Littler, who began his ascent to stardom by finishing runner-up to Luke Humphries on debut back in January, heads to the Alexandra Palace as just the fourth different player in history after Phil Taylor, van Gerwen and Peter Wright to win 10 PDC titles in a single year and that tally includes both the prestigious Premier League in May and the Grand Slam of Darts last month.
The Nuke almost made it back-to-back major titles at the Players Championship Finals only to lose to Humphries but despite that defeat he's averaged over 100 in each of his last 13 matches and producing formidable levels of performance that have led many pundits to claim he's the only player with 'fear factor' right now.
Van Gerwen understands why some hold his opinion about Littler but is keen to stress that he's certainly not scared and feels anyone in this current darting landscape can come out on top if they play to their true potential.
After all, van Gerwen has a head-to-head record of 6-6 with Littler which includes a first-round victory at the World Matchplay in July and this in a season where he has failed to win a major title.
MVG, who won the first of his three world titles at the age of 24, said: "Of course he's a good player. Of course he has the media attention and everything goes his way at the moment because he's in the flow.
"But still, I'm not playing my best and he still doesn't beat me more than I beat him. You know what I mean? So that might be an answer.
"Am I scared of him? Not a chance."
"He has so much talent and he's great for the game and makes it more interesting to watch, there's more viewers and the sport is getting bigger.
"We had that in the past with myself and before that with Phil Taylor, and before that with Bristow. That's the way darts is, it grows and goes with the flow.
"But Luke Littler is not unbeatable. He lost in the first round of the World Matchplay to me, he lost first round of the World Grand Prix (to Cross), then he's winning a tournament, then Luke Humphries is winning a tournament, then Mike de Decker wins the World Grand Prix, then Ritchie Edhouse wins the Europeans.
"No one is unbeatable. No one."
Asked whether Littler and Humphries can dominate in the same way as he and Phil Taylor managed in previous years, the Dutchman added: "I don't know, they've been doing it for... not even a year. Humphries more than a year, but Littler not even a year. We did it for 10 years.
"Littler has got the capability of doing it for a long time, but I think... when everyone's turning up, I think you're going to see more interesting games to watch."