Mpanzu labelled as 'outstanding' by Hatters chief Edwards during Canaries victory

Town midfielder Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu was labelled as ‘outstanding’ for his role in the Hatters’ 2-1 win over Norwich City on Boxing Day.

The 28-year-old, a mainstay of the Luton side since he joined back in December 2013, missed the first part of the campaign after an injury carried over from the previous season, eventually recovering to be named in the team once more.

Selected in new manager Rob Edwards’ first two starting line-ups, he came to the fore when beating the Canaries on Monday evening, with some typically powerful driving runs from midfield, opponent Liam Gibbs booked when bringing him down.

Mpanzu also had one fierce drive blocked, plus going on to show his defensive qualities at the other end, making a terrific sliding intervention in stoppage time as the Hatters held on for a huge three points.

When asked about his performance, Mpanzu named MOM in the Luton News player ratings, Edwards, who also praised Jordan Clark and Allan Campbell, said: “I thought he was outstanding and the midfield was outstanding.

“We played Jordan a little bit deeper and allowed Pelly to run a little bit more and do what he’s really good at and be effective.

“I was really pleased with the three of them, how they complemented each other and how they worked together as they’re up against some really good players.

"Norwich changed the shape which was something we weren’t expecting them to do and with some of their movement and their rotation in midfield, (Josh) Sargent dropping down, so it can cause one or two issues.

"It did for their goal when we don’t quite get the press right, but in general the whole midfield three were really, really good.”

The Hatters midfield trio helped Luton make an excellent start to proceedings against Norwich, in what was their first home game for six weeks due to the World Cup break and Millwall postponement.

Despite such a lengthy absence, the hosts made a far better start than their visitors, recently relegated from the Premier League, and who sacked Dean Smith in the aftermath of the defeat, deserving to be ahead at the interval.

In the end, second half goals from Campbell and Cauley Woodrow were enough, but Edwards was especially happy with that opening 45 minutes.

He added: “I was really pleased and it’s always very hard to maintain that.

"The break almost comes at the wrong time when you’re on top and playing well and creating chances, so the challenge at half time was we’ve got to go again, and more, can we go more?

"We touched on one or two of the things we thought we could just be aware of out of possession as there weren’t too many problems caused in that first half from a defensive point of view.

"Then with the ball, focus on the areas we thought we were having joy and lets try and do that more.

"Obviously Norwich are going to try and combat that and we know they’re going to come into the game at some stage as they’ve got really good players.

"Getting the first goal was obviously important, it was a shame we couldn’t hang on again like the other week, but the first half was really, really pleasing.”