Luke Littler has faced strong criticism from fans after he suffered another semi-final defeat in the Premier League.
The 17-year-old has now lost in four semi-finals out of the six weeks in the tournament, with Michael Smith getting the better of him in Brighton.
Littler beat Nathan Aspinall 6-3 in the quarter-final, seeing off last week's winner in comfortable style in the third match of the night.
The youngster has now won all but one of his quarter-finals but has only made it to one final after again losing in his semi.
Luke Littler has faced criticism from fans after losing in the semi-final at the Premier League again
Sky Sports
The 2023 world champion Smith raced into a 3-0 lead in a game that was low in quality from both players.
Littler pulled it back to 3-2 but Smith again stretched clear and didn't allow the teenager back in.
He has now picked up 11 points from the first six weeks of the tournament, four points behind leader Michael van Gerwen.
However, he is still to pick up a nightly win, losing in the semi for the fourth time out of five.
And fans on social media were quick to criticise Littler on his performance.
One X user wrote: "Littler hates pressure." While another posted: "Littler loves bottling these matches ey."
It was a familiar theme, with another writing: "Littler has become a bit of a serial bottler."
Another wrote: "Littler is so overrated man. People think he’s the best darts player in the world and he gets humbled basically every week."
Littler struggled on his doubles throughout the night and fans were quick to point that out.
One wrote: "Luke Littler really got to work on his doubles if he wants to win something."
A second posted: "I might have actually hit more doubles than Littler tonight, terrible darts that…"
Some fans think Littler won't win a night in the Premier League.
One wrote: "Littler is destined to not win a single evening, that said this format is horrendous."
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Michael Smith beat Luke Littler in the semi-final in Brighton
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Ahead of Thursday's action, darts pundit Wayne Mardle said it was time Littler won a night after falling at the semi-final so often.
He said on Sky Sports: "Michael van Gerwen’s been getting the wins, but numbers-wise, statistics suggest that he [Littler] is playing some of the best starts in the Premier League.
"The way that he's scoring, he's right up there with what anyone's doing in the Premier League. The finishing is not great, it's decent, so there's improvement to be made.
"He needs to start getting wins though. He played great in the UK, Open, but didn't win.
Luke Littler is still yet to win a Premier League night and has reached just one final
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"He played some amazing games in this but not won a weekly event.
"He needs to start crossing the line and winning. Once that start happens it will become a habit for him."
Littler will fly to Belgium tomorrow for the Belgian Darts Open, competing in his first European Tour event.
He faces Jose de Sousa in the first round on Friday evening, with the tournament running until Sunday.
