Luke Littler has been warned to learn from his reaction to the crowd ahead of the next Premier League Darts night. The 18-year-old saw victory slip through his fingers against Michael van Gerwen last week and was seemingly impacted by the Liverpool crowd.
raced into a 4-0 lead before seven-time champion Van Gerwen staged an unlikely comeback. As the tide began to turn against the reigning champion, Littler was booed on Merseyside as to earn a 6-5 win.
Littler had anticipated a hostile reception due to being a fan. However, he cut a frustrated figure following the crowd reaction, and former darts player Vincent van der Voort has criticised his response.
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“Sure, you can provoke the crowd, but you have to be able to take it when it comes back at you,” Van der Voort said of Littler on the . “He’s still young and needs to learn how to deal with this.
“You don’t need to provoke or respond to the crowd. I’ve never seen him like that before—he usually comes across as so calm, like nothing fazes him. This was a completely different side.”
“For the guy in the crowd, this was probably the highlight of his night,” Van der Voort added. “Imagine you’re a Liverpool fan and you managed to get under Littler’s skin. He was up 4-0 and still lost 6-5. That’s a dream scenario for them.”
‘The Nuke’ still leads the Premier League standings on 30 points, having won four of the 12 nights so far. Night 13 is set to take place in Birmingham tonight.
Littler will look to bounce back from his Liverpool disappointment as he prepares to face Stephen Bunting in the opening round at the Utilita Arena. The pair have faced off four times already this year, including Littler’s 6-1 dismantling in the World Championship semi-finals.
The teenager also won their first two Premier League meetings before Bunting clinched a 5-5 victory in Rotterdam last month. Ahead of their next clash, Bunting has revealed how Littler’s unusual approach to pre-match practice can unsettle his opponents.
“I think he's probably the one with the mind games, to be fair. Although I'm probably the one with the experience," Bunting told .
“He's doing things in the practice room that we're taught not to do. So, he very rarely picks the darts up in the practice room, very strange.
“He'll be sat on his phone either watching Man United or playing a game on his phone. And I'll be on the practice board for four hours.
“Then he'll get up, he'll throw for bull, and then he'll get on stage and average 110. And you're like: ‘How are you doing that?’ So, it's incredible."
