Littler wins Premier League night two in Glasgow

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Frank Keogh

BBC Sport Senior Journalist

13 February 2025, 23:07 GMT

Updated 3 minutes ago

World champion Luke Littler defeated world number one Luke Humphries 6-5 in a last-leg decider to win night two of the Premier League in Glasgow.

The 18-year-old was on the brink of defeat earlier in the evening against Rob Cross, but he fought back from 5-1 behind.

Humphries was hampered in the final against his fellow Englishman after needing a plaster on a cut on the middle finger of his right throwing hand.

Despite that, and his frustration at whistling in the crowd, Humphries took a 5-4 lead before Littler won the next two legs in a performance which saw a 170 checkout, 55% doubles success and an average of 101.03 compared to his opponent’s 93.68.

“It was a weird final. We both weren’t playing well,” said world number two Littler.

“Now and again I look up at the screen and we’re on a 90 average. The crowd got involved.”

Littler was runner-up to Humphries in last year’s world final before beating him to win the 2024 Premier League.

At one stage in the final referee Kirk Bevins had to tell the crowd to stop whistling, while earlier on Gerwyn Price mocked spectators by whistling himself when they got on his back.

Littler had not reached the final in the previous six tournaments he had played since last month’s world title win, despite averaging more than 105 in four of those defeats.

But he avenged the last-leg loss to Michael van Gerwen of seven days ago with a dominant 6-2 victory over the Dutchman in the semi-finals after a stunning comeback against Rob Cross where he reeled off five straight legs to win.

“I was down 5-1 and then you get a few legs on the bounce and my confidence, it just hit the roof and I managed to pull it back,” added Littler.

Humphries, victor on night one in Belfast a week ago, produced two comeback wins in Glasgow, winning four consecutive legs to beat Price in the semi-finals, having achieved the same feat against Chris Dobey.

Littler became the first player to come from 5-1 down to win a match in the current Premier League format as he defeated 2018 world champion Cross 6-5 in the opener.

Cross, who had only beaten Littler once in five Premier League meetings last year, looked destined for victory but to a background of boos from the boisterous crowd, missed three match darts.

The teenager seized his opportunity with a 54.5% checkout success and an average of nearly 105.

Stephen Bunting is still without a win on his Premier League return after a 6-1 defeat to Van Gerwen, who averaged 109 in a ruthless display.

Nathan Aspinall also had a second blank with a 6-4 loss to Price, while Humphries won by the same scoreline after fighting back from 4-2 down against Dobey in a rerun of last week’s Belfast final.

Premier League Darts Night 2 results

Final

Luke Littler 6-5 Luke Humphries

Semi-finals

Luke Littler 6-2 Michael van Gerwen

Gerwyn Price 4-6 Luke Humphries

Quarter-finals

Rob Cross 5-6 Luke Littler

Michael van Gerwen 6-1 Stephen Bunting

Nathan Aspinall 4-6 Gerwyn Price

Luke Humphries 6-4 Chris Dobey

Premier League Darts table

Premier League Darts format and points system

Premier League Darts is played across 16 initial weeks in the league stage with quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final each night.

Each of the eight players is guaranteed to face the other seven in the quarter-finals in weeks 1-7 and 9-15, with weeks 8 and 16’s fixtures done off the table. It means we will get fourth v fifth in Sheffield on the final league-stage night, with the play-off spots potentially on the line.

Players earn two points per quarter-final win, an additional point if they win their semi-final and five for winning the night.

The top four players after the group stage progress to the play-off night at London’s O2 Arena on 23 May, with first facing fourth and second against third in a best-of-19-leg match. The final, which is the best of 21 legs, follows.

If players are level on points after the 16 weeks then places are decided by nights won and then matches won.