Jonny Clayton has beaten the world No 1 twice in a week — and knows exactly what’s coming next.
Jonny Clayton is riding the wave of his life in the 2026 Premier League Darts season. The 51-year-old Welshman sits at the top of the table, has claimed the nightly prize in Glasgow, and is playing some of the best darts of a long and distinguished career. But beneath the swagger and the smiles, there is one thought gnawing away at The Ferret — sooner or later, Luke Littler is going to want payback.
Clayton has beaten the back-to-back world champion twice in the space of a week. First came a commanding 6-1 demolition in the Glasgow semi-finals on Night Three of the Premier League. Then, just days later in Belfast on Night Four, he did it again — dispatching a brooding and frustrated Littler 6-4 in the quarter-finals at the SSE Arena. Table-topper Clayton beat Littler again, piling more misery on a world champion who has simply not found his best form in this year’s competition.
It is the kind of form that puts you at the top of the Premier League standings. It is also the kind of form that paints a target squarely on your back.
A Night to Remember in Glasgow
The story really began on Night Three in Scotland, when Clayton delivered one of his finest Premier League performances in years. He beat Gerwyn Price for the first time in three years, thrashed Littler 6-1, and produced a majestic 156 finish to beat Gian van Veen in the final — an extraordinary hat-trick of scalps that sent him rocketing to the summit of the table.
After both men traded holds in the opening exchanges, Clayton reeled off back-to-back three-figure finishes of 106 and then 110 to break Littler’s throw. The world No 1 had no answer. It was Littler’s joint-heaviest reverse since he began participating in the Premier League.
Clayton was as surprised as anyone. “I didn’t expect to beat the best darts player on the planet 6-1,” he said after the win. “Tonight it worked for me, I was quite solid against him and it was just my night and I am chuffed to bits with that.”
He was equally candid about the mental challenge of taking on Littler. “You think, how do I beat him? I need to take my chances, what do I do to do this? Tonight I took my chances and it just got better.”
Lightning Strikes Twice in Belfast
If Glasgow was remarkable, Belfast made it extraordinary. Clayton aimed for a repeat win over the world No 1 when the pair met in their Premier League quarter-final at the SSE Arena, and that is exactly what he got — winning 6-4 to extend his dominance over the reigning champion and deepen what is becoming one of the Premier League’s most compelling sub-plots.
Clayton had already beaten Littler convincingly on Night Three, and the current league leader put on a brilliant display in Belfast, with a stunning 156 checkout standing out as the highlight of his Glasgow performance. In Belfast he was equally relentless, making it two wins from two against a player most of the sport’s leading figures struggle to beat even once.
This marks the third time in four nights that the teenager has made just one appearance on stage, and the cumulative effect of those early exits is starting to show in the standings. Littler arrived in Belfast in sixth position in the standings, with just one win to show from the opening three nights.
The World Champion Who Cannot Buy a Win
The Premier League has, so far, been a tournament of two halves for Littler. Away from it, he remains as dominant as ever — he won the first-ever Poland Darts Open, defying a nine-dart leg from Van Veen to win in Krakow with a blistering 108.06 average.
But on Premier League nights, something has not clicked. The back-to-back world champion and world No 1 suffered a 6-1 thrashing to eventual Night Three champion Clayton in Glasgow, having received a bye into the semi-finals after Michael van Gerwen’s withdrawal through illness.
Sky Sports Darts analyst Wayne Mardle put it bluntly. “I didn’t think I’d be saying it so soon, that there’s a tiny bit of pressure on Luke Littler,” he said. “Not to go and win the night but win and feel better, because he’s not playing anywhere near his normal standard. It’s not working for him, it’s not going his way. Against Jonny he’s playing a man that doesn’t fear him — it’s a big game for Luke Littler.”
That last point is crucial. Not fearing Luke Littler is a rare quality on the professional circuit in 2026.
Clayton’s Secret: No Fear
If there is one thing that defines Clayton’s approach to these encounters, it is exactly what Mardle described — an absence of the kind of reverence that can paralyse even elite players when they step up against the sport’s most dominant force.
“When your finishing goes well the confidence is up, and tonight was my night,” Clayton said after Glasgow. “I’m enjoying myself, and when you enjoy what you’re doing, things seem to happen for you. I’ve got a bit of experience in the Premier League. This is my favourite tournament, and I know what you’ve got to do to get to Finals Night.”
That experience — stretching back to his 2021 Premier League title — gives Clayton a mental toolkit that the younger generation simply cannot replicate. He has been here before. He knows how to perform under the brightest lights, how to handle the pressure of a Premier League semi-final and final, and crucially, how to keep a cool head when the world’s best player is at the other end of the oche.
The Revenge is Coming
Yet for all his current brilliance, Clayton is under no illusions about what lies ahead. Littler is not the sort of player who absorbs consecutive defeats quietly. Littler was eyeing revenge after suffering his heaviest Premier League defeat and had just one win to show from the opening three nights — but the world No 1 resumed normal service by scooping the season’s first European Tour silverware in Krakow.
That form away from the Premier League is the reminder, if one were needed, that this version of Littler — the distracted, below-par Littler of the early Premier League weeks — is not the real one. The real Littler averaged 113.8 in one of his Poland matches. The real Littler is a two-time world champion who averaged 106 in the World Championship final. The real Littler, when he rediscovers his Premier League form, will be coming for everyone — and Jonny Clayton knows he will be first in line.
For now, though, The Ferret is top of the table, the talk of the tour, and the man who has done what so few others can — beaten Luke Littler not once, but twice in a row. Whether the revenge comes sooner or later, one thing is certain: when Littler finds his form again, this rivalry will be must-watch television.
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