Both players have done their bit to try and curry favour with the locals by sporting orange shirts.

They're just getting through their warm-up darts with the start of this match just a few moments away.

Gerwyn Price on Sky Sports before facing Rob Cross: "I've been playing really well and it just hasn't happened. Fingers crossed it will happen tonight."

Image source, PA Media

Two former world champions go head-to-head next - and both are in need of points.

After five quarter-finals losses in a row, Rob Cross has dropped to sixth and is now seven points off the top four.

Three of those defeats have come in last-leg deciders so Cross will hope his fortune changes in Rotterdam as he targets a first win since night six.

Gerwyn Price is in a very similar situation having gone out at the quarter-final stage on seven occasions in the first 11 weeks.

He did hit a nine-darter on his way to the final in Manchester on Night 10 but sitting seventh, eight points off fourth, a first nightly win of the season can't come soon enough.

A high-quality match with both players hitting four 180s and each averaging over 100.

Luke Littler just edged Michael Smith on average, 102.32 to 100.34, but the latter's superior checkout percentage sees him through.

Smith hits six of his 10 darts at double, Littler just three of eight.

Glen Durrant
Former Premier League champion on Sky Sports

How good has Michael Smith been tonight? He wanted to correct the wrongs of previous weeks.

Michael Smith gets the job done!

He beats Luke Littler for the fourth time in five Premier League meetings.

Bully Boy missed a match dart but when Littler couldn't take out 80, Smith came back, hit double six and he'll advance to the semi-finals.

Luke Littler extends the match with a straightforward hold.

He hits double 10 with Michael Smith a long, long way back.

Michael Smith is one leg way from a fourth win over Luke Littler in the Premier League.

He can't get the big fish but when Littler fails to take out 130, Smith comes back to find the bed of double 15.

Excellent set-up from Michael Smith and Luke Littler, who appeared in complete control of the leg, makes a meal of it with 80 required.

Smith returns to the oche and takes out 66 in two darts for a two-leg lead.

He has wn three of his four matches against Littler in the Premier League this year...

Just the wrong side of the wire for Luke Littler as he threatens another break.

He hits double one rather than tops and Michael Smith finds double six on his next visit to edge ahead again.

Image source, PA Media

A comfortable hold for Luke Littler and it's all square again.

The teenager misses a dart at tops but finds double 10 with his next dart.

Luke Littler begins the leg with another 180 but Michael Smith holds his nerve.

He hits a maximum of his own - his first of the match - and then needs just two darts to take out 81 for his first lead.

Michael Smith misses bull for an immediate break back and is nearly punished by Luke Littler.

However, Littler himself misses bull to hold and Bully Boy returns to find double five to level it up.

I told you he wasn't messing around tonight!

Luke Littler starts the leg with a maximum and finishes it off with a 164 out - treble 19, treble 19, bullseye.

An early break for the 17-year-old.

No messing around from Luke Littler, he starts with a 180!

Glen Durrant
Former Premier League champion on Sky Sports

It's just a sea of orange. I feel like the only Englishman in Europe right now.

Here we go then. The players are up on stage after a vociferous welcome from this Rotterdam crowd, who are - it is fair to say - up for it!

I reckon Michael Smith just about edged it with the walk-ons, the crowd were slightly louder signing along to his chosen song, Shut Up and Dance.

Luke Littler won't mind that as long as it comes out on top in this quarter-final. A reminder that it's first to six legs...

Image source, Getty Images

PDC chief executive Matt Porter has also been speaking about Luke Littler and the impact his breakthrough has had.

The 17-year-old has become perhaps darts' biggest ever celebrity with numerous TV appearances, including on Comic Relief, as well as visiting the Manchester United training ground and getting on the cover of Forbes magazine.

All the while, he continues to impress on the oche.

"These are things that wouldn't happen to normal 17-year-olds, so for him to be able to deal with them as well as playing in front of thousands of people is testament to his mental strength and maturity," Porter told the PA news agency.

"Luke has opened up doors to us to a new audience. There is an increase in younger fans, teenage-age and even younger who are now more interested in darts.

"That's through TikTok and Instagram, or on TV.

"It's quite refreshing, it is something we hadn't expected but something we are reacting to quite well."

Luke Littler on Sky Sports, recalling his victory in the Boys' Masters in the Netherlands in 2022: "It was one of the bigger ones in my youth career and I know this is going to be even bigger."

On life now: "Ever since the Worlds, everything has changed."

On facing Michael Smith: "It's looking tight between third, fourth and fifth. Smithy needs to win. I'll just play my normal darts."

Image source, PA Media

First up tonight, Premier League leader Luke Littler takes on Michael Smith.

After back-to-back nightly wins, Littler was beaten by Michael van Gerwen in last week's final.

"The bigger the arena, the better I play, so I'm really looking forward to it," the 17-year-old, who won in Belfast and Manchester this season, told the PDC.

"The first five or six weeks were tough, but I think I've really settled into the tournament now."

Meanwhile, Smith won the opening night in Cardiff and has reached another two finals, losing to Luke Humphries in Brighton and Dublin.

Bully Boy lost to Van Gerwen in the semis last week and is fifth in the table, just a point off Nathan Aspinall in fourth, so a second nightly win would get him back into those qualifying spots for Finals Night.