Eurosport’s Jimmy White has attempted to explain why Ronnie O’Sullivan will beat Luca Brecel in their quarter-final and ‘probably’ win his eighth World Championship title.

White, sat alongside Alan McManus in the studio, looked ahead to the hotly-anticipated last-eight encounter between the attacking duo at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield with the opening session to commence on Tuesday morning.

O’Sullivan, who thrashed Hossein Vafaei in a contest billed as a “grudge match” that did not deliver much of a battle on the table, has been in sublime form so far at the iconic venue and will be looking to continue that against the mercurial Belgian.

With O’Sullivan aiming to clinch an outright record eighth world title to surpass fellow legend Stephen Hendry’s tally, White identified some of the key aspects of The Rocket’s game that demonstrate he is looking very strong.

“Luca is one of these players that is all-out attack,” White said as he began by analysing Brecel in the Eurosport studio.

“If they go in, he can win frames regularly from nowhere and from impossible positions.

“Why I think O’Sullivan will beat Luca and probably go on to win his eighth world title is because, in his game against Hossein [Vafaei], he was measured and focused.

“He scored and his positional play was good. Tactically, everything was working right and he was putting the cue ball in to trap his opponent.

“If he does this with Luca, those big pots and long shots are going to get more and more difficult, he is going to get frustrated, and he is going to give O’Sullivan a lot of chances.”

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McManus added: “The only way he is going to beat Ronnie is by throwing the kitchen sink at him.

“He is not going to outmanoeuvre him, out-think him and out-smart him, but in my opinion, he is playing well enough to do just that.

“He is such a danger from deep play and deep baulk. He is a massive danger and Ronnie will know that.

“Ronnie is an unbelievably good player and he is so good on the big occasion. Every time he plays here it is a massive occasion.

“Like with the Hossein match, it just does not affect him. You cannot make it stick on him. You land one and you jab him, but it just will not stick to him.

“He is able to play with freedom. I don’t know how he does it, but I think it is his biggest asset, particularly at this place.”

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