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

Twelve games, six wins each. Luke Littler vs Michael van Gerwen has become a blockbuster match over the past 12 months and the rivalry will reach its crescendo on Friday in the World Cup final.

Littler’s meteoric rise at the 2024 World Darts Championship, where he finished runner-up to Luke Humphries, has been backed up by Premier League, World Series of Darts Finals and Grand Slam of Darts Finals titles.

Van Gerwen, meanwhile, did not win a televised tournament in 2024, the first time he has not won in a calendar year since 2011.

Friday’s final is by far the most important meeting between the pair as Van Gerwen seeks a fourth world title and Littler a first.

So how did we get here?

Littler sets up a marker but MVG counters

Two weeks after last year’s World Darts Championship, Littler made a nine-darter in his quarter-final win against 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 on top 8-5 to lift his first senior PDC title on his World Series debut.

Van Gerwen vowed to do better the next time the pair met; that he would “get” Littler. He did just that a week later on home turf at the Dutch Darts Masters.

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

“Luke put me under so much pressure,” said Van Gerwen, who won his 16th World Series of Darts crown.

“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 thing to him, which I did tonight.

“His scoring power is huge so you have to keep fighting, but I’m glad I was able to do that.”

Big Premier League clash

The format of Premier League Darts means that the world’s best eight players meet every Thursday over 17 weeks, so naturally we would see plenty of Van Gerwen vs Littler.

On Night 2 in early February, Littler missed two match darts in the Berlin final and Van Gerwen punished him to win 6-5, letting out a huge roar as he won, underscoring how much it meant to the Dutchman to beat the teenager .

Two weeks later in Newcastle, Van Gerwen again wrested victory from Littler in a deciding leg, this time in the semi-finals, and he went on to win on the night.

However, the next three games went Littler’s way. On Night 7 in Nottingham, Littler hit a sensational average of 114 with a stunning 6-2 quarter-final win over Van Gerwen. It was the match in which Van Gerwen “ended” Littler’s nine-darter effort.

Littler took full advantage of a subpar Van Gerwen with two 6-3 wins over the coming weeks, but the Dutchman won Night 11’s final with a 6-3 win of his own.

The last Premier League meeting was won by Van Gerwen 6-1, but Littler ultimately won it all as MVG lost in the semi-finals to Humphries.

Van Gerwen stuns Littler at World Matchplay

Van Gerwen and Littler drew each other in the first round of the World Matchplay and it was surprisingly a one-sided contest.

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

Littler got the better of Van Gerwen in the World Series of Darts semi-finals and on the European Tour, so he has the better recent form.

But when you look at the bigger moments, Van Gerwen has an edge 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 (Van Gerwen match) I remember was the final in 2017 when he beat Gary (Anderson).

“He’s been around for years and I’m sure he won’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 take on Michael van Gerwen, who is chasing his fourth world title after making the final. Watch the drama unfold from 7.30pm on Friday Sky Sports Darts.

Watch Premier League Darts on Sky Sports

See all the action from Premier League on Sky Sports with Luke Littler aims to defend his title. The new Premier League season begins in Belfast on Thursday 6 February as the darts festival returns to an unchanged line-up of 17 venues across the UK and Europe.

Who will win the Premier League Darts? Watch all the action on Sky Sports. Stream darts and more top sports with NU.