O'Connor on chances ahead of Premier League debut against Van Gerwen: "You never know; sometimes upsets happen and hopefully I can be the one to do it"

It doesn't get much easier though for 'The Magpie' who will take on the World Number One, Michael van Gerwen.

He is under no illusion about how tough it is going to be but pointed out that he does have wins over him in the past and it just depends ultimately what happens on the night as to who comes out on top.

"In fairness, if I can pull off an upset, it couldn't be any better either," he said to Sky Sports.

"At the end of the day, there's a huge opportunity here to go up and hopefully perform very, very well.

"I'm not expected to win. Definitely I'm a huge underdog going into it, and I'm going to give it my very best. And you never know; sometimes upsets happen and hopefully I can be the one to do it.

"I've beaten Michael a couple of times. He's beaten me a hell of a lot of times!

"I've beaten him before. I know I can do it, but I know it's a huge task. You can go in and play out of your skin, and just come out the wrong side.

"He's the best player in the world. He can be so, so good. He can go in there are just rattle off 12, 11, 12, 12, 12 [dart finishes] and that's it - you're just standing there with your hands in your face, thinking 'what just happened?'

"I know what he's capable of, and I know what I have to do to win. And if I don't do it, if I don't perform well enough, then I'm going to get beaten and that's it. There's no two ways about it. His B-game is as good as anyone's A-game. I'll have to up it."