Luke Littler follows victory in Belfast with another in Manchester to move top of Premier League table, above Luke Humphries; Michael van Gerwen drops down to fourth as he clings on to final play-off spot; watch Week 11 on Thursday April 11, live on Sky Sports from 7pm
Friday 5 April 2024 13:20, UK
Wayne Mardle says Luke Littler is "going to change the game" with the way he plays darts after the 17-year-old claimed his second-straight Premier League nightly win in Manchester on Thursday.
Littler moved top of the table as he backed up his triumph in Belfast last week with another on Night 10, defeating Michael van Gerwen 6-3 in the quarter-finals, Nathan Aspinall 6-4 in the semis and then Gerwyn Price 6-3 in the final.
Sky Sports' Mardle says the lack of convention shown by Littler - who has picked up an army of fans since reaching the final of the World Championship at Alexandra Palace in January - is changing the way he thinks about darts.
One such example was when Littler completed a 131 checkout against Aspinall with two double tops.
Mardle said: "I have watched, played and been involved in darts for way too long and Luke coming along and doing what he is doing has changed my opinion about how things should be done.
"Darts is all about patterns but he doesn't care about patterns and goes his own way. He doesn't care if someone says 'don't do that'.
"When someone is good enough to do that, you realise it is not a problem. He has opened my eyes. You don't need to stick to convention.
"He is going to change the game by doing it. The kids and adults will learn from him. There are no negatives."
Speaking after his victory, Littler told Sky Sports: "I think I have definitely settled into the Premier League. The first five to six weeks I won my first game and then lost, but winning in Belfast last week gave me so much confidence.
"There are still a lot of weeks to go, so I have to keep plugging away and getting points and I am sure I will make the play-offs."
Littler is now onto 23 points for the campaign, one clear of world No 1 and reigning world champion Luke Humphries, with Aspinall (18 points) and Van Gerwen (17 points) rounding out the play-off spots with six weeks of the regular season to come.
Sky Sports commentator Dan Dawson doesn't believe Littler's showing in Manchester was his best, however, and has concerns over Van Gerwen's form as he falls down the leaderboard with only one win from the last six weeks.
"I don't want to be contrarian, but I don't think he [Littler] was that good tonight," Dawson said on the Love The Darts Podcast.
"Van Gerwen was poor. Neither of them were that good in that game, Littler was just a bit better. And I don't think he was that brilliant against Aspinall - he was beatable.
"Look, he has thrown some good stuff at points tonight and he has won, but he's played better than this on a number of nights and come away with a semi-final defeat or whatever.
"A lot of things are going this young man's way, and we already know his quality. He's amazing, absolutely brilliant, and he's now winning things when he's not playing his best.
"Being top of the Premier League after this many weeks is a real statement of intent. He's going to be at the O2 [for the play-offs], I'm pretty sure of that, though I'm not sure Michael van Gerwen is going to be at this rate."
Dawson added: "I don't really know what's going on or where he's at. He was doing things in that game with Littler that I don't really understand.
"You expect MVG to come good, and he did in this Premier League by winning three weeks on the trot, but he has been poor since then.
"If you look at the last two years in the Premier League, his second half of each campaign has not been good. He only won four games in the last seven weeks last year and he only won six in seven the year before. He dropped down the league.
"It's Rob Cross and Michael Smith that are closer to that top four, and right now it's Van Gerwen sat on the precipice. Luke Humphries is playing brilliantly, Littler is playing brilliantly and Nathan Aspinall has leapfrogged him.
"He is in danger. If he doesn't buck his ideas up, he might miss out on the play-offs - which has happened before but is a rarity."
The Premier League next heads to Birmingham for Night 11 next Thursday, with Littler to play Rob Cross, Price to face Smith, Van Gerwen to meet Aspinall and Wright to tackle Humphries.
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