Luke Littler: Reigning champion 'expecting the worst' from Mensur Suljovic in third round of World Darts Championship

Luke Littler says he's "expecting the worst" from Mensur Suljovic when they meet in the third round of the World Darts Championship on Saturday night.

Suljovic will be the latest player to try and cause an upset against defending champion Littler, who is looking to become the first player since Gary Anderson in 2016 to retain his world title.

The last time Suljovic played in the third round at Alexandra Palace was three years ago in a 4-2 defeat to Michael van Gerwen. He gave the Dutchman a big scare after winning a dramatic fifth set on a deciding leg by checking out 161 when Van Gerwen refused a dart at the bullseye himself.

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Suljovic is known for his slow play and was told off by referee Kirk Bevins during his second-round win over Joe Cullen as he regularly went over to celebrate left of stage and took his time.

Littler said: "With the player you're playing or with the crowd, just expect the worse. If it's not as bad as what you think then I'll be happy with it.

"I won't prepare to throw slowly or approach the oche slowly - I'll just practice how I do."

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Littler and Suljovic have never played each other before but the Austrian will need to produce one of his career-best performances to defeat the world No 1.

"My feeling is good, I played good," said Suljovic, who messaged Littler before the tournament and said "see you in round three".

"Every tournament is different, the World Championship is very different. I am bigger than Luke Littler!"

Littler added: "On paper everyone expects it to be the seed. You are seeded because you're high up in the rankings. But we have got games to win. We have met, and I think he's up for it and obviously I'll be up for it."

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Littler plays down push for Taylor's record

'The Nuke' reached the final in both his first two World Darts Championship appearances, finishing runner-up to Luke Humphries on debut before claiming the Sid Waddell Trophy by beating Van Gerwen in last year's showpiece.

Littler said earlier this year he has "got the ability" to chase down Taylor's tally of 16 World Championships, 14 of those coming on the PDC, but has since played down the prospect of beating that record total.

When asked whether he had a target number of World Championship titles, Littler told Sky Sports: "Not in my head, no. The talk is always 'will he beat Phil Taylor's record?' Personally, I don't think anyone will.

"I've actually not said to myself how many [world titles] do I want. I'm sure one day that will come and I will pick a number."

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Littler has enjoyed a remarkable 12 months since World Championship glory - adding TV titles at the UK Open, World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts and the Players Championship finals, but is looking to enjoy more Alexandra Palace success.

"This [winning a second title] is (the most important one). I have only not picked up four majors this year so it has been a very good year," he continued.

"I was gutted to lose the Premier League to Luke [Humphries], but there is always next year to tick off the ones I have not got."

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