Luke Humphries and Mike De Decker collide in Sunday night's Boylesports World Grand Prix final in Leicester so check out our preview with statistics, routes to the final, head-to-head records and tips.
1pt Humphries (-3.5) to win, hit 9+ 180s and 2+ 100+ checkouts at 2/1 (Sky Bet)
18+ match 180s & 5+ match 100+ checkouts at 6/4 (Sky Bet)
Luke Humphries could so easily have crashed out in the first round when Stephen Bunting earned himself a match dart for a straight sets victory.
However, the Bullet missed his shot at double 16 (much to my annoyance having backed Bunting for the title!) and ever since then Cool Hand has pretty much blitzed his way to a second World Grand Prix final in a row.
Jonny Clayton gave Humphries a few concerns as he struggled to produce his best but his performance against Ryan Joyce would have been too good for anyone on planet darts right now.
In fact you'd have had to bring back peak Phil Taylor and prime Michael van Gerwen from the past to have given him a game as they are the only two players to have ever averaged over 100 in a best of nine set double start match.
Humphries is now in a sixth successive TV ranking final dating back to the 2023 World Grand Prix final - a feat which has also only ever been managed by MVG and Taylor.
It's remarkable enough that a 200/1 pre-tournament outsider has reached the final of one of the toughest majors, but to have done so by thrashing three multiple major winners has left everyone stunned.
'Thrashing' might be a bit too strong a word considering five of the six sets he won against Gary Anderson and James Wade were by 3-2 scorelines but in a way that's even more impressive due to the mental strength he displayed despite this being just his second World Grand Prix.
He's not been playing like someone who'd never previously ventured to a major quarter-final so we shouldn't be too dismissive of his chances.
But Luke Humphries in this current mood is a completely different challenge altogether.
If anyone looked at these overall stats between the two finalists but weren't told who the finalists were, they'd probably say tonight's showdown would be almost too close to call!
However, given the wealth of experience that Humphries has of turning on the style in the biggest major finals - no matter who he faces - we can pretty safely expect Cool Hand to deliver some numbers similar to what he saw from him against Ryan Joyce.
However, if Mike De Decker can get close to the levels we've seen from him when it comes to prolific 180 hitting and 100+ checkout finishing, then even if the match score is 6-0, we should see the pair combine for a healthy number of both.
There were 10 maximums in Humphries' clash with Joyce of just 18 legs and the latter is not in De Decker's league for 180 power.
These stats just highlight how strong Mike De Decker is when it comes to 180 hitting so just bare that in mind if you are considering the maximum markets.
I'm expecting around eight sets tonight with an average of four legs in each one. That's quite a conservative estimate of 32 legs and could see them both contributing around 10 maximums apiece when you bare in mind that their double start 180 per leg rates are closer to 0.30 rather than their seasonal rates of around 0.35.
The vast majority of their 13 meetings came during their Development Tour days and the last time they last clashed in a televised major was way back at the 2022 Players Championship Finals.
Therefore there's no meaningful battle scars to speak of and this metric feels rather irrelevant.
Mike De Decker was as big as 200/1 in place to win the World Grand Prix before a dart was thrown in Leicester this week and even if I could go back in time to rewrite my pre-tournament preview, I'd still struggle to make much of a viable case.
Not that he'd been playing badly this season - after all, he did pick up a maiden senior PDC title back in August - but he lacked major stage pedigree and his only appearance in this event ended in a first round exit.
De Decker obviously has talent and potential but given the standard in the world today, you'd generally anticipate a player of his standing would need a few quarter and semi-final runs before he's ready to start challenging for the big prizes.
But now he's here and confidence is high. The Belgian has already brushed aside two legends and another multiple major winner in the previous rounds without any problems so could he possibly do it again as a rank outsider?
No, I just can't see it.
For that to happen, Humphries would need several bad patches during this best-of-11 set match.
Just like Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen in their prime, Humphries has turned into a player that continues to improve during long matches and he manages to maintain a supreme level of performance when others get hit by mental fatigue.
That's why he loves the business end of tournaments and I fully expect him to get the job done with yet another ruthless all-round display that leaves pundits and fans starting to compare this era of dominance with Taylor and MVG.
Scoreline prediction: 6-2
Coverage of the final between Luke Humphries and Mike De Decker starts at 8.00pm on Sky Sports Main Event, with the match expected to begin around 8.15pm.
SEMI-FINALS
QUARTER-FINALS
SECOND ROUND
FIRST ROUND
The World Grand Prix is one of the PDC tour's major events and used to take place in Dublin every October until it moved across the Irish Sea in 2020. It is the only televised event in which players must start and finish each leg on a double or the bullseye.
Its unique format adds an extra dimension when it comes to betting, with darts punters often preferring to back who they feel is a better 'finisher' rather than those renowned for heavy scoring.
The World Grand Prix was first held in Rochester, Kent in 1998 before switching to County Wexford two years later but in 2001 the event moved to its long-term home at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin.
Phil Taylor is the most successful player in the history of the straight knockout competition with 11 titles to his name but the 'Power' has also suffered four defeats in the first-round, which all came as relief to the bookies.
Michael van Gerwen (2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019 & 2022), Luke Humphries (2023), Jonny Clayton (2021), Gerwyn Price (2020), Daryl Gurney (2017), Alan Warriner (2001), Colin Lloyd (2004), James Wade (2007 & 2010) and Robert Thornton, who upset the odds to beat 'Mighty Mike' in 2015, are the other champions of the World Grand Prix.
World Grand Prix Past Finals
World Grand Prix Most Titles