Former PDC major winner highlights Luke Littler’s one remaining vulnerability: “Playing in Germany”

Luke Littler has turned the darts world on its head over the past two years. The 19-year-old Englishman has already captured ten major titles and now sits atop the world rankings. Yet for former pro turned expert analyst Paul Nicholson, one striking vulnerability remains for the prodigy to overcome: playing in Germany.

According to Nicholson in his column for Sporting Life, himself a former major winner, Littler visibly struggles more at tournaments on German soil, especially in shorter match formats.

He bases that observation in part on Littler’s performances at the European Championship, where he failed to get past the second round in two appearances.

"Make no mistake about it, Littler is phenomenal at all formats of the game whether it's short, long, set play, Matchplay or double start," Nicholson explains. “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.”

The European Championship in particular doesn’t seem to suit Littler. In 2024 he was knocked out in the first round by Andrew Gilding, while a year earlier he lost in the second round to James Wade. “Across his three matches on that stage he's yet to average over 100," notes The Asset. "Therefore the only perceived weakness of Littler at the moment is playing in Germany."

According to Nicholson, that conclusion is reinforced by the recent World Cup of Darts, where Littler and Luke Humphries made an early exit. “That was further highlighted by what happened to him and Luke Humphries at the World Cup of Darts."

Despite those caveats, Nicholson expects Littler to claim his first Winmau World Masters title this week. The world number one opens against Mike De Decker, an opponent he has beaten in all seven prior meetings. “This time last year he lost to an inspired Jonny Clayton in the Winmau World Masters quarter-finals despite averaging 108!"

Nicholson believes the best-of-3 legs per set format does increase the chance of upsets, but says Littler remains the clear favorite. “In this era we do see occasions where great players put in massive numbers and still lose although when it comes to Littler, you really need to be on your A-game on the biggest stages just to stand a chance - or hope he has a very rare off day."

Nicholson thinks Littler’s motivation will increasingly come from breaking records. "Littler is just two trophies away from completing the set of majors in just his third season on tour and if he can pick up the elusive World Masters and European Championship in his last year as a teenager," Nicholson says. "That really could be a record that stands for generations."

"It's remarkable to think that he's almost completed darts yet barely started his career!" Nicholson adds. "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," Nicholson concludes. "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."