Gian van Veen has maintained an outstanding level throughout this tournament, and the way he dealt with Luke Humphries and Gary Anderson leaves little doubt that the European champion can be competitive against Luke Littler.

However, being competitive and winning are very different tasks. Since 2010, 11 out of 16 World Championship finals have finished 7-3 or 7-4. There has been just one 7-6 in that period, so while talk of this one going deep is justified, it remains rare for finals of this nature to go all the way.

Littler simply doesn’t lose long battles. He has a perfect record in matches with more than 20 legs since losing the final here in 2024.

We should still see plenty of legs, and therefore opportunities for another big fish, something that has been a major feature of this competition. Van Veen has already landed three 170s, while Littler, who regularly goes out of his way to leave it, will be keen to add to the one he produced against Krzysztof Ratajski.

Littler has averaged one 180 every two legs across the event, with Van Veen contributing 0.35 per leg himself. With that in mind, I am happy to back at least one maximum being hit in each set.