Breakdown of the stats behind Luke Littler and Luke Humphries' darting rivalry

Luke Littler and Luke Humphries contested the final of Premier League Darts last week. It was a replay of the World Championship final early this year, but with a different ending.

In the two most high-profile major finals of 2024 so far, two players who were not yet born at the time of the founding of the PDC (1994) played. Littler and Humphries combined for 65 legs in those two finals. After losing the World Championship final, Littler did manage to win his first PDC major this time, good for a winner's cheque of 275,000 pounds.

The 18-year-old Littler is well on his way to dominating the sport in the coming years. Notably, a similar situation played out 11 years ago when Michael van Gerwen defeated 16-time world champion Phil Taylor, kicking off the then 24-year-old's legendary career.

For the next four years, the rivalry between Taylor and van Gerwen was the most exciting and fiercely fought in darts. The rivalry between Littler and Humphries could well go the same way. They also seem to be pushing each other to higher and higher levels. PDC analyst Christopher Kempf calculated that in the first five months of 2024, the world champion and the Premier League champion played 140 legs in matches between them. They did so at an exceptionally high level with a combined average of 100.78.

Littler does seem to set himself up as Humphries' "bogey player," winning seven of their eight duels between them that took place after the World Darts Championship final.

One of Littler's main rivals could be Damon Heta, the Australian number one who eliminated Littler at the UK Open in March. Heta then averaged 106 in that quarterfinal, which was his best performance ever in a ranking match on TV. It is also the only 2024 TV tournament in which Littler, after qualifying, did not make the final.

Littler recovered somewhat by beating "The Heat" 6-3, 6-2 on the European Tour, but Littler will need to beat Heta often on the to make up for the impact of that loss on the UK Open ranking.

Still, Littler will especially have to take Humphries into account it seems. With Littler still only 17 years old and his biggest rival not yet 30, and with nine matches already in the books this year, this duel could probably effortlessly surpass previous long-standing rivalries such as Phil Taylor-Michael van Gerwen and Phil Taylor-Raymond van Barneveld.