Gerwyn Price shows true colours in Luke Littler darts debate as he sends clear message

Welsh star looking for Blackpool glory and is not interested in one debate as he outlines his end-of-year ranking aim

Pumped-up Gerwyn Price has delivered a don’t care message as he bids for Blackpool glory.

The Iceman faces Josh Rock in a mouth-watering last-eight tie at the Betfred World Matchplay.

Price’s Monday bust-up with Daryl Gurney and his outstanding performances have made him a headline act at this year's Winter Gardens showpiece.

The Welshman is deemed the biggest threat to World champ Luke Littler’s chances of winning the crown with strong debate over whether, right now, he is the best player in darts.

Price, though, has no interest in such discussions and said: “I’m getting back to my best. I don’t care about best player in the world.

"I just want to play as well as I can and get some ranking points under my belt and get back into the top four, maybe World No.1 after the World Championship.

"There’s a lot of points on offer. So I’m just looking forward to the rest of the year and playing well. Provisionally I’m world number seven.

"If I win this, I go up to world number four. Off the back of the year that I had last year, I mean, I never thought that was going to be possible when I was outside the top 16, scraping to get back in.

"It goes to show if you have a decent year, then you can get right back up.

“The longer the format, the more confident I feel and the more belief I have in my game because sometimes the cream does rise, but there’s so many good players in this tournament and they probably say the same. They prefer the longer format, so it’s going to be some tough battles if I want to lift this trophy.

“I’m confident in my own game. It just gives me the self-belief and gives me a good boost of confidence, but yes, I don’t care about the rest.”

Price was blistering in his demolition of Chris Dobey in the last 16 and said: “In the middle part of that game. I don’t think you can get any better.

"If I’m banging in 180, 180 back to back, you definitely can’t get any better. So yes, I was right up there with my A-plus game in the middle part of that game.

"I was decent at the beginning and slipped off towards the end, probably trying to just get over the winning line. But yes, I think that’s my A-game. I’ve got a little bit more on the tank, I think, in patches, but the middle part of the game, it was probably my best.

“I have played better than that before. I can remember the Grand Slam final against Peter Wright. When I won, I think I was averaging 114, 115 for most of the game. But that’s right up there, maybe close second, third behind that. I don’t know, but it was a good game for me.

“If I play like that in the next round, I’ve got a really good chance. And if I play like that all the way through, then there’s no reason why I can’t [win it]. But there’s so many players left in this tournament that can do that as well. It’s going to be tough, but I think I’ve got a good chance.”