Obviously the overall head-to-head record here looks extremely overwhelming in Michael van Gerwen's favour but it's pretty much irrelevant as far as a reliable form line when you consider he won 18 of their first 19 meetings - which included a draw - before Gerwyn Price eventually broke his duck at the 20th attempt en route to the 2019 Grand Slam of Darts title.
Since then, they've managed seven wins apiece although the Iceman is yet to beat his arch rival in a televised final, having lost both the 2019 Players Championship Finals and the 2020 UK Open by narrow margins in exhilarating fashion.
They pretty much always put on a blockbusting show and we were reminded of that during this season's Premier League when Price hit one of his nine-darters during a 6-5 victory over Van Gerwen in Belfast, with both averaging over 106.
The Iceman has the slight edge this season but all five meetings have been pretty close. They thrive on bringing the best out of each other and the way they've both improved during the week in Blackpool, we really could be in for another special night.
Both players arrived in Blackpool with sizeable question marks over their title chances, albeit for different reasons. For Michael van Gerwen, there were doubts surrounding his match fitness due to a lack of recent action since surgery on his injured arm after the Premier League final, while for Gerwyn Price it was all about his relatively poor form compared to the Iceman of old.
Although MVG got off to a sluggish and rusty start against Adrian Lewis, he's certainly improved significantly over the past week of intense action and longer format matches whereas Price has been posting significantly high stats with several blockbusting spells of darts along the way.
The world number one has put this revitalised form down to some constructive rest in recent weeks following such a hectic period of the season when the Premier League season was in full swing, and also the confidence gained from getting over the line in tight matches.
He bosses all the key stats, including his phenomenal checkout percentage, and that's one of the main reasons he heads into this clash as favourite.
As mentioned in the previous section, Michael van Gerwen's lacklustre opener is the one of the key reasons why his tournament stats are significantly lower than Gerwyn Price's and thankfully for him that's pretty much the most irrelevant match now.
His average against Nathan Aspinall could have been higher had he not stumbled over the line having earlier been way out in front with healthier stats while his finishing let him down a bit in an otherwise very solid display against Dimitri Van den Bergh. He knows there's plenty of room for improvement, but is he ready to reach it and sustain it throughout what could be a very lengthy contest against a player who has rediscovered his mojo?
Coverage of the final between Michael van Gerwen and Gerwyn Price starts at 9pm on Sky Sports Main Event, with the match expected to begin around 9.15pm.
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