Standing in the way of Luke Littler and a place in the World Darts Championships final on Friday is Stephen Bunting. 'The Bullet' from St. Helens is going to need all the support he can muster in this battle of the fan favourites.

Semi-finals take place at Alexandra Palace on Thursday evening, giving the four remaining competitors a second-to-last hurdle before claiming the Sid Waddell trophy and £500k jackpot. Chris Dobey faces Gerwyn Price before Bunting, born in Fazakerley, takes on Runcorn-born Littler.

Despite only emerging as a crowd favourite in recent years with darts-goers uniting in a choir-like fashion to sing his walkout song 'Titanium' by David Guetta featuring Sia, or generally just 'going Bunting mental', he has sustained a successful career dating back to 2002. That was when Bunting began on the British Darts Organisation (BDO) tour, and over the next several years claimed the World Masters title twice and the Zuiderduin Masters once.

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But the catalyst in kickstarting his professional career was success at the BDO World Championships at Lakeside in 2014, beating Alan 'Chuck' Norris 7-4. It was here he was awarded a tour card to join the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).

Varying levels of success over the past 11 years followed, the highlight coming when he toppled Michael van Gerwen 11-7 at The Masters in Milton Keynes, February 2024. Now vying for a second darts title in under 12 months, 'The Bullet' constantly references training with last year's World Championships winner and good friend Luke Humphries as the reason he is playing the best, most consistent darts of his career to date.

His late record has also seen him rise through the World Rankings to be current No.8. This is judged on prize money won over a two-year period.

To that end, Bunting has won £486k in that time frame - his Masters victory earned him £65k alone. Overall, it is believed the man from St. Helens has won over £1.8m throughout his entire 23-year career - that is without even considering the various sponsorship endorsements he has.

Having made it to this year's World Championships semi-finals at worst he will pocket a further life-changing £100k. The runner-up gets £200k whilst as mentioned above, the overall winner wins £500k.

Whilst under the spotlight at this winter's tournament, Bunting's age has been a central topic. He was born on April 9, 1985, making him 39-years-old. Fans on social media have been left baffled by this, making comparisons in particular to five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo, who is two months senior.

And finally, one career-defining trait of 'The Bullet' has been his love for Liverpool FC. He is absolutely mad about the club.

After that aforementioned BDO World Championships win in 2014, he was presented with the opportunity by the club to show off his trophy on the Anfield turf in front of the crowd during a Premier League fixture vs Aston Villa.

"It would be fantastic," to recreate that moment with the Sid Waddell Trophy - provided he beats Littler and wins Friday's final - when the Reds play Manchester United at home on Sunday, he has already admitted.

"That'd be unbelievable. Just to shove that trophy down their throats as well," Bunting added for good measure - as if things are not already bad enough for Ruben Amorim and his players.