Michael van Gerwen has revealed he is facing further surgery but will play at the World Matchplay at Blackpool later this month.

The three-time world champion returned to action after a lay-off for dental and jaw surgery at the European Darts Matchplay at the weekend.

Van Gerwen was beaten on Saturday by fellow Dutchman Raymond van Barneveld and has called for understanding as he looks to get back into his rhythm.

The world number three will participate in the Poland Darts Masters, which begins on Friday, and then hopes to defend his title in Blackpool the following week.

Van Gerwen said in a statement on Twitter: “After winning the Premier League and US Darts Masters recently, I needed to have pre-planned dental and jaw surgery which meant that I missed the World Cup of Darts.

“With the schedule being so busy it is always hard to fit in anything like this, especially with an operation which involves a lot of recovery time.

“In my case, I might not look or sound the same for a little while and I’ll soon have braces fitted as well as needing some further surgery in the future.

“I don’t want this to affect my performances in the Poland Darts Masters and World Matchplay coming up and I’ll be trying my best to win both events, but at the moment I’m also still recovering and hope that everyone can understand this.”