TAYLOR PREDICTS WORLD MATCHPLAY WINNER
16/07/2025 By Aaron Nijjar
PHIL TAYLOR reckons one of the lethal Lukes will lift the World Matchplay crown this year.
World No. 1 Humphries is out to become only the fourth player in history to retain the title in Blackpool.
Teen sensation Littler is making his second appearance at the Winter Gardens and hoping to make amends for a first-round defeat to Michael van Gerwen last summer.
16-times World Champion Taylor believes the duo will be the ones to beat when the action kicks off on Saturday but he’s tipping a few other big names to run deep too.
He said: “The person I would love to do well is Chris Dobey. He is a great little player but just misses the doubles at the wrong time under pressure.
“Jonny Clayton is capable of winning it but at the minute I don’t think his standard is as good.
“Nathan Aspinall is a battler and I think the format suits him down to the ground.
“James Wade is starting to show form again.
“Whether James wins it or not I would not say but I do think he could do well and get to the semis.
“Luke Littler definitely can win it. Luke Humphries can 100 percent win it.
“For me it will be one of them two.”
‘The Power’ also singled out Van Gerwen as the big wildcard, with the Dutch star desperate to bounce back from a tricky spell away from the oche.
He added: “The player I am going to be on the fence with is Michael van Gerwen.
“We all know he has had a bit of trouble in his life with his marriage and how it affects him I don’t know.
“I think Michael will bounce back so everything seems to be fine.
“I think Michael will show a lot of form in the World Matchplay.
“So, as a bet have an outside bet on Michael.
“He will do really well because he wants to win now.”
Images by Taylor Lanning.
