Luke Littler vs Michael van Gerwen Prediction: Expect a very tough encounter

Luke Littler and Michael van Gerwen are set to face off in night 10 action of the Premier League Darts at AO Arena in Manchester. Leading up to this game, Littler holds a slight advantage, while Gerwen enters as the underdog.

Luke Littler is currently enjoying a three-game winning streak, and he aims to extend it in this upcoming encounter. In his recent matches, he secured victories against Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen (his opponent in this match), and Nathan Aspinall. However, before this winning streak, he faced consecutive losses against Michael Smith and Nathan Aspinall, with scores of 4-6 and 3-6, respectively. Now considered the favorite, Luke Littler seeks to clinch a crucial victory against a familiar opponent and sustain his winning momentum.

Michael van Gerwen's streak of four consecutive wins came to a halt in his recent match against Luke Humphries, resulting in a disappointing 8-1 defeat. In this match, van Gerwen averaged 96.80 with his three-dart score, whereas his opponent averaged 112.66. Additionally, van Gerwen managed to produce only one 180 throw, while Humphries achieved six. Prior to this defeat, van Gerwen secured victories against Jeffrey de Zwaan, Joe Cullen, Jermaine Wattimena, and Martin Schindler in previous encounters.

I anticipate a highly competitive match in contrast to their previous encounter. Although Michael van Gerwen appears to have made some recent improvements, his struggle against Humphries in a disappointing manner raises significant concerns. Conversely, Luke Littler continues to perform consistently at a high level. Consequently, I predict that Littler will emerge victorious in this game, with the final score likely to be close.