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Luke Littler silenced the boo boys as he swept to Premier League glory in Liverpool.
The back-to-back world champion received a hostile reception throughout the evening but responded in style with victories over Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen and Jonny Clayton to win night 12 of the weekly roadshow.
And success on the banks of the Mersey will mean more to him than most of his many victories.
Littler has never enjoyed the warmest of welcomes in Liverpool, mainly because he is a Manchester United fan and has been quick to mock the Anfield club’s fortunes on social media.
However, the general mood towards the teenager has soured in recent weeks following his spat with Gian van Veen in Manchester and he felt the full force at the M&S Bank Arena.
But Littler let his darts do the talking as he claimed a third nightly victory of the campaign, which puts him in a strong position to qualify for the play-offs at the O2 at the end of May.
Facing a chorus of boos during his on-stage interview, he said: “It’s been a good night. I am very happy with myself.
“It is what it is, I have won, we move on to next week.
“Rotterdam was way, way louder than this, this week was nothing compared to last week. I have got to forget about it all, I was definitely focused tonight, I wanted to win and that’s what I have done.”
The teenager had to show his grit to come through a testing trio of matches, first dispatching the defending champion Humphries 6-2 with a solid performance before having to dig deep against Van Gerwen.
The Dutchman put in a majestic performance in the semi-final, averaging 107.54 and firing nine 180s, but Littler rallied from 3-1 down to win a final-leg decider 6-5.
He then finished the job against Clayton, who was going for a third successive nightly win, producing his best display of the evening and sprinting to a 6-1 finish.
His victory over Humphries has left the defending champion in danger of not making it to the O2 while Van Gerwen strengthened his chances.