I tiled Arsenal icon's bathroom - now I'm out to end Luke Littler's World Championship dream

World number three Michael van Gerwen has opened up on his past life - as a tiler - as he aims to win his fourth PDC World Championship this festive period.

The biggest tournament on the calendar for darts players starts this evening with Warrington's own Luke Littler bidding to go one step better and lift the famous trophy. Last year, the teenage sensation shocked the sporting world as he finished runner-up to Luke Humphries.

Humphries goes into this year's tournament as one of the favourites, as does Littler after last year's quite simply astonishing run. However, Littler and his fellow Luke - Humphries - will meet competition from the likes of three-time champion Van Gerwen.

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The Dutchman had a meteoric rise to fame, starting out as a bathroom tiler and that included one job for Arsenal hero Dennis Bergkamp. "Yes, it's true - when I was a teenager, I used to work as a tiler back home in Holland - and the biggest job I ever had was putting up the tiles in Dennis Bergkamp's bathroom," he told The Mirror.

Van Gerwen went on: "He lived in a massive house near Hilversum, it was a beautiful place and the kind of luxury you can only dream about when you're a kid starting out as a darts player.

"We had to make sure we did a really good job on it. You don't want to mess up when working for a legend."

Van Gerwen's tournament will begin on Friday, December 20 when he takes on either James Hurrell or Jim Long in the second round. As for Littler, he has a day longer to wait when he will face either Ryan Meikle or Fallon Sherrock in the second round. Both of those first round ties will be played on Tuesday, December 17.