Our guide to the PDC's William Hill World Darts Championship final between Gary Anderson and Gerwyn Price includes tournament statistics, head-to-head records and betting tips plus TV details of when and where to watch.
A dramatic 2021 World Championship reaches its climax on Sunday night with a blockbusting clash between Gary Anderson and Gerwyn Price at the Alexandra Palace, live on Sky Sports Darts at 1930 GMT.
The Welshman is bidding to cap of a sensational season by lifting the Sid Waddell Trophy for the first time in his maiden final - as well as pocketing the ยฃ500,000 he needs to replace Michael van Gerwen as world number one - while the Flying Scotsman is chasing ultimate glory for the third time in his fifth.
The pair obviously share plenty of history having battled it out in one of the most controversial major finals of all time at the 2018 Grand Slam of Darts and although there'll be no bear pit atmosphere on this occasion, it still remains another fascinating sub-plot to a rivalry which promises to deliver fireworks on the biggest stage of all.
Chris Hammer's in-depth preview below will hopefully provide you with everything you need to know, including details of all their previous meetings, detailed tournament stats, their routes to the final and six best bets.
๐ค๐ฏ Who wins Sunday night's PDC World Darts Championship final?
โ Sporting Life (@SportingLife) January 2, 2021
๐ฟ In a repeat of 'that' Grand Slam of Darts final, Gary Anderson is going for his third world title and Gerwyn Price is bidding for his first.
As you can see, Gerwyn Price holds the upper hand on their most recent televised battles dating back to 'that' heated Grand Slam of Darts final in 2018, which the Iceman landed his maiden major title amidst a chorus of boos.
He'd lost their previous three TV encounters before that but has now won five of their last six, including a Premier League double over the Flying Scotsman last summer that would ultimately prove to be in vain in terms of qualification for Finals Night was concerned.
Anderson, who beat Price at the season-opening Masters last February before doing so again en route to his sole Players Championship title of the season a week later, has failed to add to his haul of eight major individual titles since that crushing Grand Slam final defeat in 2018 whereas the Welshman has kicked on by winning a further three as he continues his accent towards a place in the rankings that tonight's opponent has never reached - the very top.
Although the two-time world champion has obviously won a lot more PDC titles of any kind (46) during his long illustrious career than Price (17), this year's World Grand Prix winner, who also claimed the World Series and World Cup of Darts crowns in a sparkling 2020, has won 13 compared to Anderson two since the start of 2019.
That can be considered misleading, however, due to the injury problems that has forced Anderson to miss numerous events over the past two years - not to mention the fact he doesn't play on the European Tour and also has a pick and choose strategy with the calendar.
He's always a huge threat when he's able to prepare properly for the big events and he reminded us of that by reaching the World Matchplay final and the Premier League play-offs - despite being well below his best on both occasions.
He even said earlier this week: "Everything over the last two years has been a bonus. I made the final of the Matchplay and if you had told me that, I would have laughed at you.
"It's getting there, but it's a bit frustrating. I want it now but it ain't happening!" It could do tonight.
GERWYN PRICE IS A PDC TV TITLE WINNER ๐ | He beats Gary Anderson 16-13 in the 2018 bwin Grand Slam of Darts Final #bwinDarts pic.twitter.com/vM9BmVG8Rz
โ PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) November 18, 2018
Gerwyn Price's interview amidst an unprecedented chorus of boos after beating Gary Anderson in 'that' Grand Slam of Darts final. "He just moans every time I'm doing this, just concentrate on your own game." Long time ago now, but...pic.twitter.com/Gn6Oe9nEY5
โ Chris Hammer (@ChrisHammer180) January 2, 2021
(Anderson stats listed first on the left)
In terms of averages, Gary Anderson and Gerwyn Price are pretty much level pegging and as you'll see in the routes to the final section below, their individual match averages have been very similar to each others along the way. Neither have been weighing with astronomically high figures but while there's been a couple of lukewarm displays apiece, they've been pretty steady around the 97-100 mark.
