Defending World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall admits ‘jealous’ darts stars want to bring Luke Littler ‘down a peg or two’ ahead of his blockbuster first round showdown with Michael van Gerwen

Reigning World Matchplay champion Nathan Aspinall admitted the sport’s biggest stars are eager to get teenage sensation Luke Littler back down to earth as darts returns to Blackpool’s Winter Gardens this weekend.

Littler made his breakthrough with his incredible feat of reaching the World Championship final at the age of 16 at the start of the year and has since proven that he is here to stay.

In the past six months he won titles in Bahrain, Belgium, Poland and Austria before achieving his biggest victory to date in May when he lifted the Premier League trophy.

Littler threw a nine-darter against world champion Luke Humphries in the final, capping a dream start to his professional career.

He will now play his first World Matchplay and will face a tough test as he takes on three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen in the opening round.

Aspinall believes players have ‘tried too hard’ to beat Littler since his breakthrough but they are still determined to beat the 17-year-old.

“Luke has been a big target since January 3, if I’m completely honest,” Aspinall admitted to Mail Sport.

“I think the first few months when us guys were playing Luke, I think we were trying too hard to beat him to put him back in his place. We’ve all played him enough times now and I think we’re all a bit used to him now.

“The things he does and the people he meets, the sponsorship deals he gets, are things we can probably only dream of. There’s probably a bit of jealousy, but everyone wants to take him down a notch or two.

“It’s a great match, him and Michael. It’s good to have a couple of those matches in the first round, obviously for the people watching at home and also for the fans live.

‘But yeah, what a first round match. I think it could have been better if it had been Luke v Luke (Humphries). I don’t watch darts but I think I will watch that.’

Littler and Aspinall have the same manager and trained together ahead of the World Cup.

Aspinall, 32, saw Littler’s potential from the start but admitted even he was shocked by his rapid rise.

“I knew how good he was beforehand. I trained with him a few days before the World Championships and the things he did on the practice board were obscene,” Aspinall explained.

‘So I expected him to have a reasonable run, but would he make it to the final? No. The way he conducted himself, the way he handled all the media, you have to take your hat off to him because I think 95 percent of the seasoned pros couldn’t handle the media obligations that he had to fulfill in those few weeks and couldn’t perform as well as he did.

‘Great achievement, he kept it up and won almost everything this year. Hopefully he won’t play that well again!’

Littler’s rise coincided with the popularity of darts reaching new heights, with fans eagerly awaiting his next move on the oche.

Playing to sold-out stadiums is now a common occurrence for Aspinall, but he denies that this is all down to Littler’s arrival at the circuit.

“He has a lot more eyes on the game than before, that maybe weren’t watching darts,” Aspinall admitted.

‘I keep telling people that there’s more to the game of darts than Luke Littler. And people get hooked on darts, not because of Luke, but because of the rest of us.

‘People started watching darts again because of Luke Littler, they started watching the Premier League, but then they got a buzz back. It’s not a buzz from watching one game, it’s the rest of us.

‘I think the way the boys perform on TV, how they continue to perform at the same level as we do week in, week out, under the pressure we are under, is the reason darts is becoming so popular.’

Aspinall beat Jonny Clayton 18-6 in last year’s final and calls the Matchplay his favourite tournament on the darts calendar as it is just 30 minutes from his home in Stockport.

Friends and family will be there to cheer him on as he defends his title against fellow Englishman Luke Woodhouse. Aspinall is confident he can triumph in Blackpool if everything falls into place again, just as it did 12 months ago.

Winter Gardens has hosted the World Matchplay since 1994, but in recent months and years major sporting events in golf, boxing, Formula 1 and snooker have moved to Saudi Arabia. In addition, former world champion Gerwyn Price has spoken out in favour of bringing darts to the Middle East.

However, Aspinall is adamant that darts will not work in Saudi Arabia, believing that choosing money over fans would have serious consequences.

Aspinall claimed: ‘If darts moved there, it wouldn’t be darts anymore. Sometimes it’s more than money.

‘I’m a massive snooker fan and I watched that 167 tournament and it was crap. It was awful. There were about 12 people in the audience.

‘The American Pool World Championships just happened, it was like four people watching the final. So, okay, you go there and you get more money. But in the same way, us darts players like the atmosphere, the adrenaline.

‘If we walk out and there’s 20 people watching, that’s not the same as 5,000 people in the Winter Gardens, and then, in my opinion, we wouldn’t love the game any more.

“You don’t know 10, 20, 30 years from now, but I certainly don’t see it going anywhere in the near future. And it shouldn’t.”