MICHAEL VAN GERWEN called Luke Littler the “biggest disappointment” of this year’s World Darts Championship earlier in the tournament.
The duo are set to meet in tonight’s hotly-anticipated final at Alexandra Palace.
Following Littler’s early-round wins over Ryan Meikle and Ian White, three-time world champion Van Gerwen had some harsh things to say.
Playing mind games, the Dutchman said: “I think the biggest disappointment so far is Luke Littler.
“A lot of people are expecting a lot of him, that’s the reason why he is not 100 per cent.”
Littler subsequently beat Ryan Joyce in a 4-3 thriller, before overcoming Nathan Aspinall 5-2 to reach the final four.
He then booked his place in the final by thrashing Stephen Bunting 6-1 last night.
Van Gerwen, meanwhile, has beaten James Hurrell, Brendan Dolan, Jeffrey de Graaf, Callan Rydz and Chris Dobey to reach the final.
Having shown good camaraderie with Bunting, Littler claimed that there will be little friendliness on show with Van Gerwen tonight.
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He told talkSPORT: “There will be no fist bumps after sets I’m pretty sure.
“Of course it’s the final, we’ve both got to stay focused. I can’t wait for it.”
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Michael van Gerwen reveals how Callan Rydz wound him up at World Darts Championship” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6366604229112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]Littler and Van Gerwen have split their 12 meetings to date six apiece.
And the teenager is excited to renew their rivalry.
He added: “This is the main one that they [fans] wanted to see as soon as Luke [Humphries] went out.
“But as soon as Luke went out, all the focus was on me.
“But you’ve got to see who Michael has got past, he’s been through some tough challenges and so have I, but this is probably the hardest game to win.
“Tomorrow we just – not relax – but let them go.”
