Jan van Veen’s opinion on his altercation with Luke Littler in the Premier League remains unchanged – ‘I don’t need to have a conversation with him’ Darts News

Jan van Veen says there is no need to argue with Luke Littler after their altercation on night nine of the Premier League in Manchester.

Van Veen won a controversial match in early April, when Littler became furious when his opponent turned towards him when he threw a match dart in dramatic fashion.

The Dutchman told Sky Sports he glared at Littler, saying he was “not feeling well” as he was “celebrating to the crowd” and missed a match dart with his own double before losing the match.

But Littler spoke out for the first time about the incident from his own perspective ahead of this week’s Premier League Darts game in Rotterdam, live on Sky Sports from 6pm on Thursday and a potential semi-final clash, insisting the celebrations were for his girlfriend and father.

He also called the Dutch No. 1 a “crybaby” for putting down his darts even though the match was still going on, and said there was “no need” for Van Veen to stare at him when he had yet to throw three darts.

Hearing Littler’s version of events did not change Van Veen’s opinion of the incident, but he insisted he had no hard feelings.

“It’s a difficult issue. For me personally, it’s not (there’s no need for a conversation). He gave his opinion the other day, and I still think the same way I did two weeks ago when everything happened,” Van Veen said.

“If he wants to bury the hatchet, that’s fine. I don’t have any hard feelings towards him and I don’t know what would happen the other way around, but we’ll see what happens.”

“He has his opinion and he is entitled to it. I still have my opinion,” Van Veen added.

“I looked back on it, watched the videos, and I’m still true to my opinion.

“That’s the way it is and we’re just going to move forward with it.”

Van Veen has been a front and center figure in the darts world in recent weeks, and while he enjoys playing aggro in the sport in general, he prefers to be a bystander rather than a participant.

“I enjoy it, but only if I’m not involved, which I think is best for me,” Van Veen said.

“I think it’s good for the sport to have a little hiccup here and there, but it’s something you never want to be involved in.

“Obviously I’m looking forward to playing him next. He’ll probably be more fired up and probably average 110 or 112 against me, but that’s how good he is.

“I’m especially looking forward to playing against him next time, hopefully tomorrow.

“It’s true (we can become friends in the future). As I said earlier, I have no hard feelings.

“Everything happened in the heat of the moment, he has his opinion, I have mine, and that’s the way things go.”

Van Gerwen: Everyone is creating something out of nothing.

Michael van Gerwen believes he may have read too much into the incident between Mr Littler and his Dutch compatriot, making the needle appear larger than it actually is.

The Green Machine said that if it had been a major incident, it would have been in the papers every week after the violent clash between him and Phil Taylor.

“You all know there have been a million cases,” he said.

“People like to tell stories about it, they like to write about things, and they try to make it big.

“I know I’ve done a lot of interviews over the years, but I know exactly what you want to hear out of my mouth. I know that, but I’m not going to say it. This is absolutely nothing.”

“Nothing really happened, otherwise I might have been in the paper every week with Phil Taylor, you know that.

“It’s also about emotions and things like that. Things like that happen.”

Could we see a Littler vs. MVG spiral?

Michael Bridge and Chris Murphy discussed the fight between Van Veen and Littler on the Love The Darts podcast.

Commentator and presenter Murphy said: “The question is whether we can stop it and move on. It wasn’t just the night it happened, it seemed to spill over into the following week. It’s whether Littler can put that aside and get back to what he’s good at, which is winning a lot of darts matches.”

“Littler likes WWE’s pantomime villains. I don’t think he has any issues with Needle. Gian is a polite, mild-mannered guy, and I don’t think he was helped by what Luke did. I think 99.9 percent of the people who boo him would want to take a picture if they saw him out there,” Brisey said.

“If you look at that average (83.0 against Stephen Bunting at Brighton), it affected him. He couldn’t wait to get out of there. That’s my concern going forward. I don’t want it to get out of control.”

Littler, an arrowsmith from Warrington, revealed that he was heading to Rotterdam and said he was sincerely expecting a frosty welcome from the natives of the Netherlands.

He told website Online Darts: “I just expect the worst. When you go to Liverpool, when you go to Leeds, expect the worst. If the crowds aren’t that bad, I’ll live with it, but I’m expecting the worst.”

“Even when everyone was booing me at Brighton, I just shrugged my shoulders and said in my head, ‘It’s been a week, why don’t I forget?'” He did not react to the fans during the match.

“In Rotterdam, I’m going to put up with it a little bit if I win. I’m sure I’ll get some boos. I’m learning. I’m just going to play my game and see what happens.”

Littler added: “I can be as good as I want. I didn’t really prepare for the Brighton game. I didn’t want to go there because of the fans, but it will happen. I’m sure this week will be the same (from the crowd).”

“I’m definitely going to get better in some way. Hopefully we need to get some more points on the board and get some wins every night.”

“Like Johnny said, ‘I’m chasing him right now.’ Johnny (Clayton) said he only cares about the top four, so I can definitely chase the top spot again.”

“I’m definitely coming back to life and hopefully I’ll be able to come back to life in the next few weeks.”

Van Veen: I came to see Van Barneveld’s legendary walk-on, I want that moment too!

Van Veen is in his first year in the Premier League but is no stranger to Thursday’s venue, having attended his first Premier League night at Rotterdam Ahoy in 2016.

He has special memories of watching Raymond Van Barneveld’s famous walk-on that night and can’t wait to experience the moment for himself.

“I’m very excited. When I was a kid, the first time it was held at Ahoy Rotterdam, I was in the crowd with the legendary Raymond van Barneveld walk-on,” van Veen told Sky Sports.

“Being able to experience it for myself now is something I’m really looking forward to, especially as the number one in the Netherlands and number three in the world, and it’s a dream come true.

“My only hope in Rotterdam was not to play against Michael (van Gerwen) so I could experience it myself, but luckily that didn’t happen.

“So I’m going to be able to experience it myself and be on that stage is going to be really exciting for me and I’m probably going to have a little chat with Michael about what that feels like so we can be a little bit more prepared.”

What’s happening on night 11 of the Premier League in Berlin

The BetMGM Premier League moves across the English Channel with another important match taking place in Rotterdam.

Dutch No. 1 Jan van Veen hosts Luke Humphries on his first Premier League night at home, while home hero Michael van Gerwen takes on Johnny Clayton.

Luke Littler will be competing with Gerwyn Price in a crucial battle near the top of the table, while Stephen Bunting will be looking to push further into the play-offs as he takes on Josh Lock.

Ranking points will be awarded each night, with five awarded to the winner, three to the runner-up and two to the semi-finalists, forming a league table where the top four players will advance to the final night at the O2 in London on Thursday 28th May.

Who will win this year’s Premier League Darts? Luke Humphries will defend his title and you can watch the match every Thursday on Sky Sports until May. Stream darts and other top sports now.