Michael van Gerwen has revealed he will return home immediately after crashing out of the World Darts Championship with a 4-1 defeat against old rival Gary Anderson.

The highly-anticipated round four match at Alexandra Palace saw Anderson, 55, storm to a two-set lead against three-time world champion Van Gerwen, who struggled to find his rhythm in an uncharacteristically poor display at the oche.

Despite Van Gerwen pulling a set back, Anderson - who lifted successive world titles in 2015 and 2016 - kept his nerve to see out the match and book his place in a quarter-final against English debutant Justin Hood.

Van Gerwen, who appeared to congratulate Anderson when the two long-standing rivals embraced after the match, blamed himself for the dismal performance and revealed he will waste no time before returning home to the Netherlands tomorrow.

'From the start of the match, I let myself down in key moments,' he told a group of Dutch journalists after the match on Tuesday, according to NU.nl.

'You can look at someone else, but in this defeat, I'm the culprit. I thought I was playing pretty well, but I had to put him in the right position.

Michael van Gerwen blames himself aftter crashing out of the World Darts Championship

The Dutchman suffered a 4-1 defeat against Gary Anderson at the Ally Pally on Tuesday

'It should have been 2-2 in sets. I sold myself short. You might still lose if it's 2-2, but 4-1 really wasn't necessary.'

Looking ahead to 2026, he said: 'I know better than anyone that it's going to be a very important year. I'm not running away from that. I've never looked at the rankings and I don't now either. It doesn't interest me. I just have to perform.

'I'm going home tomorrow and will have some rest. After that, I'll be throwing again in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. I'll be doing that with renewed energy, because I know what I'm capable of. It hurts that I don't always show it, but I won't give up. Ever.'

Tuesday's defeat to Anderson means Van Gerwen will leave the World Darts Championship before New Year's Eve for the first time in 10 years, excluding 2021 when he was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a positive COVID test.

His Ally Pally exit marks the close of a turbulent year for Van Gerwen both on and away from the oche.

Earlier this year, the Dutchman announced he was separating from his wife Daphne Govers, who has since begun a new relationship with her new boyfriend Robert and this week publicly revealed they are having a baby together. She has retrospectively labelled the interview a 'mistake'.

Robert confirmed in the Dutch television interview that he and Daphne had known each other 'for a long time' and had 'always clicked' before the start of their relationship.