"Wayne Mardle has always said Eric would have loved to watch me play" - Luke Littler doesn't shy away from comparisons with legendary Eric Bristow

Luke Littler continued to impress in his debut Premier League Darts campaign last Thursday night in Liverpool. The 17-year-old took his third weekly win of the season to move back top of the league and all but officially secure himself a spot in the playoffs.

Littler's last visit to Liverpool's M&S Bank Arena, which hosted Thursday night's Premier League play-off, was in 2018, the night Eric Bristow died. "I was only 11. I was up in the stands with my friend. There’s a picture on my phone," Littler says in quotes collected by Oche180. “It’s nice to win. The last time I was here he passed away, today it’s his birthday and I’ve won."

Speaking of Bristow, Wayne Mardle saw a lot of similarities in Littler's ability to handle the hostile Liverpool crowd on Thursday, as the legendary 'Crafty Cockney' used to do back in the day. “I watched a few of my games back and Wayne has always said Eric would have loved to watch me play," Littler says, stopping just short of agreeing that he is the 'new Eric Bristow'. “We’ll have to see in years to come!”

As a fierce Manchester United supporter, Littler did expect the boos in Liverpool. “Obviously it helped me tonight, I knew what was coming my way and I enjoyed it," he explains. “I was enjoying it. They were booing me and I was just telling them what happened the night before. I was expecting the worst then if it was anything better, then it was good. The crowd was a bit bad but I didn’t help myself much. I kept myself composed and won all my games."

“It’s just banter. But I knew what I got myself into. I knew what was going to happen tonight. But I’m just happy to win. If you give it you have to take it. And I’m sure if I did lose tonight that would all be on social media but then I’ve just got to get on with the next one. It’s just banter and as a United fan you like to see Liverpool as rivals lose games," Littler concludes. “All I wanted was a bit of banter and get myself a few more points to add on to what I’ve already got. I ended up leaving with more points than what I should have.”