Tempers flared between Luke Littler and Gian van Veen on stage. Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images

Gian van Veen called opponent Luke Littler “out of order” after a tense finish to his quarterfinal win that saw Littler’s hopes of claiming a third straight Premier League victory end prematurely.

The 19-year-old Littler surged to the top of the standings with back-to-back victories in Dublin and Berlin and was the big favourite on home soil at the AO Arena before falling 6-5 to Van Veen.

But the headlines centred around a fiery ending to the contest, when Littler took exception to Van Veen turning towards the crowd as the Dutchman tried to clinch a notable victory, only to fluff his lines going for double 15.

Littler gestured angrily at his opponent and geed up the crowd but blew his own chance of winning.

Littler then mimicked crying towards Van Veen, who took out double six to bring the contest to a close.

“He was celebrating me missing double 15. That’s out of order. I was fuming about that and he missed three darts at double seven.” Van Veen told Sky Sports.

“Then he looked at me like I was the problem. He is probably fuming.

“That’s my perspective. His perspective is probably different. I love Luke to bits. All the attention he has brought to the sport is phenomenal but today was my day.”

Littler took to Instagram in response, posting quotes from Van Veen accompanied by three crying-with-laughter emojis.

Van Veen had not won a match since week four of the competition and is still recovering from the kidney stones that forced him to sit out Dublin.

But he served notice of his intent with a bullseye to seal a 128 checkout for a break of throw in the third leg and just missed a double five that would have opened up a 5-1 lead.

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Littler, who hails from nearby Warrington and is a big Manchester United fan, recovered to 4-3 and it appeared Van Veen’s chance might have gone when he failed to land a double for the match at 5-3.

Back came the world champion to level, but for once he could not find the answers when it came to the crunch.

Van Veen put the confrontation behind him with another excellent performance to beat Josh Rock 6-3 in the semifinals but lost out to an inspired Gerwyn Price 6-2 in the final.

The Welshman had previously beaten Luke Humphries and Stephen Bunting by the same scoreline and is up to second in the table, two points behind Littler.

Price imitated Littler’s fishing celebration when he took out a 170 checkout in the third leg against Bunting and he said afterwards: “Just a bit of fun, nothing too out of order I don’t think.”

Price had sympathy for Littler regarding his reaction to Van Veen, saying: “Things like this happen in darts. I’m sure in a couple of weeks it’ll be done and dusted.

“Emotions are up and down and people get hyped up. I’ve been there, the backlash off it. Probably Luke will have a little bit of it. I feel for the kid at the minute.

“I’ve won tonight, that’s all I’m bothered about. Five points, £10,000 in the bank and I’m up to number two above Jonny [Clayton], so I’m happy.”

Information from PA contributed to this report.