Luke Littler fought back to see off Michael van Gerwen 6-4 to win night 13 of the Premier League in Birmingham, setting a new record with a fifth overall evening victory of the season.
World champion Littler had beaten Stephen Bunting 6-5 in the opening quarter-final at the Utilita Arena, leaving Bunting still bottom of the table, before also edging past Nathan Aspinall in a last-leg decider.
After defeating Rob Cross earlier in the evening, Van Gerwen regrouped to get past last week’s nightly winner Gerwyn Price and secure his spot in the final.
Van Gerwen – still chasing a first overall night win this year – made a strong start, breaking Littler in the opening leg and then opening up a 3-1 lead.
However, defending Premier League champion Littler then capitalised on some misplaced darts from the Dutchman to break back before moving 4-3 in front after more heavy scoring.
Van Gerwen had the throw in the next leg, but Littler was again first down to a finish only to miss tops.
After Van Gerwen failed to take out double 10, Littler nailed 40 at the second time of asking to wrap up a fifth nightly win on the back of a 102.5 match average.
Littler tops the table with 35 points, nine clear of Luke Humphries, with Price third and Van Gerwen now up into the final play-off spot.
“Once I got over the finish line in my first game against Stephen, I was confident,” Littler told Sky Sports after becoming the first player to win five Premier League night wins in the same season.
“I got away with it against Nathan (in the semi-final), but then it (the final) was a cracking game.
“I have enjoyed it right the way through, and I’ll certainly relax.
“Luke (Humphries) isn’t playing his best darts at the minute so I’m gradually building that point advantage over his so I am very confident I will finish top of the table.”
In the semi-finals, Littler eventually got past Aspinall in a close contest, with the world champion having survived a match dart before taking out 46 on double 10 against the throw.
Van Gerwen – a seven-time Premier League champion – hit five maximums in a solid 6-3 victory over Welshman Price, who had beaten world number one Humphries in the quarter-finals.
In the opening match of the night, Bunting had broken Littler in the first leg then held to lead 2-0 and 3-1 before the 18-year-old recovered from his slow start to take the eighth leg and level up at 4-4.
Littler missed the bullseye on match dart to finish off 170, as Bunting came back to hold and force a deciding leg, which the 18-year-old eventually edged on double five.
In his quarter-final against Chris Dobey, Aspinall had raced into a 3-0 lead before eventually closing out a 6-3 win, boosting his chances of making the play-offs.
Price had beaten Humphries in last week’s final in Liverpool and dug in again for a repeat – coming back to win the final three legs to take a 6-5 victory over the world number one on a 102 checkout.
Van Gerwen built on an early break to close out a 6-4 win over Cross, who also still has not got a nightly victory on the board.
The Premier League next heads to Leeds for night 14, after which there will be two more events ahead of the play-offs at The O2 in London on May 29.
