Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu paints giant grass portrait of himself ahead of new season

Luton Airport, along with a helping hand from the player, have painted a giant grass portrait of Mpanzu on the flight path with the message: "Pundits, prepare to eat your hats. Luton Town FC has landed."

The work is the size of 87 London buses and the same width as Luton airport's runway and is situated a few miles from Kenilworth Road.

Mpanzu, a former West Ham trainee, will make history on Saturday when Luton play Brighton where he will become the first footballer to play in every tier of English football from non-league to the Premier League.

He was signed by John Still in 2013 during the Hatters' Conference title winning season and has been present since then.

"The journey that this team and I have been on personally throughout my 10 years at Luton Town FC has been incredible," he said as he unveiled the mural.

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"I've been bowled over by the love of the community during my years playing for the club, but seeing London Luton Airport create this today to cheer the team on has been out of this world."

Luton will be many people's tips to struggle this season and are among the favourites to be relegated, but the club aren't focusing on that.

"We're feeling confident for our first game and we'll do all we can to prove people wrong."

The 29-year-old, who played 98 minutes of the Championship play-off final win at Wembley, marks ten years as a Hatter in November and looks like he will be around for a while.

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In the summer he signed a new contract and is looking forward to start of the season.

Speaking to the Luton website earlier in the year he said: "I don't think words can describe [playing in the Premier League] just yet.

"I think when the fixtures came out that's when it hit me a little bit, I think until we get to August, we'll think we are getting there, but when we get to August and go to Brighton, it's going to be special.

"Once you put on the shirt and you see the Premier League badge, we'll think we've achieved something mad and we don't want it to end so soon, we're going to try and win as many games as we can out of the 38 games that we play. It's going to be an adventure to say the least."