Luke Littler has stoked his rivalry with Michael van Gerwen after securing a fourth successive win over the Dutchman.
The teenager beat the three-time world champion on his way to a second successive Premier League nightly win in Manchester on Thursday.
Littler and Van Gerwen have already played each other on seven occasions in 2024 and the youngster now leads the head-to-head.
Van Gerwen last week said that the 17-year-old hasn't been 'convincing' when he has beaten him and has not looked 'comfortable' at times.
Luke Littler says his wins over Michael van Gerwen have been 'comfortable'
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He told Viaplay: "I can see he's not comfortable and then I'm just too preoccupied with him instead of concentrating on my own game.
"But there was still more in it. I have now played Luke six times, three of which I lost and three of which I won.
"Every time he won against me it was not convincing, while he does against other players.
"I just have to take advantage of that, which is still a downside that it didn't work out tonight."
However, Littler has taken a different view on his matches with the 34-year-old.
He dispatched Van Gerwen 6-3 in the quarter-final in Manchester this week after beating him by the same scoreline in last week's semi in Belfast.
His other two wins against the Netherlands star were 6-2 earlier in the Premier League and 8-5 in the final of the Bahrain Masters.
Van Gerwen's three wins over Littler have been by narrower margins, triumphing 6-5 twice in the Premier League as well as 8-6 in the final of the Dutch Darts Masters.
Littler was keen to point that record out, commenting: "We all know he's not playing to his best ability and certainly I didn't against him.
"But the scrappier games are the better ones to win, just drag yourself over the line.
"But every time I've beaten Michael it's been pretty comfortable, 6-2 or 6-3. When he's beaten me we've had to go to a last leg.
"But yeah we know he's not playing well and just glad to the better of him when he's playing bad."
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Luke Littler has now beaten Michael van Gerwen three matches in a row
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Littler is now top of the Premier League having taken advantage of a pointless week for world No 1 Luke Humphries.
He feels he has one foot in the play-off stage at London's O2 Arena but isn't getting carried away just yet.
He said: "Glad I got over the line again, snuck into first by a point over Luke.
"But yeah the first game against Michael wasn't really the bad and then I picked it up against Nathan and Gezzy.
Luke Littler has won two successive Premier League nights
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"Obviously 24 points normally gets you in but I'm not just going to go next week and change my darts or something.
"I'm just going to keep plugging away and picking up more points.
"I want to say I am at the O2 but I can't at the same time.
"As soon as I see my name with a little Q next to it which says qualified, that's when I'm in."
