Pre-tournament favourite Luke Littler will face three-time winner and six-time finalist Michael van Gerwen in the final of the PDC World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace this evening.
Their career head-to-head stands at six wins apiece, while both men registered dominant 6-1 semi-final successes at the expense of Stephen Bunting and our pre-tournament each-way pick Chris Dobey respectively.
Yet while those facts might suggest there’s little between them, Littler is a heavy 2/5 favourite to lift the Sid Waddell trophy for the first time. Fortunately there are other markets offering better value about a history-making night’s work for the 17-year-old from Warrington.
Littler vs Van Gerwen tips best bets
Littler to win, most 180s and highest checkout @ 6/5
Bet on the latest Darts odds at Betzone
Back ‘The Nuke’ to land win, 180s, highest checkout match treble @ 6/5
As previously mentioned, Littler is long-odds-on to beat Van Gerwen so it will be necessary to add some kickers to a win bet on the teenage tungsten titan in search of a price on the more appetising side of even money.
That Littler already boasts a 6-6 career head-to-head with his Dutch opponent – the second most successful player in the history of the tournament after Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor – after little over one year on tour is an incredible testament to his precious darting prowess.
‘The Nuke’ is taken to win here having won their two most recent clashes comfortably, with a six legs to one win in the quarters at European Tour night 13 in October and an 11-4 (legs) success in the World Series of Darts semis a month earlier.
When it comes to the 180s, Littler has been dominant at Ally Pally, throwing 64 maximums – some 21 more than Van Gerwen and the Dutchman’s last eight victim Callan Rydz, who sit joint-second in the standings for that statistic.
Ironically the 17-year-old’s relentless scoring may be one of the reasons why he hadn’t really needed to dig deep for a big checkout prior to his 170 exit in the penultimate leg of his semi-final victory over Bunting.
Van Gerwen is a danger here having taken out highest checkouts in all four of his assignments en route to the decider. They’ve been big too at 149, 125, 154 and 158.
However, Littler’s treble-20, treble-20, bullseye sign off against Bunting hinted that the biggest occasion he’s played in since this time last year brought the best out of the teenager and his sheer natural showmanship is enough to fancy him to deliver the chunkiest checkout again.
