Glen Durrant has declared himself a 'huge fan' of Michael van Gerwen ahead of tonight's second round meeting with the Dutchman at the bwin World Series of Darts Finals in Salzburg.
Friday night saw Durrant go some way to avenging his World Matchplay semi-final loss to Dimitri Van den Bergh, defeating the Belgian 6-3 to set up a sixth meeting with number one seed Van Gerwen.
Tonight's clash will be just their second in front of a crowd, the first of which saw Durrant dump the Dutchman out of the 2019 World Matchplay on a memorable night at the Winter Gardens.
"Michael is the best player in the world and playing him is the biggest challenge as a darts player," said Durrant, who suffered his first loss to the world number one at the Autumn Series.
"I don't have a CV like Michael but he has struggled to beat me.
"Part of me was quite glad he beat me last week so the monkey was off my back.
"I'm a huge fan of MVG that's for sure. He's got to play well to beat me because I'm up for this.
"I feel good, I feel strong and I'd love to win this tournament.
"It was a good win against Dimi but it was no consolation for the World Matchplay let me tell you, that game broke my heart."
Saturday's second round sees the eight seeded players, led by reigning champion Van Gerwen and World Champion Wright, enter the tournament as they bid to claim spots in Sunday's final day of action.
The World Series of Darts Finals will be shown on ITV4 in the UK, with worldwide coverage through RTL7, DAZN and other PDC broadcast partners accompanied live streaming for PDCTV Rest of the World Subscribers.
Coverage on ITV4 in the UK on Saturday is from 2000 BST, with coverage from the night's first two games being shown later in the broadcast.
