Bullseye! How this friendly rivalry is finding its target

It took Luke Littler approximately three weeks to prove he wasn't a flash in the pan. "Littlermania" had swept through the UK when an unheralded 16-year-old from Warrington downed former world champions and established stars to shockingly reach the final of the 2024 PDC World Darts Championship.

- LUKE BAKER

Sure, he was ultimately beaten in that showpiece, but the talent and the buzz were undeniable as he lit up not only Alexandra Palace but darts as a whole. Thoughts turned to whether this had somehow been a fluke, but just 16 days after that final, Littler landed his first televised nine-darter in victory over Nathan Aspinall at the Bahrain Masters and went on to win the tournament for good measure. Yeah, the kid was for real.

Since that spectacular bursting onto the scene last Christmas, Littler has gone from strength to strength. He was quickly handed his Premier League debut and any potential questions over whether he could hang with the best in the world across the gruelling, 16-week Thursday night schedule were immediately answered.

He easily qualified for finals night at the O2 Arena and, in front of a raucous London crowd, went on to lift the prestigious trophy, landing another nine-darter in the final to prove once again that he has an eye for the spectacular and thrives when under the most pressure.

As he returns to Ally Pally, the scene of his coming out party, 12 months on, Littler is no longer an unknown outsider but favourite to win the tournament with the bookies and ranked No 4 in the world despite the ranking list working on a two-year cycle and the teenager only having little more than a year’s worth of results to his name.

That’s because he has won an astonishing 10 titles during his debut campaign on the main PDC Tour, with last month’s Grand Slam of Darts the biggest of those, alongside that Premier League crown.

The man he beat in that Grand Slam of Darts final, Martin Lukeman, summed up the aura Littler has already accrued. “I can’t compete with that, it was godly,” said a shellshocked Lukeman after being smashed 16-3, with the teenager reeling off 15 legs in a row at one point. “He was relentless; he is so good it’s ridiculous.”