Luke Littler demolished Stephen Bunting on the way to another victory after being booed by the crowd at the Premier League Darts in Newcastle – before going on to win yet another night. The Nuke has been in fabulous form of late and came into night eight of the competition six points clear at the top of the table – and he didn’t slow down.
The 18-year-old was drawn against Bunting in what was always likely to be a mismatch, with his opponent rock-bottom of the Premier League and without a single win to his name yet. Nevertheless, it was Bunting who had the crowd on his side from the off, with the Newcastle audience wanting the underdog to succeed.
It was made clear to Littler straight away, with boos greeting the announcement of his name as he waited to walk onto the stage. The youngster looked bemused by the reaction, furrowing his brow before pointing to his ear to suggest he wouldn’t be affected by the crowd.
That very much proved to be the case, too, with Littler turning that annoyance into supreme darts on the oche. He rattled in five 180s, two 100-plus finishes and six of his 12 darts at doubles to dismiss Bunting 6-0 inside 10 minutes.
“I said last week I’d like to finish top again, two years in a row, and that’s my goal from now on,” a determined Littler told Sky Sports before a dart was thrown. “I want to get as many points as I can and clinch top spot once again.”
Bunting averaged a more than respectable 102, yet Littler’s average of 110 was simply too good. After watching Littler take out 110 with double 20, Bunting graciously accepted his defeat, hugging his opponent and sharing some words before disappearing off stage.
Remarkably, he’s now gone 12 matches without a victory. That means, if he loses to Nathan Aspinall next week in Berlin, he will match Peter Wright’s record streak of 13 matches without a win from the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
“You can’t really judge yourself at the minute how you perform against Luke Littler because, on every single statistic, he’s on top in this Premier League,” Sky Sports pundit Mark Webster said.
Littler maintained his form in the semi-final to dispatch Rob Cross 6-3 and book his place in the final against the familiar foe of Luke Humphries. The world No.1 had to be on his best form to see off a determined Aspinall 6-5 in his semi-final, which turned into a thriller.
Humphries had no answer for Littler in the showpiece final, going down 6-1 to the youngster, who cemented his position at the top of the table in style.
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in an unbeatable new deal that saves £192 and includes 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
