Price wins in Manchester after Littler and Van Veen spat

BySam Drury

BBC Sport journalist at AO Arena

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.

"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.

"That was out of order. I was fuming about that.

"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.

"I love Luke to bits. He's a fantastic player and guy for the sport and to see all the attention he's brought to it is phenomenal, but this is also part of it as well and today was my day."

Littler responded to Van Veen's quotes with laughing emojis on his Instagram story, also posting an image showing the PDC titles he has won over the past two years.

Despite his early exit, Littler remains top of the table while Van Veen - still recovering after missing night seven in Dublin because he needed surgery to remove kidney stones - is up to fifth.

The match was a repeat of January's World Championship final and the dramatic ending only adds to the feeling that there could be quite a rivalry between the exciting young pair over the next few years.

"Luke Littler was happy that Gian van Veen went inside the 15 and he kind of did the Simon Whitlock 'well done' and you shouldn't do that," former player Wayne Mardle said on Sky Sports.

"As he did it, Gian turned round and he kind of went 'why did you do that?'

"You've got to say that Gian handled it better because Luke Littler fluffed his lines and went too aggressive at the double seven. Gian held it together really well.

"[Littler] didn't expect to get caught. He got caught with his hand in the cookie jar and he won't be doing that again."

Three-time world champion John Part, speaking on Sky Sports, added: "I think don't either player was too far into the wrong. The end of a match can get quite heated.

"Gian handled himself more appropriately in a lot of ways. Luke could have handled it slightly better."

Price has fantastic memories of Manchester, having hit nine-darters on his previous two visits in the Premier League.

He may not have made it a hat-trick but he produced a trio of phenomenal performances to take the win.

A 167 checkout followed by a 135 to begin his quarter-final against Luke Humphries showed he meant business and a 104.46 average helped him to a 6-2 win.

The Ice Man went up another notch in the semis, giving Stephen Bunting no chance as he averaged 112.91 in another 6-2 win.

It was a mere 105.84 in the final as he inflicted a fourth final defeat on Van Veen.

Given the devastating combination of big scoring and clinical finishing that Price has shown in recent weeks, it is little surprise that no-one but Littler has beaten him in the Premier League since week four.

AO Arena, Manchester

Quarter-finals

Michael van Gerwen 3-6 Stephen Bunting

Gerwyn Price 6-2 Luke Humphries

Gian van Veen 6-5 Luke Littler

Jonny Clayton 4-6 Josh Rock

Semi-finals

Stephen Bunting 2-6 Gerwyn Price

Gian van Veen 6-3 Josh Rock

Final

Gerwyn Price 6-2 Gian van Veen

Thursday, 9 April - The Brighton Centre

Quarter-finals

Luke Humphries v Jonny Clayton

Gerwyn Price v Josh Rock

Luke Littler v Stephen Bunting

Michael van Gerwen v Gian van Veen

Premier League Darts is played across 16 initial weeks in the league stage with quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final each night.

Each of the eight players is guaranteed to face the other seven in the quarter-finals in weeks one to seven and 9-15, with week eight and week 16 fixtures done off the table. It means we will get fourth v fifth in Sheffield on the final league-stage night, with the play-off spots potentially on the line.

Players earn two points per quarter-final win, an additional point if they win their semi-final and five for winning the night.

The top four players after the group stage progress to the play-off night at London's O2 Arena on 28 May, with first facing fourth and second against third in a best-of-19-leg match. The final, which is the best of 21 legs, follows.

If players are level on points after the 16 weeks then places are decided by nights won and then matches won.