Luke Littler makes brutal gesture towards Tottenham fans during Man Utd victory | Other | Sport

‘Oh Michael Van Gerwen’ rang out from the away end, with Littler swiftly responding by gesturing towards the trophy and raising two fingers. The commanding darts player is accustomed to receiving stick from supporters following his achievements. During the Premier League Darts opener on Thursday night, Littler faced some heckling.

Littler took less than 10 minutes after losing 6-4 to Gian van Veen to deliver a playful jibe at Newcastle supporters. On that particular instance, he retaliated with a post shared on Instagram.

The Nuke seemed to allude to Newcastle’s loss to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup second leg the evening before. The Magpies were eliminated from the tournament as a consequence.

Sharing an image of himself viewing the competition on a projector screen, he captioned: “Newcastle, you were brilliant, On to next week. PS 3-1.”

The two-time world champion, a United supporter, endured some hostile responses during his Ally Pally run. The reception initially appeared to unsettle the youngster but didn’t affect his performance.

“I’m not bothered [by the booing],” he said after one incident. “Really not bothered. You guys pay for tickets and you pay for my prize so thanks for booing me. No-one wanted me to win but I proved them wrong yet again.”

After beating Rob Cross, Littler added: “They want the underdogs to win, they want the favourites to go out. I just had to get it out of the way and get my job done.

“I think that’s the first time I’ve been at the World Championship and the crowd haven’t wanted me to win. I expect the worst on New Year’s Day.”

Whilst Littler seemed to relish the spotlight at the Theatre of Dreams, the result brought him even greater satisfaction.