Main event
The fact that Michael van Gerwen will not take center stage on Saturday night at the World Championship says a lot about the new order in darts.
Instead, Luke Littler will headline the headlines at Alexandra Palace when he takes on Ian White in their third round encounter.
It’s been a remarkable 12 months for the 17-year-old who was halfway through his run to the final this time last year and has established himself as one of the biggest names in the sport despite his young age.
Littler, however, displayed a vulnerability rarely seen in his opening match against Ryan Meikle last Saturday. He was completely out of sorts for the first three sets before flipping a switch and producing an astonishing 140.91 average in the fourth – the highest single-set average in tournament history.
SMALL WIN WITH A RECORD SET 🤯
An eleven dart, a ten dart and an eleven dart from Luke Littler with an average of 140.91 in the final set to beat Ryan Meikle.
Simply ridiculous from this special talent 🙌
He’s in the third round! pic.twitter.com/0j9CQGYHKU
– PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) December 21, 2024
But he couldn’t finish his interview on stage, breaking down in tears and admitting he was suffering from nerves.
That could be a factor again tomorrow, although it might be helped by the fact he plays a familiar face with White also hailing from Littler’s home town of Runcorn.
White, who beat Ritchie Edhouse in the second round, was facing Littler’s grandfather in the North West Leagues.
The 54-year-old said: “When I first started darts I played against his grandfather, Phil, at Runcorn.
“I beat him all the time. He played for the Albion. Local teams. We played against him many times. We joked.
“I’m looking forward to it. I can’t wait.
Van Gerwen is no longer the force he once was and will face a tricky test against Irish veteran Brendan Dolan in the second match of the evening session.
The Dutchman won convincingly 3-0 against James Burrell in his first match and showed flashes of brilliance that took him to three world titles.
“I think at times I’ve done well, but the tank is always full,” he said.
“I think I’ve done enough, and that’s the only thing that matters, especially knowing that I haven’t had the best 12 months of my career.
“I love performing on stages like this. It gives me a lot of energy and the atmosphere definitely gave me goosebumps.
Order of play – all third round matches
Afternoon session (from 12:30 UK time)
Ryan Joyce vs. Ryan Searle
Scott Williams vs. Ricardo Pietreczko
Nathan Aspinall vs. Andrew Gilding
Evening session (from 7:00 p.m. UK time)
Chris Dobey vs. Josh Rock
Michael van Gerwen vs. Brendan Dolan
Luke Littler vs. Ian White
How to watch
The PDC World Championship is broadcast on Sky Sports in the UK.
You can watch the afternoon session on Sky Sports Darts and Main Event from 12:30 GMT. The evening session will take place on Sky Sports Darts and Main Event from 1900.
Predictions
The fascination with Littler lies not so much in his ability to win, but in his performance. He’ll have too much firepower for White, but his surprising tantrum against Meikle would have been a revelation to his rivals.
If he can display his usual composure, normal service will resume and his campaign will be back on track. Otherwise, more doubts will be raised about his chances this year.
Van Gerwen could struggle against world number 30 Dolan but should have enough to cross the finish line.
The evening session opens with an interesting confrontation between Dobey and Rock. Dobey is the bookmakers’ favorite for the match, but we think Rock will cause a slight upset.
In the afternoon session, all three matches should be close.
But we are aiming for wins for Searle, Williams and Gilding.
