Gerwyn Price Handed Brutal World Championship Scenario After Luke Littler Loss

Gerwyn Price has been unable to avoid a potentially unwanted World Darts Championship scenario by losing to Luke Littler in the last four of the Players Championship Finals.

Price averaged 101 against the reigning world champion in Minehead but lost 11-8.

The Welshman never led the match, having held his throw twice to make it 2-2 before losing it in leg six to go 4-2 down.

Littler's scoring power was ultimately too much, with the 18-year-old firing in 10 180s on his way to an astonishing average of 108.48.

The win extends Littler's lead at the top of the Order of Merit, with 'The Nuke' already guaranteed to be world number one heading into the World Darts Championship after Luke Humphries was eliminated in round one in Minehead.

He would have been the number one seed for the World Championship regardless, as he won the tournament last year.

That means he will kick off first round proceedings on night one at Alexandra Palace at the head of the opening bracket.

Price's defeat to Littler in the Players Championship Finals locks him in as the ninth seed - meaning the Welshman will be in the same bracket as one of his biggest darting rivals.

The pair could therefore play each other as early as the quarter-final stage, rather than later in the tournament.

The winner of that match could theoretically face fourth or fifth seeds Stephen Bunting or Jonny Clayton in the semi-final, with the likes of Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen on the opposite side of the draw for a potential final.

Also among the opening bracket are Joe Cullen, Rob Cross, Damon Heta and Chris Dobey.

Had Price beaten Littler, he would have risen to sixth place in the Order of Merit, where he could have faced Van Gerwen or Josh Rock among others in the quarter-finals.

Winning the tournament would have put him in fourth, placing him in the bracket alongside Bunting, Michael Smith and Dave Chisnall.

On the flip side, Price would surely argue that the exact make-up of the brackets will not make a significant difference to him, given that he will likely need to beat the best players to win the World Championship in any case.

Price has lost all of his last seven matches in all tournaments against Littler, though does have a strong record generally against the 18-year-old.

'The Iceman' is also in strong form, having reached the semi-finals of the Grand Slam of Darts before losing 16-13 to Humphries.

Speaking after that match, Price left fans in no doubts about how he can defeat both Humphries and Littler.

He told Darts Now: "You need the rub of the green to win tournaments. Even though Luke [Humphries] didn't win the final, he had it against me. He scored well, I didn't.

"Those key moments went in his favour. Somewhere down the line, that'll change. At the moment, the two Lukes are having the rub of the green. But when that changes, will they keep winning? I don't think so."