Price has been more prolific on the 180s - and also has a marginally higher maximum per leg ratio - but the biggest difference between the pair has been the Welshman's superior finishing, especially in the 100+ range.
He equalled Michael van Gerwen's long-standing record for most ton+ checkouts in a single World Championship match with eight against Stephen Bunting, who also contributed to a record-breaking combined tally of 13, and that was by no means a flash in the pan having also managed 12 in his previous four matches.
That means his 100+ checkout per leg won is an insane 0.24 although Anderson's 0.15 isn't too shabby by any means. If this final is as close as we all expect and hope, then we could be seeing a lot more of these high finishing from two players who feel no pressure.
ROUTES TO THE FINAL
GARY ANDERSON
Gary Anderson has played six fewer sets and 23 fewer legs than Gerwyn Price has during what has been a relative coast through the rounds, so he should be feeling a lot fresher that he might have expected to be at this stage of a marathon tournament.
His one major scare came in that bizarre battle with Mensur Suljovic last Monday night and you could say the continued questions he's had to field about it as well as the surrounding issues of gamesmanship were more challenging and stressful to deal with than his next opponents!
He dropped a combined 11 legs against Devon Petersen and Dirk van Duijvenbode, who have both been two of the breakthrough stars of 2020, thanks largely to his ruthless finishing of over 50% which was a significant improvement on what he managed against Madars Razma and Suljovic.
His finishing dropped off again in his semi-final with Chizzy and he was quick to brand that performance 'terrible' despite still managing to post a second 100+ average of the tournament so far.
๐ฒ Yet another explosive interview from Gary Anderson as he hits out at Wayne Mardle and other darts pundits for defending Mensur Suljovic's tactics.pic.twitter.com/8RH8OjjpDV
โ Sporting Life (@SportingLife) December 30, 2020
GERWYN PRICE
The real Gerwyn Price showed up at last in the semi-finals against Stephen Bunting but the fact he reached that stage without firing on cylinders proved just what a tremendous competitor he is in the heat of intense, pressurising battles.
Having struggled to produce the kind of form that has helped him win so many titles this season, three of his first four matches went the full distance in sets and two of those - against Brendan Dolan and Daryl Gurney - went to sudden death legs, with Price pinching them both when his opponents waited on 72 and 52 respectively.
Heading into the semi-finals, Price and Bunting had been involved in four of the 15 sudden-death deciders during the tournament and it looked as though another decider was on the cards when the Iceman trailed 4-3 before he won nine of the next 11 legs to race through the next three sets.
Price did win one match at a canter when defeating Mervyn King 4-1 but that was achieved with an average of 97.71 and he'll need to perform to the standards he showed against Bunting at the very least to live with a legend who knows exactly what it takes to win a best-of 13-sets showdown.
๐ 140
โ Sporting Life (@SportingLife) January 2, 2021
๐ 131
๐ 128
๐ 116
๐ 112
๐ 109
๐ 103
๐ 100
๐ฏ๐คฏ Gerwyn Price with a record-equalling EIGHT 100+ checkouts in a single World Championship match. Credit to Stephen Bunting hitting five as well in a record-breaking match tally of 13! pic.twitter.com/e7IMbpK39g
Gary Anderson did such a great job of making everyone underestimate him in the lead up to the World Championship that he remarkably went off as a 28/1 outsider, yet now here he is preparing for a fifth Ally Pally final a decade after his first.
The Flying Scotsman has made a mockery of those odds too by pretty much cruising into tonight's showpiece with a string of one-sided victories and when there was a hold up on his tracks against Mensur Suljovic, he produced one of his trademark turbo boosts of six legs on the trot to clear the frustrating blockage.
