Luke Littler shrugged off the boos he received in Liverpool as he won Night 12 of the Premier League, declaring that the reaction he received on Night 11 in Rotterdam was the “worst he has experienced”.
Littler has become used to receiving jeers from crowds of late, with the worst coming from his spat with Dutch No 1 Gian van Veen on Night Nine in Manchester.
Van Veen won a controversial match in which Littler reacted angrily after his opponent turned towards him when throwing match darts, the Dutchman saying Littler was “out of order” for “celebrating towards the crowd”.
That led to Littler receiving boos as he headed to the stage for each of his three matches in his run to the final on Night 11 in Rotterdam in front of Van Veen’s home crowd.
Once again, Littler was not given a warm reception as the Manchester native arrived in Liverpool. However, he defied the crowd in the M&S Bank Arena by beating Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, and Jonny Clayton for his fifth nightly win.
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Speaking after winning Night 12, Luke Littler insists he won’t settle for just a Premier League playoff place and plans to chase Jonny Clayton for the top spot in the table
He now sits just three points adrift of Clayton in top spot with four regular weeks remaining.
For Littler, after his experience in Rotterdam, nothing was going to faze him.
“It is what it is [crowd booing]. I’ve won and we move on to next week,” Littler told Sky Sports.
“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 focused, I definitely wanted to win tonight and that’s what I’ve done.”
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Luke Littler let it all out after pinning the last two legs in his semi-final against Michael van Gerwen in Liverpool
He later added: “I even proved to people last week that I can win games under those circumstances and I’ve done it again.
“There is no anxiety there. I just expect the worst but it was not worse than Rotterdam.
“That is the worst I have experienced. It is good to come through those games under those circumstances.
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After his clash with Dutchman Gian van Veen, Luke Littler is jeered during his walk-on as he faces Gerwyn Price in Rotterdam on Night 11 in the Premier League
Littler and Van Veen ‘still not spoken’ | ‘I don’t regret anything’
It is now three weeks on from Littler and Van Veen’s original spat, which ignited the disdain for the former from the crowds each week.
Littler says the pair have still not spoken but he believes they have both “moved on” from the incident.
He is, however, looking forward to settling it with Van Veen on stage when they eventually meet once again.
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Take a look at times where world champion Luke Littler has been booed by the crowd at Premier League Darts and World Darts Championship
“No, we have not spoken, but I’m not the type of person to go up and talk to him or something like that,” he said.
“Maybe he is waiting for me to go and talk to him, but I’m not the type of person.
“Even in the practice room, people will talk to me first. I am not the type of person to be chatting away.
“We can obviously settle it on the dartboard. In the back room it has just been normal. It has just been the same preparation-wise.
“I think he’s forgotten about it. I forgot about it. If I need to talk to him, then I will.
“I don’t regret anything. Obviously, I had my opinion, he has got his opinion, so we are all entitled to it.
“I think we have both moved on with our game on stage, but off stage, obviously, we’ve not spoken. But yeah, I’m sure we will.
Who will win this year’s Premier League Darts? Luke Humphries will be defending his title and you can watch the action every single Thursday until May on Sky Sports. Stream darts and more top sport with NOW.
