Luke Littler brushes aside Michael Smith to reach Premier League final

INTO FINAL: Luke Littler is through to the Premier League final. Pic: Zac Goodwin/PA

Luke Littler is one win away from becoming the youngest ever major champion in darts after reaching the Premier League final.

The 17-year-old has enjoyed a memorable debut campaign, finishing top of the league phase and bagging four nightly victories.

And he put on a show in front of a record 14,000 fans at the O2 Arena in London to beat Michael Smith 10-5 in the play-offs semi-final.

Luke Littler storms into the Premier League final on debut! 👏

The teenage superstar fires in a ton-topping average to dispatch Michael Smith in the evening's first semi-final! pic.twitter.com/df1owNZySN

— PDC Darts (@OfficialPDC) May 23, 2024

Littler showed exactly why he has taken the world by storm since bursting on to the scene at the World Championship over Christmas, producing a fine performance against Smith, averaging over 100 and delivering two 100-plus checkouts.

After checking out a 144 to break Smith’s throw and take a 3-1 lead there was no looking back and he teased the crowd with the prospect of a nine-dart finish after throwing seven perfect darts in the following leg before missing the treble 19.

A 107 checkout took him 8-4 in front and he was able to see the match out to book a spot in the final against Luke Humphries or Michael van Gerwen.

Littler was in imperious form to see off the 2023 world champion (Zac Goodwin/PA)

“All of it was very good, coming into tonight I knew I had the darts straight away and I wanted to go into the break with a decent lead,” Littler said.

“They are the big shots you have to take out.”