Gary Anderson claims that his previous defeat to Luke Littler at the Grand Slam of Darts inspired him as he eyes a scalp at the World Darts Championship.

The 17-year-old beat the Scot, who is 37 years his senior, earlier this year after coming from behind to win.

But Anderson said he felt energised by the clash and the veteran star wants a repeat to help him reach the latter stages at Ally Pally.

“It really got me going, proper game, four legs up on him, I had to hold my throw once and I made a mess of it,” Anderson said.

“Even afterwards, I watched when Luke beat me, you could see the kind of relief in his face, so I went, ‘I’ve pushed you’, It’s good, it gives me a wee bit of a buzz and it does kind of give you that twinkle.

“Little things give me a wee tweak and I need that to keep going. There’s some cracking darts players out there and it’s still nice to be involved playing against them.”