Van Gerwen hits back on notion of best World Matchplay field ever: "They are absolutely sick"

Michael van Gerwen is through to the Quarter-Finals of the World Matchplay without a great deal of fuss after easing past Joe Cullen who was out of sorts and he felt better than against Adrian Lewis.

"I feel a lot better than I did two days ago but of course that has to do with the win. I thought I started off really good, it gave me a lot of confidence and from there on, I think I did enough. I did the right things at the right moments and that's the most important thing.

Speaking on Cullen, it was about keeping the focus going and the same will be against Nathan Aspinall next month.

"He's a Premier League player, I think he's doing really well in the last few months so you can't underestimate anyone these days especially with my draw at the moment. You have to keep your focus going and for me, that's the only thing that counts."

"I'm not going to do worse than the last two games, there's more in the tank and there's more to come. I got another day off tomorrow and then the day after it's going to be a long game against Nathan Aspinall. He's probably a similar player to Joe Cullen so looking forward to playing him."

A lot has been made of this year's World Matchplay being the best and most open field ever and Van Gerwen dismissed those claims out of hand.

"People are saying it's the best World Matchplay field ever? They are absolutely sick. Arguably two of the best players especially Phil that ever lived, Raymond van Barneveld aren't here, people can't say that.

"But it's a new era, different times. Now you've got different guys, the Aspinall's, the Dimitri's (van den Bergh). You can't compare them with each other same when they ask me the question do you think you're going to be 16 time World Champion. No of course I'm not. People have to put them in different categories and be fair."