Luke Littler overcame a chorus of boos in Liverpool to strengthen his grip on a Premier League play-off place with an impressive 6-1 win over Jonny Clayton. The 19-year-old Manchester United fan was booed throughout the night on Merseyside, but kept his cool to claim his fourth nightly win in week 12.
The world champion saw off Luke Humphries 6-2 in the quarter-finals, but was pushed to the limit by Michael van Gerwen in the last four, eventually winning 6-5. In the final, Littler quickly raced into a 4-0 lead over Clayton after capitalising on missed doubles from the 2021 Premier League champion. While Clayton was only able to land one out of his six double attempts, Littler averaged more than 104 and had a 60% checkout rate to secure victory.
With the top four in the Premier League table going through to finals night, Clayton leads the way overall, three points clear of second-placed Littler, who is 15 ahead of Gian van Veen in fifth. Clayton and Littler are clear of the rest with four league-phase nights to go before finals night at London's O2 Arena on 28 May. Littler said: "I'm very close to Jonny now and I'm going to go chasing. I want to finish top once again and if it's not to be then it's not to be, but there are still four weeks left to play for."
Comparing his reception in Rotterdam last Thursday to the one in Liverpool, Littler said: "Rotterdam was way louder than this tonight. There was a little bit [of booing] but this week was nothing compared to last week. I've just got to forget about it. I was definitely focused and wanted to win tonight, and that's what I've done."
Defending champion Luke Humphries remains down in sixth, five points adrift of Michael van Gerwen in the fourth and final play-off spot. The world number two has just seven match wins after 12 weeks and is yet to win a night this time around. His average of 99.39 was higher than Littler's in their quarter-final but his checkout rate was down at 18%, compared to the world champion's 46%.
