Littler Booed in Brighton as Bunting Stuns World No 1
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- Luke Littler was jeered on his walkout and recorded an 83.94 average with zero 180s — his lowest in a televised PDC match — in a quarter-final defeat to Stephen Bunting on Premier League Night 10 in Brighton.
- Wayne Mardle said the display looked like a 'knock-on' from Littler's publicized spat with Gian van Veen in Manchester the previous week, adding that 'he was lobbing the darts, not with the directness he normally throws.'
- Stephen Bunting, who turned 41 on Thursday, won despite hitting just 6 of 21 darts at double, and told Sky Sports the booing was 'tough' because 'Luke… is a fantastic lad and I don't like to see that.'
- John Part said Littler 'didn't look interested,' arguing Bunting 'could have won the match 6-0' and that 'the first two legs Luke won, he had no business winning.'
- Jonny Clayton overturned a 5-2 deficit against Michael van Gerwen in the final — surviving four match darts — to claim his third nightly win of 2026 and move three points clear of Littler at the top of the table.
- Clayton downplayed any ongoing rift, noting that at the Brighton Centre 'Gian was in with us and Luke was in the other one. There's nothing in that at all.'
- Night 11 moves to Rotterdam, where Littler faces Gerwyn Price in a pivotal table match while Van Veen plays Luke Humphries on his first Premier League night on home soil.
Why it matters: Littler's sub-84 average — with not a single maximum — is a startling statistical nadir for a player who entered the night as favourite, and the loss pushes him three points behind Clayton with the table tightening ahead of the Rotterdam and Berlin nights before Finals Night at the O2 on May 28.
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