Luke Littler silenced the Liverpool crowd with a convincing 6-1 victory over Johnny Clayton on night 12, closing the gap at the top of the Premier League.
Creighton normally maintains its lead at the top of the Premier League with 32 points with four weeks left, while Littler is just three behind with 29 points.
Gerwyn Price is third with 19 points and Michael van Gerwen is fourth with 18 points.
With Jan van Veen in second place with 14 points and defending champion Luke Humphries in sixth with 13 points, the battle for the final night is at a critical stage.
The win was Littler’s fourth on a nightly basis this season, and the Mancunian spent the night defying the jeers of the partisan Liverpool crowd who were on his side throughout the night.
But Littler continued to perform well throughout, especially in doubles, scoring a big win in his quest to enter final night in first place.
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Luke Littler insists he won’t be satisfied with just making the Premier League play-offs and plans to chase Johnny Clayton for the top spot in the table.
“It was a good night, I’m very happy with myself,” Littler told Sky Sports.
“Normally we don’t have doubles, but tonight we had a double and I’m very grateful for it, there were a lot of important doubles at important times.
“I’m very close to Jonny right now, three points behind. I’m going to chase – I want to finish on top again – and if not, then not. But there’s still four weeks left.”
In the final game against Creighton, Littler gave the Welshman no chance and took a 5-0 lead. In the first three legs, Creighton’s only chance to check out came in the bullseye.
Creighton managed to stop the rot and avoid suffering a whitewashed defeat, but it only delayed Littler’s victory by one foot.
Littler is anxious to overcome MVG, Humphries
Littler defied Michael van Gerwen’s arrogant attitude and won the final in a 6-5 semi-final.
The match was a real show for Dutchman Van Gerwen, who scored the highest score in the ninth inning, 71 per cent in doubles, and averaged 107.54 points, but Littler managed to hold on, change darts and finish in style from 3-1 down.
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Luke Littler gave it his all by hitting the final two in his semi-final against Michael van Gerwen at Liverpool
Even after Littler’s counterattack, the match looked as if Van Gerwen would take it, when he defeated Littler’s throw with 11 darters, leading 5-4 and giving the match an opportunity to throw. However, Littler always broke back in straight sets and led the match to great cheers until the end.
The world number one then fired a 180 at the most crucial moment of the final leg to move up to 46 and take it over the top, giving the crowd plenty of attention.
Luke Humphries was sent off by Liverpool without any more points in their 6-2 quarter-final defeat to Liverpool, with their Premier League final hopes dealt a crushing blow.
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Highlights of the Premier League darts match between Luke Littler and Luke Humphries on Liverpool night 12
Humphries was scoring, but his doubles were lax at just 18%, rattling all four legs as Littler raced to a 4-0 lead.
Humphries managed to hold off two throws, but fell short, resulting in his seventh loss to the world No. 1-ranked opponent in his past eight meetings.
Creighton showed wins in class with wins over Van Veen and Bunting
Creighton defeated Jan van Veen 6-5 in the final leg to qualify for the sixth night final.
Leading 2-0, Van Veen looked to be in control, but the Welshman showed once again that he was not going to give up a fight, overcoming a number of throwing breaks to eventually hold on, during which he hit a massive 121 checkout to level the match at 3-3.
After another hold, “The Ferret” scored a sensational 156 checkout to move one step away from victory.
The story didn’t end there, though, as Van Veen found his own break to tie the score at 5-5. However, after Van Veen missed a match dart to the bull, Creighton made the most of his shot and fell to D16, but held on to that position despite the pressure of chasing glory at Liverpool.
Creighton also had a nail-biting 6-5 victory in the quarterfinals against local hero Stephen Bunting.
The game was a completely pitched affair and, as they have done throughout the Premier League, Creighton grew into the game, kept their composure and sealed the match on D8 with a nervy decider, much to the dismay of the partisan Liverpool crowd.
Creighton’s consistency throughout this Premier League season has been very strong, with this victory being their ninth quarterfinal win in 12 weeks.
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Josh Lock almost hits one of the strangest nine-darters of all time against Michael van Gerwen in the Premier League
Elsewhere, Van Veen debuted his new darts and started the night by winning a touch 6-4 battle with Gerwyn Price.
Meanwhile, Van Gerwen started the night with a 6-3 win over Josh Lock.
Who will win this year’s Premier League Darts? Luke Humphries will defend his title and the fight can be seen on Sky Sports every Thursday until May. Stream darts and other top sports now.
