Luke Littler to be protected by darts rivals as Luke Humphries disagrees with Gerwyn Price

Luke Humphries has given his verdict on rival Luke Littler before their Premier League Darts clash.

Luke Humphries has insisted that his 17-year-old Premier League Darts opponent on Thursday Luke Littler will be protected by his fellow players on the senior tour. Littler has proven that he belongs among the elite players with victory at the Bahrain Masters and a Dutch Masters final, after reaching the World Championship pinnacle against Humphries.

Littler defeated Humphries in Den Bosch on his way to a final loss to Michael van Gerwen, but the reigning world champion will get the chance at revenge in Cardiff on the opening night of the Premier League. Littler has taken the world by storm and Humphries has come to terms with the idea that he could be battling the youngster for the next two decades.

“Playing against Luke is not something I’m scared of, or that I’ll have to avoid, because I’ll have to play him many, many times over the next 20 years,” Humphries said. “I’m sure he won’t be nervous about facing me and all the other big players with the Premier League coming up.

“Of course I got the one that means the most to me by winning the World Championship, but that’s in the past now and we have to look to the future. I don’t feel like he’s taken any of the gloss away from my world title – he deserves all the plaudits he gets because he’s achieved something I don’t think we’ll ever see again.”

Littler and Humphries’ rival Gerwyn Price will be hoping to outdo both in his home venue this week, but believes that the media hype surrounding Littler is unfair to Humphries. The 2021 world champion claimed that Humphries did not get the recognition that he deserved for winning at Alexandra Palace, with all eyes on Littler instead.

But Humphries has played down that theory and insisted that he very much got what he wanted at Ally Pally, while confirming that he and his fellow stars will “look after” Littler on the senior tour. “My dream wasn’t for everybody to go crazy about me – it was to be world champion, and I’ve fulfilled that dream,” he added.