Luke Littler will return to Alexandra Palace as a superstar household name on Saturday nearly 12 months after his stunning run to the final in last year's competition where he was beaten by Luke Humphries.

This time round the 17-year-old oche prodigy heads into the whirlwind of the Ally Pally bidding to become the youngest-ever PDC darts world champion as one of the tournament favourites.

Littler arrives as the sport's most popular player with millions expected to tune in just to get a glimpse of the Warrington-born star when he gets his campaign underway, but takes on a relatively unknown figure in his opening match.

Another player hoping to follow Littler by making a heroes run to the latter stages of the competition is Ryan Meikle - the world No 62 - and needs to pull of what would be one of the greatest-ever upsets to do so.

Meikle is an unknown entity to many and has already faced a scare at the Ally Pally in his opening match against Queen of the Palace Fallon Sherrock in a match that went all the way before the Englishman emerged with a 3-2 victory.

Meeting Littler at the oche is an altogether different story however and Meikle will have to harness his underdog status in what is expected to be a hostile environment.

Luke 'The Nuke's' superstar profile means he will likely have the support of the majority of those in attendance at the grand darts arena while Meikle will be hoping his family's presence can inspire him to victory.

Speaking ahead of their matchup, Meikle appeared slightly awestruck at the prospect of playing Littler, telling BBC Suffolk: 'There'll be millions tuning in just to watch his game and I'm going to be a part of it,' he said. 'I'm going to feel honoured just to be up there with him.

'Obviously I need to play a lot better than I did [in the first round] but being up there once now - the first round is always the hardest - hopefully I'll relax a bit more and play my best game.

'I'm living the dream and it's the most amazing feeling,' he added.

The 28-year-old hails from Ipswich and harnesses the iconic nickname 'The Barber' because he is one of the few players competing at the world championship who still has a day job working at Nick's Barbers in Saxmundham.

Away from the board, Meikle has been cutting hair in the build-up to his contest against Littler by returning to work for two days after beating Sherrock in the first round, but fortunately has a practice area set up to train on in between giving haircuts.

He revealed that being back behind the chair helps him remain calm before being thrown into the chaos of the Ally Pally, stating: 'I'll head back up on Friday afternoon and try and keep my mind off it, not putting too much pressure on myself and just get ready for Saturday.

'I worked on Monday and my customers coming in for a haircut were like: "What are you doing here? You're playing tomorrow!". I'm like: "What else would I be doing?". You just think about it more.

'Going to work, earning a few quid and taking my mind off it. That's what I'll be doing for the next few days and I'll get ready for Luke on Saturday.'

An unconventional journey to the biggest tournament in darts has seen the self-confessed Ipswich Town supporter previously rub shoulders in the world championship against Raymond van Barneveld who knocked him out before losing to Littler himself.

Now he wants to get his name in the hat for the next round against the odds and will do so with his fiancee Millie by his side as she provides support to her partner whenever he is at the oche.

The couple got engaged in February and live together in Ipswich raising Meikle's son who he has from his first marriage. 

Millie attended all of his matches at last year's world championship and is expected to be by his side again when he goes toe-to-toe with Littler in a bid to reach the second round on his fifth visit to the Ally Pally.

Despite travelling around the UK to support Ryan in various competitions Millie has a hectic schedule of her own to contend with and is reportedly a midwife at East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust.

Should Meikle pull off an unfathomable victory over Littler then this could be the start of another magical tournament for an unlikely British hero to make his mark on the world stage.