LUKE LITTLER knows there will always be a target on his back as he prepares for a gruelling Premier League title defence.
The world champion will battle it out with Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, Rob Cross, Stephen Bunting, Gerwyn Price, Chris Dobey and Nathan Aspinall for the £275,000 jackpot.
Michael Smith and Peter Wright might be former world champions over the past five years but they have been overlooked this time following disappointing 2024 campaigns.
Boy Wonder Littler – who turns 18 on January 21 – will have all eyes round the globe on his purple-and-yellow shirt as he embarks on the 17-week Road Show.
The 17-year-old is the newly-crowned world champion and the reigning Premier League champion.
Last year, he banked £375,000 in prize money – this included a £40,000 bonus for four nightly wins – and smashed world No1 Luke Humphries 11-7 in the final with a stunning nine-dart leg.
The Nuke said: “Yeah, there’s always a target on your back, but not only from the top players in the world.
“Everyone on the Pro Tour – they always want to beat me, and I know half the time they’re going to play their best game against me.
“Obviously the first night it will be difficult to get off to a winning start like it was here.”
The Prem begins in Belfast on Thursday February 6 and then climaxes with the playoffs at London’s O2 Arena on May 29, visiting sold-out arenas in seven different countries.
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Next month in Northern Ireland, Littler will be announced in the Prem for the first time by MC John McDonald as the world champion and given his support of Manchester United he should be well-received.
The razzmatazz of this event is something he loves and he certainly thrives on the big stages – the Warrington lad’s homecoming at Manchester’s AO Arena is on April 10.
On the media day before the PDC World Darts Championship, Littler posed for photos alongside the Sid Waddell Trophy, like all other players, but he flatly REFUSED to touch it.
Any chance to take a wee squeeze of the heavy silverware was turned down until he had thrown the winning dart in the final.
The world No.2 said: “It was the same as the Premier League – I didn’t touch the Premier League trophy until I’d won it.
“I don’t think anyone should touch the trophy until you win it. We do get pictures next to it.
“I have watched plenty of finals over the years. Whether that has been the Premier League, the Matchplay, the World Championship.
“Everyone wants to pick up trophies. But first, you have got to go through the likes of Q School and Development Tour, which I went through.
“You have got to be at the very top of your game to win it.”
Night 1 – The SSE Arena, Belfast – Thursday February 6
Night 2 – OVO Hydro, Glasgow – Thursday February 13
Night 3 – 3Arena, Dublin – Thursday February 20
Night 4 – Westpoint Exeter – Thursday February 27
Night 5 – The Brighton Centre – Thursday March 6
Night 6 – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham – Thursday March 13
Night 7 – Utilita Arena, Cardiff – Thursday March 20
Night 8 – Utilita Arena, Newcastle – Thursday March 27
Night 9 – Uber Arena, Berlin – Thursday April 3
Night 10 – AO Arena, Manchester – Thursday April 10
Night 11 – Rotterdam Ahoy, Rotterdam – Thursday April 17
Night 12 – M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool – Thursday April 24
Night 13 – Utilita Arena, Birmingham, Thursday May 1
Night 14 – First Direct Arena, Leeds – Thursday May 8
Night 15 – P&J Live, Aberdeen – Thursday May 15
Night 16 – Utilita Arena, Sheffield – Thursday May 22
Play-Offs – The O2, London – Thursday May 29
Humphries, Littler, Van Gerwen and Cross are automatic picks as they occupy the top four spots on the two-year PDC Order of Merit.
Bunting lost in the world semi-finals to Littler but is in because he won the Masters last February and is a crowd favourite.
It is his Prem return after a 10-year absence – he did have one appearance in Liverpool as a 2020 contender – and fans can go ‘Bunting Mental’ up-and-down the country.
Nathan Aspinall’s walk-on tune – the Killers’ Mr Brightside – gets fancy-dress punters jumping and is a big part of his nationwide appeal.
Dobey, a son of Newcastle, has been rewarded for reaching the last four at Ally Pally where he lost to Van Gerwen.
Price, the 2021 world champion, has made the cut despite a poor season in which he failed to qualify for the Grand Slam of Darts and dropped to ninth in the ranking.
Dave Chisnall, former Prem champion Jonny Clayton and Australian Damon Heta – sixth, seventh and eighth in the world respectively – will probably feel aggrieved for being snubbed.
But then the 21-year invitational event is down to popularity and putting bums on seats and those three lack the X Factor compared to someone like Price, who is treated as the pantomime villain outside of Cardiff.
Smith, 34, and Wright, 54, might both fear their careers are at a crossroads after being ignored for this year’s Prem for consistently disappointing displays.
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