Luke Littler’s furious gesture to rival backfires as three missed match darts costs him career first

Luke Littler has failed to win a third Premier League night in a row having lost to Gian van Veen in the quarter-finals.

Littler was bidding to become just the fourth man to do so since 2022 when the Premier League changed to nightly winners, with Michael van Gerwen, Luke Humphries and Michael Smith having already accomplished the feat.

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It looked like the reigning world champion would do so in Manchester against Van Veen as they duked it out in the 11th leg with the score at 5-5.

But Littler misfired with his first match dart, agonisingly pinning it just below the wire of double seven.

Had it landed, he would have produced a special finish of 134.

Van Veen then stepped up to the oche, requiring 90 to win.

The Dutch star landed treble 20, leaving him with double 15 to beat Littler.

But Van Veen pinned 15 instead, leaving him without a match dart.

‘The Nuke’ fires up, but instantly made to regret it

He reeled back in disbelief, but in doing so, prompted a furious reaction from Littler who threw his hand up as if to hurry up his rival.

Littler then whipped up the Manchester crowd, only to blow two more match darts.

Unfortunately for Littler, Van Veen would not make the same mistake twice as he pinned double six to progress to the semi-finals.

‘The Nuke’ subsequently delivered a frosty handshake to Van Veen before applauding his home crowd and exiting the stage.

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Replays later showed Littler even dished out a sarcastic ‘well done’ to Van Veen when shaking his hand.

Wayne Mardle reacts to fiery exchange

Reacting to the spicy scenes, Sky Sports commentator Wayne Mardle said: “I know exactly what happened.

“Van Veen went inside on D15 and Luke was happy about that, so kind of gave it the Simon Whitlock ‘well done’.

“You shouldn’t do that and as he has done that, Gian has turned around thinking, ‘Why did you do that?’

“I can lip read, but I won’t repeat what Luke said as I don’t want to hand in my notice! You have got to say that Gian handled it better.”

Van Veen will next face Josh Rock in the semi-finals.

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Thursday’s result marked the second time Littler had been beaten by Van Veen in this year’s Premier League, with the Dutch star beating his rival on night one in Newcastle.

However, Littler got a win over Van Veen when it mattered most as he crushed his rival in the final of the 2026 World Darts Championship.

Littler breezed past Van Veen 7-1, with the Dutchman winning a measly three legs from the third set onwards.

The teenage sensation’s victory at Ally Pally made him the first back-to-back world champion in 10 years.