Michael van Gerwen has fired a no-nonsense warning to Luke Littler ahead of Friday's much-anticipated World Darts Championship final – and the teenager has also had his say.
It was an eventful Thursday night at the Ally Pally. After three weeks of action, Van Gerwen reached his seventh World Championship final with a convincing 6-1 win over Chris "Hollywood" Dobey.
So far, Van Gerwen has won three and lost three of those finals but the Dutchman will be hoping to beat an in-form Luke Littler, who breezed past semi-final opponent Stephen Bunting.
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In fact, the teenager averaged 105.48 with 13 180s and a 44 per cent success rate on doubles.
But after an impressive tournament himself, Van Gerwen is confident about securing his fourth world title on Friday. In his post-match comments, the 35-year-old sent a warning to his teenage opponent.
"Luke's had a sniff [of the title]. I'm going to make sure he keeps by a sniff as well," Van Gerwen said.
"He's got years! I think with his capability I will be surprised if he doesn't beat it. But I don't look at stats. People say 'are you going to beat Phil Taylor's stats'. I don't care. It's about what you do now and whoever is in your path, you face it."
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Littler, meanwhile, is just as confident. "I've gained loads of experience. Obviously Michael has been in numerous finals and this is my second," he said after beating crowd favourite Bunting.
"I know where I went wrong last year and I'm sure I'll fix it. I felt very confident tonight. The best I felt was against Nathan in the quarter-finals but I'm just glad I'm playing with confidence."
Littler added: "I'm hitting the shots when I needed to. Stephen was right behind me throughout the game and I just couldn't step off the gas. Everyone else is looking forward to it more than I am. But win seven sets and I'll be happy.
"It'd mean everything (to win). Win seven sets and I'll be over the moon."
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Coverage of Van Gerwen vs Littler will begin on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Darts from 7.30pm. Who do you think will come out on top? Let us know in the comments
Topics: Luke Littler, Darts
Jack Kenmare