“I think the problem is there is only one player that can beat him" - Former world champion states who can halt Luke Littler's dominance

Luke Littler is currently on a vicious rampage on the PDC Tour with no one able of halting his incredible form. His latest title at the Czech Darts Open continues a familiar trend in which 'The Nuke' triumphs over the rest. Luke Humphries was the player he took down in the final, and he was unable to prevail on that occasion, former world champion Keith Deller has put him forward as the only player to be capable of stopping the 19-year-old.

The domination has been a scary and ominous one for the darters with shades of Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen in their pomp. This year alone Littler is on course to do something remarkable.

He has already won the PDC World Darts Championship, Winmau Masters, UK Open, Premier League Darts, World Cup of Darts and World Matchplay along with a brace of European Tour titles and a World Series of Darts triumph in the inaugural event in Saudi Arabia.

He is eyeing up the clean sweep with the World Series of Darts Finals, World Grand Prix, European Championship, Grand Slam of Darts and Players Championship Finals all on his radar. The latter may not be possible due to him in danger of not qualifying for Minehead thanks to his seldom seen appearances on the floor in 2026.

It seems that no one can stop him, or at least for the time being. His last two title triumphs, coming in Blackpool and Prague, showed a real contrast in performances. While at his brilliant best at the Matchplay, he did not live up to those standards in all of the matches in the Czech Darts Open, but still pulled away to win the title.

Humphries was unable to find his A-game to challenge the two-time world champion in the final and paid the ultimate price in the form of another final defeat. Nevertheless, Deller still believes that 'Cool Hand Luke' is the one to break up this cycle of dominance.

“I think the problem is there is only one player that can beat him and that is Luke Humphries," he told Oche180. “I think personally because he has beaten him in a couple of finals and Luke has that game that can play the big finals."

While not being at his absolute best consistently throughout the year, Deller believes that he is starting to get into his stride. “Luke Humphries is just getting back into it now. He wasn’t over confident last week when he won a floor tournament. When you win the confidence comes there. That is the only worry for me if Luke Humphries goes out early. Does Luke Littler think right that’s it give me the trophy right now. I mean I know he does get most of the trophies.”

Humphries is the only player to defeat Littler in a final this year, coming in the US Darts Masters where he edged Littler out 8-7 in what was a thrilling final. He has produced some special moments against Littler in the past, but overall it has been the world number one who has got on top of Humphries more in recent times, specifically in some huge major finals.

Deller continued his lavish plaudits of Littler, comparing his reign of dominance to Taylor who was the darting force for a number of years. “Back in our day it was a bit like Phil Taylor. Dennis Priestley was the one back in the day that could always play him and Rod Harrington," he stated.

One thing Taylor had was that aura on stage that made him virtually unbeatable. Littler most definitely has that now with the 66-year-old using Gerwyn Price's woeful form as an example. “I think the trouble you have got is I did wonder when Gerwyn Price said when he got to the Matchplay final they were all scared of him," he pondered.

“I think Gerwyn has lost 12 out of 14. The other top players that we know are brilliant, they are just not good enough to beat him. Whatever you say it is a worry. It’s great for the game what Luke has done."

What has been unquestionable is the impact Littler has had on the sport. A new generation of darts fans are starting to immerse themselves in the sport and are becoming passionate followers. This is evident to see form Deller's perspective.

“Funny thing I was at the services on the A1," he recalled. "Normally it’s football shirts. I saw two lads with Luke Littler shirts on. There were no darts on! I thought I have never seen that before. That just shows the impact."

Littler has lost just one PDC ranking match on a stage in 2026 at the Belgian Darts Open against Niels Zonneveld. Aside from that, he has been virtually immaculate aside from a couple defeats on the World Series of Darts. However, his recent return to the Players Championship circuit showed that he is beatable, failing to win either of the titles in Leicester a couple of weeks ago with his Minehead involvement under scrutiny.

“On the floor best of 11 you can easily get beat. If you are not hitting 100 averages there are loads of players that can beat you. It just seems on the TV for these games he is just different gravy," Deller concluded.