a 100 per cent good match? I know it's in there, only I have to show it."

Next up for Van Gerwen is a last-16 clash with either Paolo Nebrida or Anderson's conqueror, De Graaf, with that pair first up on the Ally Pally stage this afternoon (Sunday).