Unsurprisingly, Luke Littler has been installed as the 3.0 favourite to win the Winmau World Masters this weekend. ‘The Nuke’s incredible rise continued as he became the youngest-ever player to win the World Darts Championship title earlier this month. While Littler has since come up short at both the Bahrain and Dutch Darts Masters, the teenage sensation has still performed to a very high standard at both events. The newly-crowned world champion reached the semi final stage in Den Bosch last Saturday, racking up a tournament-high average of 107.59 when being edged out by Stephen Bunting at the semi-final stage. A week earlier in Bahrain, Littler averaged over 105 but ran into an inspired Gerwyn Price, who produced an extraordinary 3-dart average of 115.31 to win that tussle. The Warrington wonderkid will be even more difficult to dispatch this weekend given that it will be a set play tournament. What’s more, Littler has also landed on the opposite side of the draw to the likes of Luke Humphries, Stephen Bunting and Gerwyn Price, and that only adds to the appeal of backing the teenage trailblazer to take top honours.

Luke Humphries will be eager to make up for a disappointing couple of months at this year’s World Masters. ‘Cool Hand Luke’ suffered a shock exit at the World Darts Championship last month and he has since fallen short at both the Bahrain and Dutch Darts Masters. However, Humphries’ performances this year have been better than results suggest. The world number 1 averaged in excess of 100 in each of his opening 2 outings in Bahrain before losing a dramatic last leg decider to eventual-winner Stephen Bunting. While Humphries was below par in the Netherlands last weekend, he is more than capable of bouncing back by going all the way in Milton Keynes. It was only a couple of months ago that Humphries successfully defended his Players Championship Finals title, overcoming Luke Littler in the final. Humphries remains a cut above the competition in his quarter of the draw and should ease himself into the tournament with a win over Joe Cullen. Thereafter, the Newbury ace will prove to be a tough nut to crack, particularly in set play format. It’s not often Humphries is such a big price, so snap up the attractive offer on him to reign supreme.

Stephen Bunting looks overpriced to successfully defend his Masters crown in Milton Keynes this weekend. ‘The Bullet’ has gone from strength to strength since defeating Michael van Gerwen 11-7 to take the title 12 months ago. He enjoyed a superb season both on and off the floor, culminating in a second World Championship semi-final appearance. The Bunting bandwagon then rolled onto Bahrain, with the St Helens star reeling off a string of stunning displays to secure a maiden World Series title. Bunting carried that momentum into the Dutch Darts Masters last weekend, storming through to the final only to be thwarted by Rob Cross. Thus, fan favourite Bunting will arrive at the World Masters in high spirits and in the form of his life. A favourable looking draw adds further fuel to the fire for back-to-back Masters triumphs for Bunting. He will get his title defence up and running against 1 of the qualifiers from the preliminary round before facing either Peter Wright or another of the qualifiers. Having beaten both Luke Littler and Luke Humphries en route to finals across the last fortnight, Bunting won’t be fazed by any of the challenges that lie in wait this weekend.