The festive season can’t end quick enough for one Sittingbourne schoolboy.

Luke Allen’s Christmas dream will come true in the new year when he runs out with his beloved football team.

The 12-year-old Borden Grammar School pupil has been selected as match day mascot for Arsenal.

Not only will he get to meet his heroes before the side’s Premier League home game against Stoke City on January 11, he’ll lead them out onto the pitch.

The former Halfway Primary School pupil, will also be presented with a signed shirt and a replica kit.

His mum Rebecca Harvey explained how the call to inform the family that Luke had been selected came in the nick of time.

“The club contacted us two weeks before Luke’s 12th birthday,“ she said.

“The age limit for mascots is 11, so he just about made it.

“All his paternal side of the family, his dad and grandad, are massive Arsenal fans.

“He was really shocked when he found out because the chances of being selected are so slim.

“He’s trying to keep a lid on it because he doesn’t want to seem too boastful in front of his younger brother.

“But I know he’s so excited and can’t wait.”

Rebecca said her son, from Queensway in Sheerness, has been a member of Arsenal’s young supporters’ club, the Junior Gunners, since birth and is a regular visitor to the north London side’s Emirates Stadium.

His family, including mum, dad Glen, younger brother Liam, eight, and sister Charlotte, six, have been invited to the game to see Luke’s big day.

His grandad Martin Allen, 60, of Queenborough Road, Halfway, will also be there, having been chosen by the youngster to share his pre-match meet and greet with the players.

Rebecca, whose 32nd birthday coincides with the weekend of the game, said: “I nearly cried when they told me Luke had been chosen.

“His grandad’s been a fan since he was a little boy so I just know the day will mean the world to them.”