Northern Eire’s Josh Rock says he expects there to be a raucous environment when he faces double world champion Luke Littler within the Premier League on the SSE Area in Belfast in February.

Rock was named within the elite group of eight gamers to contest the Premier League for the primary time final week, with the 17-week match kicking off in Newcastle on 5 February.

Belfast will host evening 4 on 26 February, with the county Antrim native set to benefit from the assist of the partisan house followers as he takes on world primary Littler.

“I feel it will be completely nuts,” the 24-year-old advised BBC Sport NI.

“Daryl [Gurney] was the final one [from Northern Ireland to be part of the Premier League, in 2020], however that was previous to Covid and darts wasn’t as large again then. Now darts is larger than it has ever been.

“I play Luke [Littler] in Belfast so we’ll see what occurs. Each time I’ve performed him it has been 100 plus averages each time. I have been in entrance each time however simply can not seem to recover from the road, however I am going to get him but.”

Rock says he chats with Littler “almost daily” and that the game owes a lot to the English teenage sensation.

“Every little thing has to go right down to Luke Littler. If it wasn’t for him doing what he did when he was solely 16 [reaching the World Championship final as a rank outsider] and profitable the Worlds the previous two years the game would not be the place it’s now.

“Everybody has to thank him for it.

“It has gone via the roof now. Darts is in a unique place now than it was 10 years in the past once I was a youth participant. There are such a lot of alternatives now.”