'Littler can be best ever if he doesn't get bored'

Luke Littler is a "different animal" and has the potential to become the best player in darts history "if he doesn’t get too bored", says rival Peter Wright.

The 17-year-old was the World Championship runner-up at the start of the year and won the Austrian Open - his second European Tour title - at the weekend.

Littler has now lost only one of his 14 matches on the tour.

Two-time world champion Wright regularly faced Phil Taylor, who is widely regarded as greatest player of all time, but believes Littler could eclipse him.

“If he wants to do it, he could," the Scot said. "But we don’t know what his plan is. He could play for another five years and say ‘that’s it, I have earned enough’.

"He has shaken up the sport. You see him in the back room and his routine is about five minutes practice. Maybe that's what we are all doing wrong - practising too much and wearing ourselves out.”

Littler’s dominance has been reflected in this season’s Premier League.

After 13 weeks of competition, the English teenager tops the standings going into Thursday's event in Aberdeen.

Wright, who is bottom of the table, says Littler’s emergence has forced everyone else to up their game.

"In the first or second week, I said to him ‘if you start losing, you can come to me for advice - because you will start losing’. But he hasn’t yet,” he added.

"It's what we needed. Michael van Gerwen came on to the scene just after Phil Taylor and raised the bar, and Littler he is doing the same.

"It is good for everyone else, to make us get our fingers out and practice harder."