TONIGHT is the night for Luke Littler.

The time has finally come for Warrington’s teenage darts sensation to make his first ever appearance on the sport’s biggest stage – the PDC World Darts Championships at Alexandra Palace.

His maiden appearance in the tournament caps a stellar year for the 16-year-old former Padgate Academy student, who retained his Junior Darts Corporation (JDC) world title on the “Ally Pally” stage on Sunday.

He was also crowned PDC World Youth champion last month and reached the fourth round of the UK Open earlier this year alongside his exploits on the Winmau Development Tour, all of which have helped him secure a two-year PDC Tour Card.

Who is he playing?

Littler takes on Dutchman Christian Kist in the first round as part of tonight’s evening session.

His 37-year-old opponent has earned the right to be called a world champion before having won the BDO World Championships back in 2012.

This will be his fifth appearance at the PDC version, with his best run being to the second round in 2016. His other three run-outs saw him knocked out in the opening round, with his last entry coming in 2018 when he was beaten by compatriot Michael Van Gerwen.

What time does the match start?

Littler vs Kist is the third match on the running order for tonight’s session, which gets underway at 7pm.

Two first-round matches will be played before them – Ryan Joyce vs Alex Spellman and Richard Veenstra vs Ben Robb – while two-time champion Peter Wright opens his tournament in the final match of the evening against Jim Williams.

It is estimated that Littler and Kist will be on stage by 9.15pm, but it depends entirely on how the first two matches progress.

All of tonight’s matches are being shown live on Sky Sports Arena from 7pm.

Can he win? And if he does, who next and when?

Competition sponsors Paddy Power actually make Littler a heavy favourite to win this evening - he is rated as a 3-10 shot while a Kist win is available at 12-5

The winner will book a second-round meeting with 20th seed and reigning UK Open champion Andrew Gilding in the opening match of tomorrow’s evening session, again starting at 7pm.

Wright and other former champions such as Raymond Van Barneveld, Gerwyn Price and Gary Anderson are potential opponents for Littler should he advance further into the tournament having been drawn alongside him in the third quarter of the draw.