World champion Luke Littler is aiming to catch the eye of fish and chip shop owner Gerwyn Price as he seeks a second successive Premier League title that would “mean everything to him”.
The 18-year-old will follow Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen if he can retain his title at the O2 Arena, where he is the heavy favourite to top the table with six wins on the night and a record 45 points.
Price tried to avoid Littler when he led 5-1 against Chris Dobie in Sheffield last Thursday but suffered a defeat and was relegated to third place by Nathan Aspinell.
“Yes, it was a good campaign for 16 weeks, but that's in the past now,” Littler said.
“Obviously the stats are on my side. I dominated in a lot of ways, including the average 180 and a lot of big checkouts, but it all comes down to one night. First up is the semi-final against Geza, and it's important for me to win that semi-final and guarantee myself a final twice in a row.
“Well, if he (Geza) regrets it when I beat him tomorrow, that's his problem, but I'm not one of those people who says I'm going to beat him. We'll see how it goes.”
“It would mean everything to me. Obviously tomorrow night will be my first time defending my title on big TV, but I just have to look forward to the first semi-final with Gervin and move on.”
Price, who finished runner-up at the tournament in 2023, has a strong record against Littler, winning seven of nine meetings.
The Welshman showed off his unusual preparation for Thursday's show by working at Chippy 501 in Markham.
“Yeah, Monday was a holiday and there were quite a few people there, so I had to go in and help them out,” Price said.
“From the minute we opened it was just packed. I love doing this. Getting my hands dirty, cooking fish and meeting people who are probably there to meet me, not to eat fish, but it's nice when they buy food too.”
“We only sell cod, we've tried haddock but it's not as popular. We sell maybe 14 ounces of fish, which is quite a lot.”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
