Luke Littler could be just days away from securing a £500,000 cheque

At just 16, darts sensation Luke Littler is on course to write one of the greatest fairytale stories in sporting history.

But asked what he's like away from the darts oche, Luke 'The Nuke' Littler paints a picture of a regular stay-at-home teenager.

'Just wake up, play on my Xbox, have some food, have a chuck on the board and go to bed, that's it,' he said, adding: 'I don't engage with anything outside the house.'

Well, that's all about to change. With the nation, and a growing army of fans around the world, waiting on tenterhooks for today's match in the World Darts Championship at London's Alexandra Palace, this video-game loving youngster has become an instant celebrity.

Despite being an avid Manchester United fan, Littler spent his day off yesterday watching Spurs take on Bournemouth as a guest of England international James Maddison.

A few days ago he posed for a photo in his hotel lobby at the request of Arsenal stars Declan Rice and Aaron Ramsdale. The world of sport can't get enough of this softly spoken youngster from Warrington.

And for good reason. Littler is just three wins away from shattering all records to become a darts world champion at just 16 years of age.

He is now the odds-on favourite to win his quarter-final clash today with Northern Irishman Brendan Dolan and second favourite at odds of 7-2 with tournament sponsors Paddy Power to win the world title on Wednesday.

Littler is already guaranteed £50,000 and will earn a minimum £100,000 if he wins today. The world champion picks up a £500,000 cheque.

With his self-confessed love of kebabs, Littler looks nothing like an elite sportsman and certainly nothing like a schoolboy who took his GCSEs last summer – he's had a beard of sorts since he was 14.

However, his composure under pressure and brilliance on the darts stage speaks for itself. And the teenager has so far proven equally adept at handling the media spotlight, coming across as a modest, polite and level-headed young man in TV interviews.

After hammering his idol Raymond Van Barneveld 4-1 on Saturday evening, the five-times world champion embraced Littler and told him he could 'go all the way'. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Littler could barely believe what he had achieved, commenting: 'It's incredible, beating one of my idols on the biggest stage of it all, I still can't believe it now.'

Asked if he really could win the title, he said: 'With performances like that I think I could. But it's whatever happens on the stage on the day.

'So I have just got to chill out, loosen my arm out and have a practice ready for my next game.' And plenty of experts agree. Speaking after his latest win, commentator and former world champion John Part told Sky Sports: 'Really a great performance and I have to say, that's the sort of darts that does win titles and he's getting awfully close to really achieving that I think, if he can keep turning up and doing it, and I don't see why he can't.'

Meanwhile, Littler's social media stats are rocketing.

His Instagram followers have increased from 4,000 to more than 180,000 in days, a photo of him opening Christmas presents last week has had 7.8million views and a video of him playing darts aged three has had over 2 million views.

Littler's biggest fans are of course his parents Lisa Littler, 40, who works in a candle shop, and Anthony Buckley, 43, a taxi driver. Mr Buckley recognised Luke's natural talent for darts early on, but he needed little encouragement to play as much as possible.

During lockdown, Luke kept at it. 'He just played all day by himself,' said Mr Buckley. 'He was on the board 12 hours a day. Eat, sleep, darts, repeat.'