Gary Anderson thinks Luke Littler is ‘different gravy’, but joked he might have to give the teenager a ‘hard kick’ to beat him on Sunday.
The pair go head-to-head in the semi-final of the Grand Slam of Darts on Sunday, with Mickey Mansell of Northern Ireland facing Englishman Martin Lukeman on the other side of the draw.
Anderson is coming in to the clash off the back of a 16-14 win over Gian van Veen in the quarter-finals.
And the 53-year-old has joked he might have to play dirty to get one over high-flying Grand Slam debutante Littler.
“I might just give him a hard kick in the shins before I come on!” he joked to Sky Sports.
“We’ll see.”
Anderson’s cheeky joke reflected the good nature bouncing between the pair before the highly anticipated showdown.
17-year-old Littler decimated Jermaine Wattimena 16-2 in his semi-final on Saturday.
That’s the largest margin of victory at the tournament’s quarter-finals since Phil Taylor’s 16-3 drubbing of Michael Smith.
The teenager has had an exceptional tournament so far, and is now on the verge of the top 10 in the PDC Order of Merit after less than a year on the tour.
Winning this tournament would see him climb to fifth in the rankings.
And with just two games standing between him and that achievement, Littler said he was relishing the prospect of facing the Anderson.
When ‘The Flying Scotsman’ was asked if he felt the same way about the teenager, he said: “I watched the game, yes! It was fantastic wasn’t it.
“We were watching upstairs watching.”
Gesturing to his watch, he continued: “[I said] ‘this is going to be done’.
“I mean, Jermaine has played well, but Luke tonight, it was different gravy.
“Class.”
Littler’s confidence is sky high heading into Sunday, too.
“I felt confident coming in tonight,” Littler told Sky Sports after the quarter-final win.
“I played so well and I’m happy.
“Fair play to Jermaine but I was too good tonight.”
