This has landed in all three of Gian van Veen’s matches at the World Matchplay this year, and he may have to lean on his incredible finishing ability to compete with Gerwyn Price here.

Gian van Veen has not had a good tournament based on his underlying numbers. 

He’s only averaged 95+ in one of his games - yet still finds himself in a semi-final of a major event, which is the mark of a quality player. He’s finding a way to win, and his 100+ checkout ability has been a big part of this. 

Gian van Veen is the best finisher in the PDC in my opinion. He’s so clinical and has managed a checkout percentage of 50% or higher in all three of his games. 

He will need to raise his level to compete with Price, but a 33-leg game should be more than long enough to see at least two 100+ checkouts from van Veen.

Luke Littler keeps getting better.

It seems ridiculous that he can keep improving his levels from an already elite base, but he’s currently operating at the highest ever running average we’ve seen at the World Matchplay - just a touch shy of 111 across his three matches.

He won the competition last year with an average of 105 throughout the tournament and I think this format really suits him, and makes it near impossible to fully fend off Littler. 

Even if you have a five or six-leg lead, one burst from Littler in a mini-session would be enough to get him back in the game.

His 180-hitting is always spectacular, but it reached new heights against Josh Rock last time out with 17 maximums across just 23 legs of darts (0.73 per leg), which is just obscene. 

For context, Littler is averaging 0.43 180s per leg over the last calendar year - so he’s operating at a level we’ve never actually seen before.