Luke Humphries has accused Peter Wright of “mind games” after a war of words broke out at Alexandra Palace ahead of a mouth-watering last-16 clash between the two world champions.

The two players eased through round three on Friday before Humphries, the defending champion, surprisingly reacted to Wright’s pre-tournament claim that he would not even make it this far in the tournament.

Wright, who was the 2020 and 2022 champion, had also thrown a verbal grenade in Humphries’s direction during the World Cup of Darts last summer when he claimed that Scotland would “smash up” England before they were beaten in the semi-finals by Humphries and Michael Smith.

Now 54, Wright has shown glimpses of his best form so far in the tournament after a decidedly patchy year and the man nicknamed “Snakebite” believes that he can return to the top of darts above Humphries and the 17-year-old Luke Littler. Humphries, who is 29, leads the PDC world rankings after winning £1.4 million more in prize money over the past two years than Wright.

“Who drives me on? Luke Humphries and Luke Littler,” said Wright. “Because I know I can still compete with them. You know, what I’m doing in practice, I can compete with these guys and actually be better than them.

“People think, ‘Oh, he should be retiring, he should be going to the old gits’ thing’ [the seniors tour]. No, I’m not ready for that yet. I’m ready to upset Luke Littler. I’m here to upset Luke Humphries.”

Humphries, who has yet to drop a set in winning his opening two matches 3-0 and 4-0 at Alexandra Palace, has clearly become irritated by Wright’s claims.

“If I don’t fear someone, I don’t keep mentioning them all the time,” he said. “He’s had a lot to say over the last couple of weeks where he says that he doesn’t fear me and Luke Littler, but he said he’s going to smash us.

“The pressure’s on him now because if he doesn’t then the egg’s on his face, not mine. I’m really, really relaxed and if he doesn’t beat us then it’s going to look silly on him, not me. I just think Peter loves to play the mind games, but they don’t work with me. And it probably won’t work on Luke Littler. How many times have people said, ‘this is going to happen and this going to happen’, and it never happens?”

Humphries pointedly also noted that he had almost already achieved more in the game than Wright. “I’m one world title away from almost matching his career, and I’m about 25 years younger, so I think one world title would match everything he’s ever achieved in the game,” he said. “I’m not going to give up this world title without a fight. When someone pushes me I know I can provide the goods.”

Wright overcame illness to beat Jermaine Wattimena 4-2 on Friday with an average of 96.19 before Humphries then followed that up by averaging in excess of 98 in beating Nick Kenny.

The flamboyant Wright, who sports a dyed Mohican hairstyle, was similarly brash when playing for Scotland in the World Cup of Darts earlier this year, even suggesting that Humphries had been carrying his playing partner during the tournament.

Smith responded by saying that Wright should have “strong shoulders” from holding up the Premier League of Darts in recent years. Wright won just two out of 18 matches in this year’s competition after also finishing eighth out of eight the previous year.

Wright and Humphries will play each other on Sunday night for a place in the quarter-finals on New Year’s Day. The 2025 world darts champion will be crowned on January 3 and win a £500,000 first prize.