Michael van Gerwen says that Luke Littler struggled to reach his usual high standards despite beating the Dutchman in the quarter-final of Premier League Darts night ten. Littler went on to triumph in his Manchester homecoming to record successive victories.
The 17-year-old sensation has climbed to the top of the Premier League Darts standings after overcoming a small wobble in form. But Van Gerwen was not hugely impressed with his opponent’s 6-3 victory.
Three-time PDC world champion Van Gerwen insisted that neither player played well, but pointed out Littler’s inconsistency in their matches. He feels that the Brit struggles to maintain a ‘level’ when they compete against each other.
“It was a very bad match from both of us,” Van Gerwen told Viaplay. “The feeling was definitely not right with me. But actually I haven’t played a single really good game against him.
“With Luke it is often all or nothing against me as well, either he throws insanely well or he reaches such a level as he did today.
“I’m not in the best phase of my career at the moment and when you can still win matches like that it gives you the confidence you need. So it’s quite unfortunate that it didn’t work out tonight. I just have to take this defeat on the chin.”
Van Gerwen claimed in a separate interview that Littler has never looked “comfortable” when playing against him and had never won by a “convincing” margin. Littler has now hit back at that claim by insisting that his victories over the 34-year-old have been “comfortable”.
“We all know he’s not playing to his best ability and certainly I didn’t against him. But the scrappier games are the better ones to win, just drag yourself over the line,” Littler said.
“But every time I’ve beaten Michael it’s been pretty comfortable, 6-2 or 6-3. When he’s beaten me we’ve had to go to a last leg.
“But yeah we know he’s not playing well and just glad to the better of him when he’s playing bad.”
Littler amusingly revealed that his victory over Gerwyn Price in Thursday’s final was down to his “bad mood” over Manchester United’s dramatic 4-3 defeat against Chelsea. A boyhood United fan, Littler was watching the Premier League match backstage before his final.
“We were watching backstage, we were winning 3-2 and we conceded a penalty and Cole Palmer scored and then he scored again,” Littler said.
“I was in a bad mood, I was like, ‘I’m winning this now’. It gave me motivation. There were a few Manchester United fans on the walkout so I was glad to win.”
