World Darts Championship Quarter 2 preview

Quarter 2 of the upcoming PDC World Darts Championship contains 24 players, all of whom will feel they can have some sort of a run at Alexandra Palace over the festive period.

There's a former world champion in the shape of Rob Cross in the second section plus major winners of the calibre of Nathan Aspinall, Danny Noppert, Andrew Gilding and Ritchie Edhouse.

And when it comes to crowd favourites, the entire auditorium is going to be right behind ‘Queen of the Palace’ Fallon Sherrock.

All are box-office stars, all can throw great darts and all can win matches on the biggest stage of them all.

And they all know – though may be reluctant to admit it – that there is one player in their section of the draw who is a cut above the lot of them, the player they all have to beat… and that player is Luke Littler.

‘The Nuke’, the teenage sensation who has torn up the darts world order in 2024, is 4/6 to win Quarter 2. It's a short price – but is there anyone who can stop him?

We take a look at how this section might unfold at the Palace.

World Darts Championship Quarter 2 Tip

Scott Williams to win Quarter 2 @ 33/1

By any measure Littler has had a stunning year, soaring from the Development Tour to number four in the world, the most astonishing rise by any player in the modern history of the sport.

He has won 10 titles including three majors – the BetMGM Premier League, the World Series and most recently the Grand Slam where he set a bar so high it was utterly out of reach of everyone else in the field.

But while his successes have been there for all to see he has also endured his share of flops and it's worth noting that in three majors – the Matchplay, Grand Prix and European Championship – he fell at the first.

That can happen to any darts player, of course, but it proves the 17-year-old is human after all and he looks short enough at 4/6 to win the four matches he would need to to land the quarter odds.

There's an added pressure on Littler this year, a pressure he wouldn't have felt during last year's run to the final.

And while he has coped with pretty much everything chucked at him, he hasn't been back to the Palace and expectation is bound to weigh heavily on his young shoulders.

First up he should be able to see off the winner of the first-round tie between Ryan Meikle and Sherrock but a likely showdown with Edhouse in round three could be far more challenging.

Littler is a player who will reel off legs but the stop-start nature of set play is less attractive to most players. And Edhouse, the recent and fully deserved winner of the European Championship – he beat Michael Smith and Gary Anderson en route to that title – is not short of self-belief.

Noppert, Ryan Joyce and Ryan Searle are the other names in the top half of the quarter, all of whom can give Littler a good test should the chance arise.

Cross, Gian van Veen, Aspinall and Gilding are the seeds in the bottom half with potentially awkward second-round matches against Scott Williams, Ricardo Pietreczko, Cameron Menzies and Martin Lukeman respectively.

Lukeman was brilliant getting to the Grand Slam final where Littler tore him to shreds but it's Williams who intrigues at huge odds to land the quarter of 33/1.

This is a player who went into last year's World Championship in absolutely no form and reached the semis.

Insanely self-confident, Shaggy has been in no great form this year either but did reach the last eight of the Players Championship Finals, is a sublime finisher and just adores the big stage.

At a massive price he can definitely have another memorable run.