01 February 2024 , 13:21
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Luke Littler is set to make his Premier League Darts debut in Cardiff tonight - but rival Nathan Aspinall doesn't think the 17-year-old will win it and has tipped him to "struggle".
Littler has endured a meteoric rise to the top in recent weeks after his impressive performance at the World Championship. The teenage sensation stormed to the final, beating the likes of Andrew Gilding, Raymond van Barneveld and Rob Cross en route before losing out to Luke Humphries.
Since that, Littler won his first World Series event at the Bahrain Masters, before losing out to Michael van Gerwen in the Dutch Masters final last weekend. But now, Littler is set to take his latest step on the world darting scene when he goes up against Humphries in the Premier League.
However, Aspinall, who shares the same management as Littler, believes the teenager will "struggle" to win the Premier League in his debut campgin. "He's got a fantastic future ahead of him, but I do think the Premier League is going to be tough for him," Aspinall told the Metro.
"Even though he’s probably number two in the world at the moment, performance-wise. The test is when you’re absolutely knackered, all you want to do is go home, but you’ve got three more days to go after being on the road for two weeks. We’ll have to see how he deals with them situations.
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"He can win the Premier League, of course he can. Will he win the Premier League? I think he’ll struggle. At the moment every week he’s doing something new. The Worlds, then in the Premier League, then Bahrain, a 9-darter, a final. I think the first month or so he’ll be enjoying it, he’s got loads of exciting moments.
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Luke Humphries posing with Luke Littler (Getty Images)"Then after that the Euro Tours and Pro Tours kick in. The travelling is a nightmare logistically, it can be absolutely grim. When that starts there’s more to it than just darts. We’re used to it, we’ve done it for years. He’s not and he will struggle. So I don’t think he’ll win it. I do think he’ll make top four. But I’ll win it."
Aspinall's comments came as Peter Wright admitted he is not here to babysit Littler. He said: "It's his first Premier League, as soon as he starts getting beaten up, on the floor and in the Premier League again, no one is going to hold him and make sure he's alright."
Wright added: "I don't think he should be babysat, you're into the hardest darts thing you can play in, in the Premier League and he's got to deal with it."