Luke Littler has revealed the secret behind his Didier Drogba celebration. And The Nuke has also confessed to snubbing semi-final opponent Stephen Bunting in build-up to the Worlds.

Littler stormed into the last-four of the World Championships with a success over Nathan Aspinall. After winning the first set in his 5-2 triumph, the Manchester United-fan copied a famous celebration of Chelsea icon Drogba. All became clear afterwards as Littler explained: “My mate’s been pestering me for months and months to do it and he was in the crowd. When I was walking off he’d done a celebration and I looked at him and I’d done it. Yeah, it was from FIFA.”

Littler now faces Bunting and admits that he turned down an invite from The Bullet and World champ Luke Humprhies to join in pre-Ally practice sessions. The trio are all good mates, but he said: “He practiced with Luke. I didn’t. I wouldn’t say I ignored him, but I just wanted to do my own practice at home.”

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Bunting is a fan favourite, but Littler is changing the game by bringing a wave of youngsters into darts and he feels good about it. Kids wearing Nuke shirts are all over Ally Pally and he said: “Obviously the last year and what I’ve done it’s been crazy and I know what I’ve done for the younger generation.

“I’ve seen plenty of young kids in my darts shirt which is fabulous to see. I know there’s a lot more younger people here than last year and it shows what effect I’ve had on the game

“Throughout the year I’ve been myself, I’ve been what I have been for 17 years and that’s how it’s going to continue. I think I’ve been good at everything, speaking on stage, respecting all my opponents and, obviously for myself, the most important thing is winning..”

Littler is hot favourite to win the title, but he’s staying calm with two games to go and responded to the fact everyone thinks he’s the man to beat by saying: “Probably that’s what everyone thinks, but anything can happen on the day. It’s the semi-finals of the world championships. Michael [Van Gerwen] has been there numerous times. Chris [Dobey] is in his first, I’m in my second. I don’t know if [Stephen] Bunting is in his first or second, so it’s going to be a good night.

“I’m sure Chris won’t go down without a fight against Michael. I think our manager would love to see me and Chris in the final, but we’ve just got to play our games.”