Price keeps his cool as Littler loses his, and Manchester gets the full soap opera
Mark Strijbosch
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The Premier League rolled into Manchester and, like many a night out there, it started with noise, escalated into confrontation and ended with the Welshman looking extremely pleased with himself. Gerwyn Price won Night Nine at the AO Arena, beating Luke Humphries 6-2, Stephen Bunting 6-2 and Gian van Veen 6-2 in a ruthlessly tidy evening’s work. Three matches, three 6-2 wins, one nightly title, no faff.
Price’s win was his second nightly success of the 2026 Premier League season and it shoved him up to second in the table on 19 points. He is level with Jonny Clayton, with Luke Littler still top on 21. Michael van Gerwen is fourth on 13, Gian van Veen fifth on 12, Luke Humphries sixth on 11, Stephen Bunting seventh on 9 and Josh Rock still adrift on 4.
And yet, for all Price’s clinical excellence, the match everyone will remember came in the quarter-finals, when Littler and Van Veen produced the sort of tetchy, needly, slightly ridiculous drama that darts does better than almost any sport short of test cricket and Italian football.
Littler v Van Veen had everything, including a small moral collapse
Van Veen beat Littler 6-5 in the quarter-finals, which was notable given Littler had arrived in Manchester chasing a third straight nightly win after victories in Dublin and Berlin. The Dutchman had led 4-1, Littler dragged it back to 5-5, and then the decider turned into a strange little psychodrama played out over double 15, double seven and a lot of feelings.
Van Veen missed inside on double 15. Littler reacted. Van Veen thought Littler had celebrated his miss. Littler then missed his own chance on double seven and, in a moment that was not exactly dripping with serenity, made a crying gesture before Van Veen stepped up and cleaned up on double six. It was all a bit pantomime villain, a bit playground squabble, a bit silly - but hey it is also why we love the darts!
Afterwards, Van Veen said Littler had been “out of order” and called him “not a good loser”. That feels hard to argue with on the evidence of the evening. Littler is box-office, no question, and darts needs edge as much as it needs trebles, but this looked less like competitive snarl and more like a teenager discovering that frustration does not always improve the throwing arm.
The funny part, if you enjoy the Premier League as travelling theatre, is that the rivalry now has a proper little grudge stitched into it. Van Veen has beaten Littler twice in this Premier League season, even if Littler flattened him 7-1 in the 2026 World Championship final.
The table is tightening nicely
Price’s victory matters because it squeezes the race for the top four into something deliciously awkward. Littler leads on 21, Price and Clayton are on 19, and Van Gerwen occupies the last play-off place on 13, with Van Veen just one point behind. Humphries, the defending champion, is still lurking on 11, but his title defence remains oddly beige.
So yes, Manchester belonged to Price in the end. But the night’s lasting image may be Littler, brilliant and combustible, discovering that when the red mist rolls in, the doubles can disappear into it.