By continually 'writing off' the season, struggling with a knee injury, pulling out of numerous events and not playing anywhere near his best in those he has attended throughout 2020, we've been guilty of forgetting what he can do when the biggest prizes of all are on the line.
In a year in which he turned 50, the ageless Anderson still managed to reach a World Grand Prix final and the Premier League play-offs and no matter how he got there, it proved that he's still one of the very best in match situations.
"Everything over the last two years has been a bonus. I made the final of the Matchplay and if you had told me that, I would have laughed at you," he said the other day.
Even during every step of this run he's branded anything that happens is just a bonus, insisting that he's going to "start from scratch" in 2021 and getting back on it.
Well, wouldn't it be typical if the ageless Anderson starts from scratch as world champion!
Should Gerwyn Price begin 2021 as world champion then it'll be a culmination of three incredible years of building towards the very top and it'll mean he become just the second active player on the planet to become world number one.
The more you think about it, that's pretty astonishing, even if it did require Michael van Gerwen's prize money do suffer an alarming slump this season.
The bookies make the Iceman favourite due to his overall title-winning form over the last 12 months, his stunning seasonal average, superior head-to-head record and, most crucially, how it appears as if he's timed his run to perfection with the kind of blockbusting performance against Stephen Bunting that we'd been waiting to see all tournament.
They don't like to talk about 'that' Grand Slam final but the memories will create some needle up their on the oche, even if it's not obvious, and deep down Anderson would love nothing more to get proper revenge over two years on.
Price will probably sense that and help him bring out more of the warrior inside him and we know that helps him produce his best darts.
With everything in mind, we really could see some fantastic numbers in a final of the ages - even without the atmosphere that has graced all the others down the years - so I'd look at
If you're undecided on who will win, then you can back them both in the Player Performance markets considering the targets they both need to hit (listed below in suggested bets section) are highly achievable should we go at least nine or 10 sets - although you would obviously run the risk of losing twice.
A maximum of 65 legs could be played tonight if it goes the full distance so the 3/1 Match Action bet of over 45.5 legs, highest checkout to be over 150.5 and over 26.5 total 180s is actually pretty appealing considering what both have achieved so far.
Just because Price has hit so many 100+ checkouts doesn't make him particularly favourite to the highest one tonight - so if you are looking at those finishing markets, I'd suggest finding one which sets a number of them to hit and go pretty high!
A bold 20/1 pick is for both players to hit 15+ 180s each and also manage four 100+ checkouts apiece, which again doesn't seem 'that' taxing for their abilities to achieve in perhaps 50-65 legs of darts.
My fifth suggestion focuses on the 180s market, where you can get 9/4 on them both hitting 14 or more 180s each - that really does seem a steal. If they perform to their 180 per leg ratios so far of 0.29 (Price) and 0.27 (Anderson) then they'll achieve that if we have 51 legs or more but you can surely expect their levels to increase for a final.
After all, Price's was 0.34 for his semi-final (15 180s in 43 legs) and Anderson's was the same thanks to 13 maximums in 38 legs.
Last but not least, a speculative one at the winning shot being double 10 - although that perhaps will stand a better chance if it's Gerwyn Price throwing for the match considering he was 10 out of 10 on that segment at one stage against Bunting!
GARY ANDERSON
Major PDC titles
Major runner-up
Other PDC TV titles
Non-Televised PDC titles
GERWYN PRICE
Major PDC titles
Major runner-up
Non-televised titles
SEMI-FINALS
CLICK HERE FOR SEMI-FINAL REPORT AND HIGHLIGHTS
QUARTER-FINALS
CLICK HERE FOR QUARTER-FINAL REPORT AND HIGHLIGHTS
ROUND FOUR
ROUND THREE
Quarter One
Quarter Two
Quarter Three
Quarter Four
ROUND TWO (Seeds enter at this stage)
Quarter One
Quarter Two
Quarter Three
Quarter Four
FIRST ROUND (No seeds in this round)
Final scores in sets