Manchester United were on the receiving end of a dig during coverage of the Premier League darts as one of the commentators claimed they were the opponent teams faced when they wanted to “ease the pressure”
Wayne Mardle admitted the Sky Sports commentary was likely “to offend” Manchester United’s fanbase after they were mocked.
The Premier League was into its fourth night, being held in Exeter, and led to some familiar faces in the final as Luke Humphries saw off Luke Littler. In the early rounds Stephen Bunting was ousted, losing to Littler, meaning he’s yet to win a game during the tournament.
Bunting performed well, producing a strong average, but was beaten by the teenager who was in sensational form as he continued to fire in 180s. During the coverage lead Sky Sports commentator Stuart Pyke decided to fire a shot at the Manchester outfit.
He discussed Bunting’s tough start to the Premier League and said: “Bunting here, if he loses tonight, it’ll be four defeats on the trot. That’s still a long way off the worst losing streak in this format. Peter Wright, spread over two years, lost nine on the trot. Our friend Duzza (Glen Durrant) also lost nine on the trot in a previous format.”
Mardle responded: “Well we’ve been joshing earlier about how it can’t go on like this can it? But… it can! And it might tonight, we don’t know.”
Pyke said: “At this level, you’re getting a tough test every week. There’s no relief.” Before Mardle continued: “There’s no let-up. It’s relentless.”
Pyke then joked: “You don’t get a game against Man United thrown in in the Premier League do you? To ease the pressure.” Mardle laughed before stating: “To everyone who is offended by that, we’re sorry!”
United are on course to register their worst season in Premier League history. The change of manager has done nothing to aid their fortunes with Erik ten Hag and now Ruben Amorim both struggling. The Red Devils have lost nearly half of their 27 games with a number of teams claiming their scalp.
Recently Tottenham, who had won just twice in 13 games, managed to beat the Manchester outfit in north London. On Boxing Day Wolves, who had won three of their 17 games, were able to secure victory over Amorim’s side.
Fans at Old Trafford have continued to endure difficult outings with Crystal Palace and Brighton recently winning there and on Wednesday they just edged past Ipswich, who are in the bottom three, as they came from 1-0 down to eventually land a 3-2 win.
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