Price wins in Manchester after Littler and Van Veen spat
Gerywn Price secured victory in Manchester after Gian van Veen accused Luke Littler of being "out of order" on night nine of the Premier League. The Welshman was in stunning form throughout the evening, averaging 105. 84 to beat Van Veen 6-2 in the final and move up to second in the table with his second nightly win of the campaign.
But the major talking point came at the end of Van Veen's thrilling 6-5 victory over Littler in the quarter-finals. The Dutchman turned his head in disappointment after missing double 15 for the match in the deciding leg and saw Littler celebrating. That led to an angry reaction from the world champion, who gestured for the Dutchman to get on with it.
Littler then proceeded to miss two more match darts of his own, and then made a 'cry-baby' mime to the crowd. But Van Veen held his nerve and hit double six for the match. The briefest of handshakes followed before Littler marched off.
Luke Littler stills leads the standings despite his quarter-final exit in Manchester "From my perspective, I missed the double 15 and I was fuming with myself that I missed, and I looked around and he was celebrating that I missed," Van Veen told Sky Sports. "He probably saw it and then he missed three darts at double seven and then he looked at me like I was the problem and I was like 'I don't know what I've done wrong because you're celebrating me missing'. "I thought that was out of order.
He missed and then I took it out and he's probably fuming. That is darts and that is my perspective. His perspective is probably different, but that is it.