Van Gerwen previews Lukeman clash at German Darts Championship: "I'm going to make it very difficult for him"

Michael van Gerwen continues to have more confidence boosts as he looks to return to his former glory.

Van Gerwen began his German Darts Championship quest by seeing off Jose Justicia 6-4 and speaking afterwards, he spoke about that Premier League form and how he hopes to mirror that in Hildesheim.

"It's always nice to play an ok game but I did really well in the Premier League and that gave me a real confidence boost.

"I hope I can show more this weekend, it's a tough field we all know that, been a lovely crowd so I hope I can do something special here this weekend.

He also spoke about returning to his best and for Van Gerwen, he is glad to be back in front of big crowds which for him is what he needed.

"The Premier League is the toughest tournament there is because you have to be good so many weeks after each other. That also gives you confidence, you need it in tournaments like this as you play on the big stage in front of very good dart players. I really missed that."

That could be brought back down to reality this afternoon when he faces Martin Lukeman who has been super impressive but for MVG, it's like any other game.

"He's not going to sleep well tonight, I'm going to make it very difficult for him but fair play to him, he does well. To have the ability to perform on a stage like this, you must be a good dart player so I'm going to class it the same as every other dart player. I have to beat them all to win this tournament."