Luke Littler's next opponent at the World Darts Championship will be preparing in an unusual way. The teenage superstar, who has a bye to the second round, will begin his campaign against Ryan Meikle this weekend.

Meikle booked a meeting with Littler by securing a hard-fought win over Fallon Sherrock on Tuesday night. He edged a decisive fifth set amid jeers from the crowd to send the Queen of the Palace crashing out in the first round.

The 28-year-old is one of several players with a day job, spending much of his time working as a barber in his native Suffolk. Ahead of his showdown with Littler, he will be attempting to calm his nerves by immersing himself in his trade.

"I'm actually going home tomorrow and working for two days," said Meikle after beating Sherrock. "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."

Meikle is fully aware that he will go into Saturday's clash as the clear underdog but has expressed hope it will work in his favour, with all of the pressure on Littler to avoid a surprise defeat.

"I'm excited and I'm looking forward to it," he added. "I'm not going to say I'm going to win, he's unbelievable, but I've got a chance. I'm still in, so you never know. There's no pressure on me now. I can literally just go up there.

"I love coming here, it gives me goosebumps every time I come here. I can turn up on Saturday and there will be no pressure on me. I'm sure there will be a lot of pressure on him. I can hopefully relax and play my best game."

Meikle will be looking to take confidence from his recent win over Gary Anderson after claiming an impressive victory at last month's Players Championship Finals.

"I think that was the belief I needed," he said. "Before I beat Gary, the couple of Euro Tours on the big stage weren't very good. It gave me a lot of confidence going into tonight. On Saturday, I'll just play my own game and we will see what happens."