Luke Littler handed World Championship final rematch against Luke Humphries for his Premier League debut… as the 17-year-old prodigy aims for revenge after agonising Ally Pally defeat

Luke Littler will get the chance to avenge his World Cup final defeat to Luke Humphries when he faces him in his Premier League debut in Cardiff next week.

Littler earned £200,000 thanks to his run to the final at Alexandra Palace but fell short against world number 1 Humphries, who won the last five sets to claim a 7-4 victory.

The 17-year-old prodigy had chances to win the match outright, but his finish in the closing stages proved costly and allowed Humphries to remain clear.

Less than a month after that loss, Littler will look to run back the score on a night when eight of the world’s best players will all be in action, and he is already relishing the challenge after hailing Humphries as ‘the one to beat man’ in darts. straight away.

“(Humphries) was incredible. That’s why he won a world title and why he went on a 20-match winning streak,” Littler said.

He lost agonizingly to Luke Humphries in the final at Alexandra Palace

Littler and Humphries meet again next week on the opening night of the Premier League

“So now he’s the man to beat, and all the attention will be on him. Hopefully the World Championship isn’t the last time we meet in a major final – and if me and Luke are in every final that would still be good.”

Littler made a sensational return to action last week by winning the Bahrain Masters, beating Nathan Aspinall, Gerwyn Price and Michael van Gerwen to claim his first senior PDC title.

Littler started his quarter-final against Aspinall with his first televised nine-darter and looked as if he had never been away, but later revealed he had not picked up a dart since the World Cup final three weeks earlier.

Meanwhile, Humphries was defeated by Price in the quarter-finals, ending his twenty-match winning streak.

Littler earned £20,000 from winning the Bahrain Masters and will be back in action this week at the Dutch Masters, which takes place on Friday and Saturday.

Littler, who turned 17 this week, won his first senior PDC title at the Bahrain Masters

The opening night of the Premier League in Cardiff will also see former world champions Peter Wright and Rob Cross face each other, followed by Price versus Aspinall and Van Gerwen versus Michael Smith in a rematch of the 2023 World Cup final.

The winners of the four quarter-finals will then face off in two semi-finals, before a final decides the winner on the night, making every match count.

The competition will be played over 16 weeks until May 16, before the top four progress to the play-offs at London’s O2 Arena on May 23.