Bring it on – the dream showdown.
Luke Littler raced into his second consecutive Paddy Power PDC World Championship final with a fabulous 6-1 demolition of Stephen Bunting at Alexandra Palace. So it’s Luke the Nuke against Michael van Gerwen – precocious teenager against chest-beating Dutch colossus – for the small matter of £500,000 on Friday night.
Over the last 12 months, it’s 6-6 in their previous meetings. And on the evidence of the kid’s brilliant performance against Bunting, it’s going to be a belter.
Littler’s 105.48 average, 13 maximum 180s and 44 per cent strike rate on the doubles – including a 170 and 158 – got the job done in 59 minutes. On Friday it could be happy hour when we crown a new king of the Palace. Hold on to your hats.
Unlike Bunting, who won the Lakeside title 11 years ago before defecting to the Professional Darts Corporation, Littler has yet to wear a world champion’s crown. But surely it’s only a matter of time.
Luke the Nuke doesn’t just love the treble 20 lipstick – he rams those 180s into the target as if he was nailing a picture hook into your living room wall. And when he distributes his arrows around the board, it’s not the arbitrary spray of an aerosol – he can take out a checkout before most of us have done the arithmetic, let alone worked out the sequence of missiles required.
At 17, Littler has also mastered the art of humility, saying: “I think I’ve learned it’s sometimes good to lose because you can always bounce back. But I’ve achieved more than I expected and I think I’ve shown with my performances why I’ve won more than anyone on the tour this year.”
Will Luke Littler win the final? Have your say in the comments section
Bunting’s Tik Tok following and rise into the PDC’s top five will earn him a lucrative Thursday night tour in the Premier League when the class of 2025 is announced on Monday. But it’s never a good idea to give Littler a four-set head start, and an even worse mistake to miss darts to claw it back to 4-2.
When the teenage wonder stepped in to take out 84 on the bull, and celebrated with a little jig, you see the belief drain from the ‘Bullet’ like bathwater circling the plug. The cheeky beggar followed it up with a ‘big fish’ 170 checkout and Bunting’s resistance had long since melted when Littler nailed double top to seal victory.
In the first semi-final, after Hogmanay came Clogmanay – and Van Gerwen was never going to let the party fall flat. Easing into his seventh PDC World Championship final with a brutal 6-1 demolition of outclassed Chris Dobey, MVG needed just 49 minutes to seal his place in tonight’s (****Friday****) showpiece.
Luke Littler is the new darts world champion, and you can emulate the 17-year-old with a set of his Target G1 Swiss Point darts for £99.95. You can also upgrade to the gold Prodigy darts for £129.95.
There is also a more affordable Loadout 90% Tungsten darts for £45.90. If you need something to throw them at, Amazon has reduced the Luke Littler Cabinet & Dartboard Set to £59.99.
From the first dart, Van Gerwen looked like a man in a hurry to end his six-year wait for a fourth title. And in the pantheon of Dutch masters, he will be up there with Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Erik ten Hag if he lifts the Sid Waddell Trophy again at Alexandra Palace.
Only Phil Taylor (16) and compatriot Raymond van Barneveld (five) had won more world titles than Clog Almighty. No wonder his excitement got the better of him and he turned the air blue in his post-match TV interview.
“The target is still far away – I’m in the final but I’ve won f*** all yet,” said Van Gerwen, turning the air blue in his post-match interview on Sky Sports. Oops. The Darts Regulation Authority may have something to say about that – but any fine won’t make much of a dent in the £500,000 winner’s jackpot.
Luke Littler is the new darts world champion, and you can emulate the 17-year-old with a set of his Target G1 Swiss Point darts for £99.95. You can also upgrade to the gold Prodigy darts for £129.95.
There is also a more affordable Loadout 90% Tungsten darts for £45.90. If you need something to throw them at, Amazon has reduced the Luke Littler Cabinet & Dartboard Set to £59.99.
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