But how do the men stand and what is the balance between the two? Flashscore takes a dive into this fiery tussle.
Route to the final
Van Gerwen is looking for his fourth world title and first in no less than six years. After the 2019 final against Michael Smith (7-3 win), Van Gerwen was in the final twice and had to lose twice, once against Peter Wright and once against Smith. However, the fire is still burning with 'Mighty Mike' and he is showing it at the current World Championship.
The numbers are not those of the once seemingly unbeatable Michael van Gerwen, but the game is powerful and the finishes run smoother than before. Ahead of the final of this tournament, Van Gerwen was too strong for James Hurrell (3-0), Brendan Dolan (4-2), Jeffrey de Graaf (4-2), Callan Rydz (5-3) and Chris Dobey (1-6).
The Dutchman is throwing an average of 99.2 this tournament and averaged 100+ in matches against Rydz (103.10) and De Graaf (101.98). Van Gerwen is also achieving a fine checkout rate of 43.9 per cent (72 doubles hit from 164 attempts) this tournament.
Littler, meanwhile, has qualified for the World Championship final for the second time in his still very young life. Last year Luke Humphries was too strong for the then-debuting 16-year-old, but this year Littler is aiming to write his name into the history books for good.
'The Nuke' won three majors this year with final victories in the Premier League, Grand Slam of Darts and the World Series of Darts Finals and won seven more titles on his way to second place in the PDC Order of Merit.
This tournament did not start off flawlessly for Littler, but steadily the young Englishman grew back into the whirlwind we saw all year. On his way to his second World Championship final, Littler won over Ryan Meikle (3-1), Ian White (4-1), Ryan Joyce (4-3), Nathan Aspinall (5-2) and Stephen Bunting (6-1), against whom he showed nerves of steel by deciding the match in the penultimate leg with a 170 finish.
He boosted his tournament average of 101.77 considerably on Thursday night with an average of 105.48 in the game against Bunting. With 78 hit doubles from 190 attempts, Littler stands at a checkout percentage of 41 per cent this tournament.
Balanced tilt
With Littler's recent appearance on the big stage, he and Van Gerwen have not yet played much against each other. Since their first meeting at the Bahrain Darts Masters in January 2024, the two have met 11 times. Over those 12 matches, the men are perfectly balanced – both Van Gerwen and Littler have six wins each.
Their Premier League encounter on March 14th in Nottingham made the biggest impression. A titanic battle saw both players achieve averages of 110+ with Van Gerwen on 110.94 and Littler on a bizarre 114, which is still his highest average during a TV tournament. Littler won the match 6-2.
The most recent encounter took place on Sunday, October 20th at the European Tour's 13th event, the Swiss Darts Trophy. Littler won supremely 6-1 with a 110.57 average. Van Gerwen managed to top it with an average of 112.19 but checkouts, however, let him down with just one hit from six.
The previous encounter also fell in Littler's favour, then in the World Series of Darts Finals. Littler also won that match with clear figures, triumphing 11-4, throwing an average of 107.95 and managing to finish with a checkout percentage of 45.83 per cent (11/24).
It was the first win in four encounters with Van Gerwen, who before that managed to beat Littler twice in the Premier League (6-1 and 3-6) and once at the World Matchplay (10-6).
The World Championship final between Littler and Van Gerwen is on Friday night at 19:45 GMT.