Luke Littler arrives in Dortmund with one major missing from his collection: the European Championship. The 11th seed has won the World Championship, Masters, UK Open, Premier League and World Matchplay, but the European Championship has eluded him. According to the source, Littler has stayed away from German European Tour events all year, meaning he faces "the most hostile environment he's faced yet, with 15,000 Germans ready to jeer him until he faults." Despite that, his European Tour record is formidable: he won European Tour 1 and 12, lost only in European Tour 3, and has played 12 games on the European Tour, averaging 100+ in 75% of them. Over the last 12 months he averages 101.33 with a 111.75 first nine, and in long formats he has won 17 games with a mean average of 103.28.
Littler's recent form has shown cracks. He lost to Luke Woodhouse in the first round of the World Grand Prix, fell to Clayton at the World Series of Darts Finals, and lost to Cam Crabtree in the World Youth Championship semi-finals. His first-round opponent is William O'Connor, the 22nd seed, who averages 8.04 points lower than Littler this year but whose first nine of 101.87 just about beats Littler's standard average. The source notes that "in a short format, Littler on poor form and with a German crowd, these variables might be enough."
Nathan Aspinall, the sixth seed, looks to end a three-year major drought after an impressive World Grand Prix, where he recorded a record-breaking 105.15 average in a best-of-five double-in, double-out game. He won European Tour 4 in April, averaged 100+ in the semi-finals and finals against Kevin Doets and Danny Noppert, and reached the quarter-finals six times out of 11 events. However, his semi-final against Gerwyn Price at the World Grand Prix was mostly a write-off, averaging 84.63 across seven sets. Aspinall faces Cristo Reyes, the 27th seed, who has a 94.08 yearly average and a nine-dart finish at the Austrian Open.
Ryan Joyce, the 15th seed, has earned £68,000 and reached the European Tour 8 final plus three quarter-finals. His checkout percentage is 42.58% and functional doubles 51.66%. He faces Jermaine Wattimena, the 18th seed, who has earned £5,000 less than Joyce. Rob Cross, the 20th seed, won 18 matches in 29 games, reached the European Tour 9 final (losing to Nijman), and won Players Championship 22. He faces Gerwyn Price, who beat Cross 11-5 at the World Matchplay in July and has three runner-up finishes at the last three televised majors. Chris Dobey, the 23rd seed, has a losing European Tour match record of 12-14 but averages 97.33 over the last 12 months, the third-highest of the 13 English players behind only Littler and Humphries. He faces Rock, out-averaging him by 2.58 points and winning two of their three meetings this year. Stephen Bunting, the 28th seed, secured his place in Dortmund with a semi-final run in Maastricht, beating Menzies 6-2, Aspinall 6-1 and Heta 6-3 before losing to Zonneveld 7-4. He faces Noppert, with 0.27 points between their averages and a 1-1 head-to-head this year.
The source concludes: "Thirteen Englishmen arrive in Dortmund, and most will have gone by the weekend, so the question across both articles stays the same: can any of them stop Littler from completing the set?"
