“If I can win major titles not playing my best, what can I do playing my best?” – Luke Littler sends warning to rivals as Premier League Darts reaches Nottingham

Luke Littler has issued a stark warning to his Premier League rivals — insisting that despite a stuttering start to 2026, he has not been anywhere close to his best, and that the rest of the field should be very worried about what is coming.

The world number one arrives at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena tonight for Night Six of the Premier League on the back of his finest week of the year so far. Last Thursday he claimed his first nightly win of the 2026 campaign in Cardiff, beating Gerwyn Price 6-3 in the semi-final and Jonny Clayton 6-4 in the final — hitting two 170 checkouts along the way and narrowly missing a dart at double 15 that would have completed a nine-darter. Three days later he retained his UK Open title with an 11-7 final victory over James Wade, securing £120,000 and a 12th PDC major title to move third on the all-time list.

And yet, by his own assessment, he is still not firing on all cylinders.

“I had a little dry spell, but I think I can say I’m back,” Littler said. “The form hasn’t gone my way in the Premier League, so to win in Cardiff meant a lot. I played well in patches, missed a lot of doubles, but if I can win major titles not playing my best, what can I do playing my best?”

It is the kind of quote that will send a shiver through the seven men who share the Premier League stage with him. Littler had won just one match in the opening three nights of the season before Cardiff, yet still left Minehead that weekend with the UK Open trophy tucked under his arm. A Littler operating at full tilt is almost too alarming to contemplate.

Tonight he faces Price again in the quarter-finals — a player he has beaten comfortably in both recent meetings — as Nottingham hosts its first Premier League night of the 2026 season. The full card sees Josh Rock face Stephen Bunting, Jonny Clayton take on Michael van Gerwen, and Luke Humphries meet Gian van Veen before Littler and Price complete the night’s quarter-final line-up.

The standings coming in make for interesting reading. Clayton leads the way on 13 points following four semi-final appearances in five nights, with Van Veen, Littler and Price all locked on nine points behind him. Van Gerwen sits fifth on eight, Bunting seventh on seven following his emotional Belfast triumph, and Humphries sixth on six. Rock, meanwhile, remains rooted to the bottom on zero points — a remarkable situation for a player of his quality, and one that adds extra edge to his tie with Bunting tonight.

For Littler, however, the table is almost secondary. If Cardiff and Minehead proved anything, it is that when The Nuke decides to turn it on, the rest of the field has very little say in the matter. On the evidence of his own words, the scariest version of Luke Littler has not even arrived yet.