Luke Littler vs Michael van Gerwen: Rivalry reaches peak at World Darts Championship final | Darts News happymamay

Twelve matches, six wins each. Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen have become a box office match over the past 12 months, and the rivalry will come to a head on Friday in the World Championship final.

Littler’s meteoric rise at the 2024 World Darts Championships, where he finished runner-up to Luke Humphreys, was supported by the Premier League title, the World Darts Championship Finals and the Grand Slam of Darts Finals.

Meanwhile, Van Gerwen is yet to win a televised championship in 2024, the first time he has not won in a calendar year since 2011.

Friday’s final is the most important meeting between the two, with Van Gerwen seeking a fourth world title and Letteller seeking his first.

So, how did we get here?

Littler tags in but MVG responds

Two weeks after last year’s World Darts Championship, Littler hit a nine-dart haul in his quarter-final win over Nathan Aspinall at the Bahrain Darts Masters and met Van Gerwen in the final on 19 January.

It was the first of many meetings between two of darts’ most talented players, and Littler came out 8-5 to lift his first PDC title in his first World Championship appearance.

Van Gerwen has vowed to be better the next time the pair meet. That he would “get” Littler. He did just that just a week later on home soil in the Dutch Darts Masters.

A thrilling final saw both players battle it out toe-to-toe with nothing separating them until the first leg when Van Gerwen punished a missed 170 from Littler to win 8-6.

“Luke put me under a lot of pressure,” said Van Gerwen, who won his 16th World Darts Championship title.

“Luke has a very bright future ahead of him. We all know that, but you still want to stop him, and you have to do the right things against him, which is what I did tonight.”

He added: “His scoring power is tremendous, so you have to keep fighting, but I am happy that I was able to do that.”

Big confrontations in the English Premier League

The Premier League’s darts system means the eight best players in the world meet every Thursday over the course of 17 weeks, so naturally we’ll see a lot of Van Gerwen against Littler.

On the second night in early February, Littler missed two darts in the Berlin final, and Van Gerwen punished him to win 6-5 and let out a loud roar when he won, underscoring how important it was for the Dutchman to beat the teenager.

Two weeks later in Newcastle, Van Gerwen again snatched victory from Littler in the first leg, this time in the semi-final, and went on to win that night.

However, the next three games went Littler’s way. On the seventh night in Nottingham, Littler averaged a sensational 114 points in a stunning 6-2 quarter-final win over Van Gerwen. This was the game in which Van Gerwen “finished off” Littler’s nine-yard effort.

Littler took full advantage of Van Gerwen’s sub-par performances to claim two 6-3 wins over the coming weeks, but the Dutchman won tonight’s 11th final with a 6-3 victory.

Van Gerwen won the last Premier League encounter 6-1, but Littler eventually won the entire match as MVG lost in the semi-final to Humphreys.

Van Gerwen stuns Littler in World Matchplay

Van Gerwen and Littler were drawn in the first round of the World Matchplay and the contest was surprisingly one-sided.

The three-time world champion knocked out Littler 6-1 but lost to Humphreys in the final.

Littler has beaten Van Gerwen in the semi-finals of the World Darts Championship and on the European Tour, so he is in top form recently.

Looking at the bigger moments, Van Gerwen has an advantage and that could be important on Friday.

What do Van Gerwen and Littler think of each other?

Michael van Gerwen:

“I think he’s fantastic. What he’s done for the sport is fantastic. Fair play to him.

“TV and social media are big which helps him. It’s good for darts in general. I don’t mind.”

Luke Littler:

“As I got older, I watched darts more and more. The first one [Van Gerwen match] I remember the 2017 final was when he beat Gary [Anderson].

“It’s been around for years and years and I’m sure it wouldn’t change for anyone.”

What’s next?

Luke Littler is one win away from making history after reaching his second successive World Championship final. The 17-year-old from Warrington will face Michael van Gerwen, who is seeking his fourth world title after battling his way to the final. Watch the drama unfold from 7.30pm on Friday Sky Sports Darts.

Watch English Premier League matches on Sky Sports

Watch all the events from Premier League on Sky Sports with Luke Littler aims to defend his title. The new Premier League season kicks off in Belfast on Thursday 6 February, as darts’ biggest party returns to an unchanged line-up of 17 venues across the UK and Europe.

Who will win the English Premier League title? Watch all the action on Sky Sports. Stream darts and more of the best sports with NOW.