The hours are ticking down to the biggest night of darts in the calendar, the world darts championship final, and while no arrows have been thrown on the oche just yet, the barbs have been flying in the background.
Michael Van Gerwen and Peter Wright will take to the stage later on in a rematch of the 2014 final which the Dutchman won 7-4, but Wright believe he's well-poised to break his world championship duck, claiming, "Michael hasn't impressed me."
"I want to play the best player in the world, the number one, the guy who wins all the titles, or the titles I have given him," Wright told Sky Sports yesterday. "But he will be playing a different Wrighty tomorrow, and this Wrighty will be up for MvG."
I have not been in the final since 2014. I was not ready to be world champion then, he deserved to be world champion and has done a fantastic job being the world champion.
But this time, I think I am ready - I know I am ready. I have learned a lot in all of those years, have matured more.
I am not going to throw it away again.
While the Dutchman has failed to produce his best form at this year's tournament, it hasn't stopped him from referring back to his rival's poor form against him in major finals, adding more spice to the meeting of the pair this evening.
Since meeting in the 2014 final at Alexandra Palace, Wright has faced Van Gerwen in eight major finals, losing all of them. It's a stark statistic the reigning champion remains keen on ensuring Wright remembers ahead of walking out on to the iconic London stage in front of a ever-boisterous crowd.
Most of the time Peter plays me he blows up and misses darts at double and that's a good thing for myself. I hope I can play a bit better than I have been doing so far in this tournament and I'm looking forward to the final. I think he's more scared of me than I am of him.
Against me, he is not allowed to miss those doubles, so we will see what is going to happen and I need to make sure I play a bit better than him. Until the semi-final, I had a higher tournament average than he did, and everyone is saying he is playing quite well, so that must say what my standard is.
