Carter has been beaten in his last two world championships but performed admirably at Alexandra Palace earlier this year, which has spared a sense of belief inside the 44-year-old.

The world No. 8 has now set his sights on taking the crown in Sheffield, which would prevent O’Sullivan from landing the trio of Triple Crown events for the first time in his career. He told the WST Podcast: “When I played at the Masters back in January, I was telling myself I was going to win that event. Rather than telling yourself, you’re going to lose or someone is going to beat you, why not tell yourself you are going to win it?

“I played really great stuff all week. That reminded me that I am a top player because to play well in that atmosphere, that environment, you have to have something about you. I know I didn’t win it but we had a really good game in the final, I made the most centuries I’ve ever made and that’s ever been made there.

“If I can take that form into the crucible, with that attitude, then I think with the sort of game that I’ve got, I could be dangerous. Whether I win the World Championship or not, it doesn’t matter, I believe this year, probably for the first time, I could win it.

“Obviously we’d all like to break build like Ronnie, of course, we would. But there’s more than one way to go about this game and as good as Ronnie O’Sullivan is, he doesn’t win every tournament – he pretty much does at the minute, the ones he enters – so there’s room for other players to win.”