HUMPHRIES: LITTLER IS A LEAGUE ABOVE EVERYONE
04/02/2026 By Aaron Nijjar
By Phil Lanning
LUKE HUMPHRIES believes that big rival Luke Littler is a “league above everyone”.
The World No.2 begins the defence of his Premier League crown against Gerwyn Price in Newcastle on Thursday night.
Humphries, 30, KO’d Littler to win the title last May but lost the most recent major at the World Masters to The Nuke, who continues to dominate the sport.
But Cool Hand is determined to change the narrative and upset lethal Littler.
He revealed: “I think he’s (Littler) definitely a league above everyone, but I’m the one that’s closest to him at this moment in time, I’m the one that can really push him and stretch him out a little bit.
“Of course, there are other players, I don’t just think that I’m the dominating force behind him, I think there are a few, but I’ve just shown levels of consistency that the others don’t.
“Definitely Gerwyn Price and Gian van Veen are two players that are playing good darts and they can definitely challenge not just him, me and everyone else.
“But of course, we always find the scenario, it’s me and him in finals a lot because we’re probably the two most consistent players, that’s the key bit about it.
“I know sometimes it gets boring that it’s just me and him in finals, but am I not the only one that’s really pushing him in these finals, you know what I mean?
“If it’s anybody else, it could be one-sided, like we’ve seen many, many times, so it’s always exciting playing him though, because it’s so much to play for and he is right. Maybe we are the two that are breaking free at this moment in time.”
Humphries is also determined to join an elite club alongside Taylor and Michael van Gerwen as the only players to have defended their Premier League crowns.
He added: “Exactly, that does show how difficult it is to do it and I’ve got a good record in it. I’ve made two finals, won it once, so I’ve got that good sort of experience to fall back on and think, you make that final, it’s anybody’s.
“I’d love to go and join that club and be only the third person to ever do it.”
On attempting to defend the title, he added: “I don’t think it feels any different. Obviously, there’s the added expectation that you don’t want to see it go back to someone else, you want to win it again, so maybe that added extra pressure on it.
“But it’s a 16-17 week tournament, so you can’t be getting pressured on the first night and stuff.”
Image by Taylor Lanning.
