Luke Littler beats Michael van Gerwen in Premier League Darts Night Seven final to win in Cardiff with nine-dart leg chaos

Luke Littler beat Michael van Gerwen 6-4 to win Premier League Darts Night Seven in Cardiff, in an incredible final that saw ‘The Nuke’ hit a nine-dart leg to send the crowd into raptures.

The 18-year-old won with an incredible 113 average on a night that saw him also beat Nathan Aspinall and Rob Cross with ease. The victory saw him tighten his grip on the top of the Premier League table, with closest challenger Luke Humphries losing in his quarter-final.

It was back-to-back-to-back breaks to start the final, with Littler flying out of the blocks and hitting double five to take the opening leg. Van Gerwen broke straight back, taking advantage of a rare Littler miss at tops, to hit the double 20 himself.

The Englishman then broke again, double 20, this time, not letting him down. In the fourth leg, all hell broke loose. A nine-dart leg, snatching the momentum and causing the roof to come off in Cardiff.

But Van Gerwen responded immediately, taking out 85 to make it 3-2 after Littler failed to reel in the big fish. The Dutchman then levelled up the scoring, hitting five perfect darts before dispatching 16 to tie it up.

Littler took the seventh leg, taking out 89 with the bullseye before Van Gerwen hit back on double 10.

That left Van Gerwen with the darts in the 10th leg but the Dutchman failed to stop Littler taking out 25 to go one step from victory. ‘The Nuke’ took full advantage with the throw in the final leg, and surged ahead, leaving 41 to win in Cardiff and making no mistake.

It was seventh versus eighth in the first quarter-final of the night, with both Chris Dobey and Stephen Bunting in desperate need of victory. Despite poor finishing from both players, Dobey eventually got the job done on double 16, taking a 6-2 win.

Michael van Gerwen looked to have lost his quarter-final against Luke Humphries, with the world number one taking a 3-0 lead. But the Dutchman did not lie down, and won four straight legs to deny a frustrated Humphries and win 6-4.

Littler and Aspinall traded legs to begin the third quarter-final before Littler ultimately took charge to win four of the last five legs and win 6-3.

Gerwyn Price was the home favourite in Cardiff, but Cross was looking to cause an upset, finishing well and taking a 4-2 lead. 4-2 became 5-2, but good scoring from Price saw that lead fall away, with a last-leg shootout required to decide the winner. With the fans booing his every dart, ‘Voltage’ looked to be too far behind in the last leg, but he left the big fish and incredibly, reeled it in to win 6-5 and defy the crowd.

The first semi-final saw Van Gerwen dispatch Dobey with ease, to make his first Premier League night final this year. The Dutchman dominated throughout, ultimately winning 6-1.

And it was a similar story in the other semi-final, with Littler making it look easy against Cross. The 18-year-old won 6-2 to set up the final against Van Gerwen.