Ally Pally favourite Stephen Bunting thrashes Luke Woodhouse to ...

Ruthless Stephen Bunting set up an enticing quarter-final against two-time world champion Peter Wright on New Year's Day by thrashing Luke Woodhouse 4-0 on Monday night.

And the Liverpudlian fan favourite then called on the Ally Pally crowd to inspire him to a first World Championship title.

‘I don’t want to let these guys down,’ he said. ‘We can do this, we really can. At Anfield we always say the crowd is like the 12th man and here it’s no different. These fans can take me anywhere. This year it’s going to be a Bunting wonderland.’ 

Bunting hopes to parade the Sid Waddell Trophy around Anfield on Sunday. ‘It’d be a dream come true,’ he added. ‘It would be even more fantastic because we play Man United, that would be unbelievable.

I can go all the way. I’m in the best position to win this tournament.’

Bunting averaged 96.78 and hit six 180s as he made light work of Woodhouse, who won only three legs compared to Bunting’s 12.

Stephen Bunting thrashed Luke Woodhouse to move into the quarter-finals at Ally Pally

Bunting was on another level as he did not drop a single set against Woodhouse

Bunting now faces Peter Wright in the quarter-finals on New Year's Day

But the 39-year-old admitted he would have to be at his best tomorrow after Wright knocked out world No 1 Luke Humphries with a 101 average and a 70 per cent success rate on doubles.

‘Peter is one of the best players on the planet. I expect that version of Peter and we’ll have a fantastic game,’ said Bunting.

The winner of that tie will take on Nathan Aspinall, Luke Littler or Ryan Joyce in the semi-finals.

On the other side of the draw, Newcastle-born Callan Rydz will take on three-time world champion Michael van Gerwen. The Dutchman delivered a statement display last night to knock out Jeffrey de Graaf 4-2, finishing with an average of 101.98.

Chris Dobey faces 2021 world champion Gerwyn Price in the other quarter-final, with all four ties taking place on Wednesday, before the semi-finals on Thursday and the final on Friday.