Luke Littler wins first Premier League Darts title at ninth attempt with Belfast victory

Luke Littler wins first Premier League Darts title at ninth attempt with Belfast victory
Luke Littler earned his first Premier League Darts success at the ninth time of asking when he saw off Nathan Aspinall in the final, having beaten Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen along the way

Luke Littler won his first Premier League Darts title at the ninth attempt, getting revenge over Luke Humphries for his World Championship heartbreak in the process before beating Michael van Gerwen in the semi and then Nathan Aspinall in the final.

The 17-year-old shone on the Belfast stage, and by beating Humphries he ended the world champion’s hopes of becoming the first player to win four nights in a row.

Littler said: “I’m happy to win my first one – I’ve changed my throw, put in more practice tonight and it’s paid off. I had a practice match with Rob Cross earlier – we both averaged 100-plus and it put me in the mood.

“I missed two darts at double 10 to win in Berlin on the second night, but I’m glad finally to get that first win on the board. I’m enjoying playing in front of these big crowds – if you don’t enjoy it, you are not going to play well, and now I can’t wait to play win front of a ‘home’ crowd in Manchester next week. Maybe I was rushing before, but tonight I was taking my time before releasing the next dart.”

Littler earned his first Premier League win
Littler earned his first Premier League win ( Image: PA)
Humphries came from behind to beat the then-16-year-old Littler 7-4 at Alexandra Palace in January. The world No.1 rattled off five straight sets to claim his first World Championship title then and hasn’t looked back since.

He came into night nine of the Premier League in Belfast having picked up successive nightly wins in Brighton, Nottingham and Dublin. Humphries held a seven-point lead at the top of the standings coming into his quarter-final match with Littler and was confident of continuing his form, which had seen him average over 100 in 15 of his 18 matches this season.

Overall victory on Thursday night would have seen him become the first player to record four successive wins in the Premier League. But Littler showed impressive resolve to win, taking the decider in a 6-5 win which ended with a double 10 and a trademark celebration.

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The 17-year-old star ended with an average of 102 to Humphries’ 99 and seven 180s to his opponent’s two. His victory – his fourth in a row against Humphries since defeat on the biggest stage at Ally Pally. It earned him a match against Van Gerwen in the semi-final, which he then won 6-3 to reach the final, where he overcame Aspinall to claim his first nightly win since joining the Premier League.

Earlier Humphries congratulated Littler, who had to play out of his skin to end his winning streak. Speaking before the match, Cool Hand said: “I feel like I can definitely make it four [nightly wins] in a row. I’ve got a really tough draw, but there are no easy games in this Premier League.

Luke Humphries congratulated Luke Littler on his win ( Image: Sky Sports)
“I believe I’m playing at a level where it’s going to take a top performance to beat me, and I feel like the best player in the world at the moment. I’ve put myself in a good position, but the goal remains the same – finishing in the top four. You cannot get ahead of yourself because it can all come crashing down, so I need to keep pushing.”

The two Lukes have great respect for each other, which isn’t the case with all the players. Littler recently clashed with Ricardo Pietreczko, who labelled him “arrogant” after they faced off at the Belgian Darts Open earlier this month.

The German, known as “Pikachu”, later apologised, writing: “I wanted to apologise for my behaviour on stage. I was really proud of reaching the semi finals but got a little bit too emotional and overreacted in the game. Sorry Luke Littler and big respect for what you achieved! And usually I am also a fan of fancy checkouts.”