Luke Humphries: Luke Littler’s spat with Gian van Veen will be soon forgotten

Luke Humphries expects Luke Littler’s recent spat with Gian van Veen to be quickly forgotten as the BetMGM Premier League resumes on Thursday.

World champion Littler got involved in a heated exchange with the Dutchman when the pair met on night nine of the competition in Manchester last week.

Van Veen missed a match dart in their quarter-final, prompting Littler to celebrate in front of his home crowd. The two-time world champion then gestured at his opponent on his return to the oche, only to miss a chance to seal the match himself.

Van Veen eventually secured a 6-5 victory, but not before Littler produced a ‘cry baby’ gesture.

The Dutchman later accused Littler of being “out of order” and said their next meeting may not be “very friendly”.

That next encounter could come on night 10 in Brighton if Van Veen can beat Michael van Gerwen and Littler sees off Stephen Bunting in their respective quarter-finals.

World number two Humphries, who faces Jonny Clayton in his opener, said: “It comes with the territory.

“We’ve seen it many times over many years. Players have done it here and there, and sometimes you probably think ‘oh God, I wish I hadn’t done that now’.

“It’s hot news right now isn’t it, but in two weeks it’ll all be forgotten. No-one will remember it and we’ll all move on. That’s my take on it.”

Despite last week’s early exit, Littler remains top of the Premier League table with 21 points after winning three events so far. Gerwyn Price and Clayton are behind him on 19 points.

There is then a gap to Van Gerwen (13 points), Van Veen (12) and defending champion Humphries (11), who are in a tight battle for fourth spot.

Humphries is hoping to kickstart his campaign after successive quarter-final defeats.

He said: “People are used to seeing me in that one and two spot with Luke and now I’m not, and everybody’s like ‘whoa, you’re sixth’.

“But it’s not really a position that I’ll be panicking about because I’m two points away, that’s just one win.

“I’ve really not won a night or made many finals, so to still be within two points shows that, if it does happen for me all of a sudden, then I’ve got a good chance to really push myself up there.”

Humphries will play the winner of Price and Josh Rock should he beat Clayton.