Luke Littler wins Premier League darts night with emphatic display over Johnny Clayton

Luke Littler has ended Johnny Clayton’s streak of Premier League nightly wins as he overcame the Ferret in the final on Thursday night in Liverpool

Luke Littler was back to brilliant best on Thursday evening – despite a hostile reception from the Liverpool crowd.

The Nuke was greeted by a chorus of boos in Liverpool – but the Manchester United fan was quick to silence the crowd from the first time he toed the oche. The World Champion was brilliant on the outer-ring, first vanquishing his great rival Luke Humphries.

After Cool Hand, Littler had an instant classic with Michael van Gerwen – coming from behind to stun the Dutchman. And he simply blew Johnny Clayton, who has been in the form of his life, away in the final to close the gap at the top of the Prem standings.

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“My word that was brilliant from Littler…Clayton didn’t play poorly, but The Nuke was just that good in the end,” one fan shared on social media.

“What a superb performance by Luke Littler. Top of his game tonight,” a second said. As a third posted: “Playing like that, no one touches Littler. Fair play kid!”

And another added: “That’s why Littler is comfortably the best in the world! Even with the Scousers booing him!”

Speaking after his win, Littler said: “It was a good night. I’m very happy with myself. Usually the doubling is not there, but I’m very thankful it was tonight. A lot of crucial doubles at crucial times.

“I’m very close to Jonny now, three points off. I’m going to go chasing – I want to finish top once again – and if it’s not to be, it’s not to be. But there’s still four weeks to go.

“It is what it is [crowd booing]. I’ve won and we move on to next week.

“Rotterdam was way louder than this tonight. This week was nothing compared to last week.

“But I’ve just got to forget about it. I was focussed, I definitely wanted to win tonight and that’s what I’ve done.”