LITTLER’S BIGGEST WEAKNESS REVEALED

LUKE LITTLER’S biggest weakness is playing in Germany, according to ex-oche star Paul Nicholson.

‘The Nuke’ has dominated the sport over the past two years, picking up TEN major titles at just 19.

But former pro Nicholson believes the teen sensation remains vulnerable in shorter-format majors, where even a slow start can end a campaign.

Nicholson pointed to Littler’s repeated struggles at the European Championship, where he has failed to progress beyond the second round in two appearances.

He told Sporting Life: “The other majors are all over the shorter formats where the longest matches will be best-of-21 legs and even for a player as good as Littler, getting off to a poor start can prove fatal.  

“We saw that recently in Bahrain where he was soundly beaten by Gerwyn Price in a race to six. 

“Of these majors, the only one he’s repeatedly struggled in is the European Championship where he suffered a first-round exit to Andrew Gilding in 2024 before that second-round defeat to Wade last year.

“Across his three matches on that stage he’s yet to average over 100 and therefore the only perceived weakness of Littler at the moment is playing in Germany. 

“That was further highlighted by what happened to him and Luke Humphries at the World Cup of Darts.” 

Nicholson believes it is inevitable that Littler will pick up a maiden Winmau World Masters crown later this week. 

World No.1 Luke Littler opens his campaign against Mike De Decker, whom he has beaten in all seven of their previous meetings.  

He added: “During the aforementioned World Masters, he averaged over 104 in his first two wins without dropping a set before that astonishing 4-2 defeat to Clayton. 

“The best-of-three-leg sets in that event does create a bit of a leveller for Littler’s potential opponents but if he’s at his usual levels, it will take something silly like 12 months ago to stop him ticking off another major.” 

Nicholson expects Littler to break the record for the highest televised average at some point in his career. 

He continued: “It’s remarkable to think that he’s almost completed darts yet barely started his career! 

“But aside from the trophy count, he’ll also need to set himself other kinds of records to break to keep himself hungry and motivated. 

“One of those will be Michael van Gerwen’s world record televised average of 123.4 from the 2016 Premier League season. 

“Despite Littler’s ridiculous levels, his best PDC average of 115.96 is just outside the top 10 in Premier League history and ‘only’ the 16th highest in all televised events, so this is something he’ll be desperate to improve upon in 2026. 

“He’s got a 120 plus average in his locker and I believe we’ll see him reaching that figure at some point this season.”

Image by Taylor Lanning.