Luke Littler has admitted he and Luke Humphries failed to click as a partnership during last year's World Cup of Darts as England prepare for another shot at glory.
The world's top two players will once again join forces for the tournament after suffering a shock early exit in 2025.
Littler and Humphries arrived as overwhelming favourites last year but were dumped out in the second round following an 8-4 defeat to Germany's Martin Schindler and Ricardo Pietreczko.
Backed by a passionate home crowd in Frankfurt, the German duo produced a memorable performance to send England crashing out.
Now, with another World Cup campaign approaching, Littler has reflected on what went wrong.
The reigning world champion admitted England never fully settled as a team on stage and believes their partnership can improve significantly this year.
"Me and Luke, we are up for it and hopefully we can get an easier draw this year," Littler told Sky Sports.
"I think of Ricardo and Martin. They definitely played a good game with each other.
Luke Littler has admitted he and Luke Humphries failed to click as a partnership during last year's World Cup of Darts as England prepare for another shot at glory
|GETTY
"Me and Luke had a few good moments in the game, but we just didn't really bond on that stage.
"Hopefully, this year is a lot different."
England will again enter the tournament as the No 1 seeds, alongside fellow heavyweights the Netherlands, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
That seeding means Littler and Humphries will receive a bye through the opening round before beginning their campaign in the second stage.
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Five things to know about darts star Luke Littler | GB NEWS/GETTYWhile the pair remain fierce rivals on the PDC circuit, Littler believes they will quickly switch into team mode once this week's Nordic Darts Masters concludes.
"This week is a lot different with Luke because we are playing against each other," he explained.
"We all want to win this title. We all want to win games.
"I think next week is when me and Luke really knuckle down and try and get the win."
Despite the pressure that naturally comes with representing England, Littler believes expectations were actually higher 12 months ago.
"I don't really feel the pressure's building," he said.
"I think there was more pressure last year than there is this year."
The teenager also admitted England were unhappy with the draw that paired them against the host nation in front of a partisan German crowd.
Luke Littler and Luke Humphries will partner up for England once again
| PA"Drawing the Germans last year, we didn't want that," he added.
"We wanted someone else. But hopefully we can do better this year."
Humphries, meanwhile, echoed those sentiments and described the atmosphere as one of the toughest situations the pair could have encountered.
The former world champion believes Littler is now better equipped to deal with hostile crowds following several difficult experiences over the past year.
"Luke probably has learned to deal with it, the booing, a lot more over the last 12 months," Humphries said.
"He has probably gained a lot of experience from what's happened over the last couple of months."
Humphries was keen to stress, however, that there were never any issues between the two players away from the stage.
"I don't think we didn't bond well," he said. "Nothing changed. We weren't separated on the practice board. We always get along really well."