Aspinall reveals he predicted Littler’s shock World Grand Prix exit

NATHAN ASPINALL admits he “wasn’t too shocked” to see Luke Littler crash out of the World Grand Prix.

The world No15 was drawn to face Littler in the second round if both players won their opening matches.

But Luke Woodhouse stunned The Nuke 2-1 to end his run of SIX consecutive ranked major titles and send him crashing out at the first hurdle.

Aspinall, 35, reckons Littler’s hopes of completing the clean sweep ending at the World Series Finals may have taken the edge off his motivation.

He told Boyle Sports: “So, this is easy to say, because it happened. But driving up on Monday morning, when I was speaking to Sean, I said that I don't think Littler's going to win tonight.

“And the reason behind it is, obviously, he's been playing; he doesn't care about tournaments, he's won them all. He was playing for this record.

“Obviously, because he got beat in Amsterdam, I didn't think he'd be as focused, and Luke [Woodhouse] won. And Luke is a fantastic dart player, he's had a fantastic year.

“So, I wasn't too shocked to see the result of him, to be honest with you. But you've got to be real, and Woodhouse would back me up on this. In my position, I would have preferred to play Luke.

“Me being Littler, he would have preferred to play me, of course. So, yeah, it was nice to not play him in the second round for once, and what happens when I don't play him?”

Aspinall was then left with Woodhouse instead and produced a superb 96.27 average to sweep him aside 3-0 in the second round.

The Stockport thrower will now face Ryan Joyce in the quarter-finals as he bids to add another major title to his 2019 UK Open and 2023 World Matchplay triumphs.

He added: “Yeah, I think it's a cliché, but to win a darts tournament or a major tournament, you need a bit of luck.

“I think I got that in the first round with Kevin missing them match starts. I put a great show on tonight.

“Joyce is a good mate of mine, he's unreal on his double-16, but he can't score like me, and he knows that.

“So, I think, you know, irrelevant of finishing, if I score like I did tonight, he's not going to beat me, simple as that.”