Luke Littler appeared to aim a dig at the Newcastle crowd following his quarter-final defeat against Gian van Veen on night one of the 2026 Premier League Darts.
On Thursday (February 5), Littler and Van Veen took to the oche in a repeat of the 2025/26 PDC World Darts Championship final.
The 19-year-old, who won the 2024 edition of the Premier League, was certainly not at his best in Newcastle as the Dutchman secured his first-ever Premier League win.
Littler averaged 96.98 compared to Van Veen’s 95.55, but it was landing doubles that proved difficult for the world number one, with the teenager landing just four of his 12 attempts.
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Meanwhile, Van Veen finished with six finishes from 14 attempts.
Van Veen won the opening leg and even scored 180 with his first throw of the evening before Littler made it 1-1 after two legs.
The 23-year-old secured the third before Littler hit back by making it 2-2.
Ahead of the eighth leg, Littler led 4-3 and was even sarcastically booed by the Newcastle crowd after hitting six perfect darts.
However, Van Veen broke back to level things at 4-4 before going on to win the ninth and tenth legs, eventually winning 6-4, meaning Littler’s evening ended early. Van Veen progressed to a semi-final against Jonny Clayton who defeated Josh Rock earlier in the night.
Shortly after the defeat, Littler took to social media and posted to his Instagram story.
Captioning a background of a television showing Luke Humphries in action, Littler wrote: “Newcastle u was brilliant, onto next week…ps 3-1.”
Although it is not confirmed, Littler was likely referring to Newcastle United’s 3-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester City in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final, which took place at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday (February 4).
However, Littler may not be too happy that City have reached the final, as he’s a Manchester United fan.
Fans also offered their thoughts on Littler's performance.
One said: "GVV shocks Luke Littler on debut. Can already sense this is going to be a good tournament."
Another added: "Luke Littler is human after all. Crazy."
A third claimed: "Huge for Van Veen to get that Luke Littler win out the way so early!"
Littler will return to Premier League action next Thursday (February 12) in Antwerp, Belgium.
Topics: Luke Littler, Darts, Manchester United, Football
Luke Davies