Luke Littler silenced the Liverpool crowd and closed the gap at the top of the Premier League table with an emphatic 6-1 victory over Jonny Clayton on Night 12.
Clayton is still in top spot in the Premier League with four regular weeks remaining on 32 points, but Littler is now just three points behind on 29.
Gerwyn Price sits in third spot on 19 points, with Michael van Gerwen in fourth on 18 points.
Gian van Veen is then next in line on 14 points, while defending champion Luke Humphries is in sixth on 13 points, with the race for Finals Night really hitting crunch time.
The win marks Littler’s fourth nightly win of his campaign and the Manchester native spent his night defying the jeers of the partisan Liverpool audience who were on his opponent’s side throughout the evening.
However, Littler stayed strong throughout, especially on the doubles, and sealed a big win in his quest to go into Finals Night in top spot.
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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
“It was a good night. I’m very happy with myself,” Littler told Sky Sports.
“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.”
In the final against Clayton, Littler raced into a 5-0 lead as he denied the Welshman any opportunity to get into the contest. In the first three legs Clayton’s only checkout chances came on bullseye.
Clayton managed to stop the rot to ensure he did not suffer a whitewash defeat but that only delayed Littler’s victory by one leg.
Littler imperious to overcome MVG, Humphries
Littler defied an imperious display from Michael van Gerwen as he took the deciding leg in a 6-5 semi-final.
The match was a display of vintage Van Gerwen with nine maximums, 71 per cent on the doubles, and a 107.54 average for the Dutchman but somehow Littler managed to hang on, change his darts, and go from 3-1 down to showing off imperious finishing.
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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
Even after Littler’s fight back, it looked like the match was Van Gerwen’s to take when he broke Littler’s throw with an 11-darter to move 5-4 in front and give himself the opportunity to throw for the match. However, Littler made sure to break straight back, let out a celebration, and take the game all the way.
The world No 1 then found a 180 at the most pivotal moment of the final leg to set himself up on 46, which he took out on tops before giving it large to the crowd.
Luke Humphries was dealt a devastating blow to his Premier League finals night hopes following a 6-2 loss to Littler in the quarter-finals, seeing him walk away from Liverpool with no more points.
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Highlights of the Premier League Darts match between Luke Littler and Luke Humphries on Night 12 in Liverpool
While Humphries was scoring higher, his doubling was looser and down at just 18 per cent, allowing Littler to rattle off four legs as he raced into a 4-0 lead.
Although Humphries managed to hold his throw twice, it was nowhere near enough as he fell to a seventh loss to the world No 1 in their last eight meetings.
Clayton shows class in wins vs Van Veen, Bunting
Clayton booked his spot in a sixth nightly final with a captivating last-leg 6-5 win over Gian van Veen.
Van Veen looked in control as he went 2-0 up but the Welshman showed again that he is battle hardened as he lasted through a flurry of breaks of throw before eventually holding, during which he found a massive 121 checkout, to level the game at 3-3.
After holding once again, ‘The Ferret’ clinched a sensational 156 checkout to move one leg from victory.
That was not the end of the tale because Van Veen found a break of his own to level the scores at 5-5. However, after Van Veen missed a match dart at the bull, Clayton fired in a maximum and got down to D16, which he took under pressure for a shot at glory in Liverpool.
Clayton also came through a nail-biting 6-5 quarter-final against hometown hero Stephen Bunting.
The game went entirely with throw and, as he has done throughout the entire Premier League, Clayton grew into the game, stayed calm, and clinched the match on D8 in a nervy decider much to the disappointment of the partisan Liverpudlian crowd.
Such is Clayton’s consistency across this Premier League that the win marked his ninth quarter-final win across 12 weeks.
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Josh Rock almost hits one of the strangest nine darter ever against Michael Van Gerwen in their Premier League clash
Elsewhere, Van Veen started his night by winning a touch 6-4 battle against Gerwyn Price as he debuted new darts.
Meanwhile, Van Gerwen started his night with a comprehensive 6-3 win over Josh Rock.
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.
