The festive period is delivering its traditional feast of darts action — and the sport looks to have a new superstar on its hands.

Luke Littler, a 16-year-old debutant, is the name on everybody's lips after winning his first three matches of this year's PDC World Championship in remarkable fashion.

We round up everything you need to know about the teenage sensation.

Who is Luke Littler?

Littler is a darts player from Warrington in Cheshire, who has amassed a burgeoning reputation thanks to his impressive exploits on the sport's junior scene.

He went viral in 2021 when hitting a nine-dart leg during a youth event in Gibraltar aged just 14 and his fledgling career has been on a steep upward curve ever since.

Now, the youngster has started to make national headlines. First by winning the World Youth Championship in November, before his exceptional exploits at Alexandra Palace.

Littler averaged 102.6 to stun the highly-rated Gian van Veen on his big stage debut and has shown that to be no flash in the pan in London by cruising into the tournament's last-16 stage.

Why are Littler's exploits so impressive?

Plenty have made a strong impression on their professional bow over the years but Littler's emergence has been truly special. 

Playing his first senior PDC match in the sport's biggest tournament, Littler dismantled former BDO World Champion Christian Kist 3-0 averaging 106.2 — the best performance of the entire first round by a distance.

With a media circus quickly gathering, Littler returned a day later to dump out UK Open champion Andrew Gilding 3-1 and was equally devastating in brushing aside Canadian Matt Campbell 4-1 in the last 32.

Littler is now just four games away from becoming world champion and completing what would unquestionably be one of the biggest fairytales in sporting history.

Can Littler win the 2024 PDC World Championship?

Should Littler keep up his current level of performance, he holds a genuine chance of being crowned the youngest ever PDC World Championship winner next week.

However, the youngster's toughest tasks are still very much to come, starting with his last-16 tie against the legendary Raymond van Barneveld.

Should he progress to the quarter-finals, he would likely face another former winner in Gary Anderson before potentially clashing with reigning champion Michael Smith in the semis.

If Littler is still standing come January 3, one of Michael van Gerwen or Luke Humphries would probably offer up the sternest of resistance in the final.

It is an ominous run of opponents but Littler is showing nothing to be impossible.

When does Littler play next?

Littler's clash with Van Barneveld will take place on Saturday, during the afternoon session.

The tournament then takes a one-day break on New Year's Eve before the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final are played across three consecutive days on January 1, 2 and 3 respectively.