Premier League Night 13 Review: Luke Littler Defies Hostile Crowd, Regains Top Spot In Premier League

After suffering a first round exit last week in Rotterdam, the seventeen-year-old rebounded superbly on Thursday night. Opening up the evening with a convincing 6-3 win over Gerwyn Price, who saw his incredibly slim chances of making the playoffs get even slimmer as a result, Littler progressed into the semi-finals against the in-form Nathan Aspinall.

The Stockport star raced into a 5-2 lead, as Littler just couldn't compete with Aspinall's incredible grouping and high scoring early on. But the Asp began to falter after squandering some match dart opportunities, allowing the Nuke to capitalise.

Pulling the match back to 5-5, and Aspinall missing a fifth match dart, Littler only needed one to pin double 20 and move into yet another Premier League final.

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In the final, Littler met 'Voltage' Rob Cross, who had earlier in the evening stunned both Michael Smith and Michael Van Gerwen after failing to win a quarter final fixture in any of the last six Premier League weeks. 

Littler blitzed Cross to start the game, racing to a 5-0 lead with signs of a whitewash looking to be on the cards. But the former World Champion rallied back to reduce the gap to three legs at 5-2. But Littler wasn't going to be on the receiving end of a comeback tonight, hitting his trusted Double 10 to secure a 6-2 win and another five points in the Premier League table.

With just three weeks left of regular competition until the playoffs at the O2 in London, Littler could guarantee his place with another strong performance next week. 11 points ahead of 5th Place Michael Smith, Littler would need to simply better the Bully Boy's performances once across the next three weeks, or win just another five points in May.

By Jaspar Shepherdson

(@jasparshepmedia on X/Twitter and Instagram)

Image Credit: Darts Actueel on Wikipedia/YouTube