‘No one can get in my head’ –  Luke Littler tells rivals not to bother with mind games at £1m World Darts Championship

LUKE LITTLER will not be rattled if rivals attempt mind games as they all chase darts’ first £1million prize.

The expanded 20-day PDC World Darts Championship starts on Thursday at Ally Pally and the overall winner will earn a bumper payday on January 3, 2026.

Luke Littler will not be rattled if rivals attempt mind games at the World Darts Championship Littler will be chasing darts’ first £1million prizeCredit: Taylor Lanning Yet anyone trying to unsettle defending champion Littler, 18, will be wasting their time.

The Nuke said: “No-one can get in my head because if you say something to me, I’ll block it out and I’ll just get on with my job.”

Littler – who opens up in round one against Darius Labanauskas from Lithuania – was subjected to bizarre verbals when he won the Players Championship Finals in Minehead last month.

In his 10-6 third-round win over Ricardo Pietreczko, Littler was surprised that the German spoke to him during the match.

Pietreczko tried to lighten the mood as he was getting smashed on the oche, by saying: “I was just hoping to get one leg – now I’m standing here with five.”

It did not have any impact as Littler won the Somerset trophy, beating Nathan Aspinall 11-8 in the final, for his NINTH PDC TV title over two years.

Littler, who has earned more than £2.5m in prize money, said: “Against Nathan, it was 6-4 at the break, we went backstage and he jokingly said, ‘I only expected to get one leg, I’ve got four on you!’

“But, yeah, I don’t know why Ricardo said that because he was playing well throughout the tournament.

“You can’t be saying that as a professional. You just got to try and get your job done.

“But if other players want to do that, then I think the same thing will happen as what I did to Ricardo.

“I’ll just go on and win the game, because there’s no point in saying that, because you might get in your own head. No-one can get in my head.”

World No1 Littler is the top seed out of 32 involved in the revamped 128-player draw – the biggest field there has ever been in the 33-year history of the Worlds.

Only three men – Phil Taylor (on multiple occasions), Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson – have successfully defended the PDC world crown.

The teenager said: “I’m just looking forward to December 11 where I’ll open my tournament and hopefully get the job done.

“Obviously winning titles comes with experience. I think, just from a young age, I’ve just got my head down and I want to win these games.”