This is why Gerwyn Price has such a good record against Luke Littler

Luke Littler is in excellent form halfway through his 2025 Premier League campaign. The young Englishman has reached four one-night finals, won two nights, has an impressive tournament average of 104 to his name and has thrown almost twice as many 180s as any other individual player.

With a total of 16 points, Littler leads the standings in the eight-player Premier League. Unless he experiences a drastic dip in form between now and May, his qualification for the Play-Offs seems all but certain.

Still, a meeting with Gerwyn Price in London would make for an interesting dynamic. The former world champion is in the unusual situation of completely dominating his clashes with Littler, despite lesser overall statistics. No other PDC player can present such a one-sided record against the young Englishman.
Follow the Premier League Darts 2025 via our LIVE SCORE!

Price has won the last six duels between them, five of which were televised. Moreover, he did so by an overwhelming difference of 39-21 in legs. Looking at their mutual results since the start of the Premier League in 2024, Price has built a moderate television balance with 32 wins and 30 defeats against all other opponents. However, against Littler he has an overwhelming preponderance of 7-2. How can that be explained? Christopher Kempf, statistician for the PDC, tried to find the answer to this.

Read also

Tournament Centre Premier League Darts 2025: Results, schedule, standings, TV guide and prize money breakdown

Even if we include the first two meetings between Price and Littler at the 2024 World Series - both won by Littler - Price still leads 7-4 in their Head to Head. However, a deeper analysis of the statistics from these 11 matches shows that Littler is by no means being outplayed by the Welshman. Littler's average of 99.87 is higher than Price's 98.3, although the latter figure is somewhat skewed by Price's exceptionally high 115 average at the World Series this year.

Littler has thrown more 180s, hit more doubles and scored top scores more often on the trebles and even the bullseye. So why does Littler still have a negative balance against a player he surpasses in pure numbers? The answer is inefficiency: the inability to convert his high averages into won legs.

High scores, 180s and throwing lots of trebles are of little use if you are not on a double in time. Price has emerged in their encounters as a master at winning legs within 15 darts. This means Littler often falls behind on a good finish with no chance to throw a double.

Littler had 85 chances in their matches to win a leg within 15 darts, but succeeded only 34 times (40%). Price managed to complete 49% of his legs within the same 15 darts. In the ten matches in which such data are available, Littler's double-double percentage with his last dart in hand is less than 30%.

Remarkably, three of Price's victories were only settled in a deciding leg. That means that if Littler had won those legs, their mutual balance would have been exactly reversed: 7-4 in his favor instead of 7-4 in Price's favor.

Gerwyn Price boasts exceptional record against Luke Littler

In each of those three decisive legs, Littler threw extremely well (a combined average of 106), putting himself on 56, 48 and 20. But each time, he gave Price a chance to get back on the board - and the Welshman took full advantage. When Littler was waiting for a double, Price threw out 44% of his chances on doubles. When Price was on a double, Littler managed to take a leg only 33% of the time.

Their most recent meeting in Nottingham last week was a textbook example of Littler's inefficiency. Despite a nine-point higher average than Price, he lost 6-3. Only two of his six legs won within his fifth turn. In every leg lost, he was stuck on a score above 100, and he hit only 20 percent of his doubles with his last dart in hand.

Even if Price had averaged under 92 - compared with Littler's 103 - and taken all his four checkouts with three arrows instead of two, the result would have been identical. The dart world agrees that Littler is one of the most talented players to ever pick up a set of arrows. But even with his steady stream of 180s, he has yet to gain ground against a player 22 years older - a player who ironically surpassed Littler in the number of ranking TV titles won at age 18.

Does Price's stage presence leave him reeling? Does the Welshman's pace have a disruptive effect on the wonderkid from Warrington? For now, the statistics offer no answer to this. And it may not matter either if Littler eventually wins the Premier League title again. But if he ever wants to achieve total dominance in darts, he will have to find a solution to the challenge Price poses to him time and again.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Unlock your ultimate darts experience—subscribe today for exclusive access to top stories.

Subscribe