Taylor names three stars who can stop Littler winning third straight world title

PHIL TAYLOR has picked out THREE players he believes can stop Luke Littler from landing a third straight World Championship title.

The former world No1 has backed Luke Humphries, Gerwyn Price and Jonny Clayton to have a genuine chance of dethroning the teenage superstar at Alexandra Palace.

Taylor, 66, believes there are only a small number of oche stars who genuinely have the belief needed to win the sport’s biggest prize.

He told SunSport: “At the minute, the only person who can give Luke Littler a game is Luke Humphries. Gerwyn Price, he can do it too. Very, very good player.

“Jonny Clayton, on his day, he’s a brilliant finisher. But there’s only four or five in that tournament who could really win it.”

He added: “There’s only a handful of players that can actually win it. But I think at the minute, there’s only a handful of players who actually believe they can win it.

“A lot of people are just making up the numbers.”

Clayton produced one of the biggest shocks of the World Series Finals when he knocked out Littler 10-4 in the quarter-finals on Sunday.

The Welshman ended Littler’s clean-sweep bid and sealed a stunning victory with brilliant bullseye finishes of 136 and 121.

The Ferret has already collected four major titles, including the Premier League, Masters, World Grand Prix and World Series Finals.

Humphries, meanwhile, has already beaten Littler on the biggest stage after defeating him in the 2024 World Championship final.

The world No2 has continued to challenge Littler at the top of the rankings and has won the second-most Premier events since 2023, lifting a whopping EIGHT titles.

Former world champ Price has had a brilliant season reaching the final last weekend in Amsterdam and finishing runner-up at the World Matchplay to littler.

Price is a regular fixture in the latter stages of TV tournaments and has pushed Littler to deciding legs on several occasions, including a 10-9 defeat in the Premier League semi-final and a 5-4 loss at the same stage of the World Masters.

Words: Aaron Nijjar

Image: Taylor Lanning