Littler Suffers Early Exit in Brighton After Facing Hostile Crowd

World champion Luke Littler endured a disappointing night in Brighton, suffering a quarter-final exit in the Premier League after being booed by the crowd. His lowest televised PDC average of 83.94 was not enough to overcome Stephen Bunting, who capitalized on Littler's struggles to secure a win. The 19-year-old's performance was marred by a poor start, and despite changing his darts, he failed to recover. Former Premier League star Wayne Mardle attributed Littler's subpar performance to a 'knock-on' effect from his spat with Gian van Veen the previous week. Bunting, who turned 41 on Thursday, took advantage of Littler's mistakes and won the match, later expressing sympathy for his opponent, saying, 'It's tough because the crowd was giving him some stick.' Meanwhile, Jonny Clayton staged a remarkable comeback to defeat Michael Van Gerwen in the final, moving three points ahead of Littler in the table.