Exclusive Chris Sutton Interview – Chelsea should buy Abraham back for £68m; Pochettino should be next Spurs manager & unite fanbase; Sour Grapes Ten Hag is jealous of Arsenal success +more

Speaking exclusively to Betting Sites, former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton has provided his take on Chelsea’s current turmoil, who should take over Conte at Spurs & calls out Ten Hag on Arteta jealousy.

Chelsea should buy Abraham back from Roma for £68m

On whether Chelsea should buy back Abraham this summer, Sutton said;

“Tammy Abraham is an out and out no9 and Chelsea decided to let him go. That was a bit of a strange one, but of course they expected Lukaku to come in and have a stormer which he didn’t do. Buying Tammy back is one of those that I could see happening. I think he’s done pretty well at Roma. The criticism of Chelsea is that while they have lots of creative players, they don’t actually have somebody to stick the ball in the net. So I actually think £68m would be a smart piece of business to bring Tammy Abraham back to Chelsea.”

Aubameyang’s time at Chelsea is over

When asked to assess Aubameyang’s time at Chelsea, Sutton said;

“With Aubameyang it was sort of unfortunate for him the way Tuchel left as soon as he was signed. But his attitude at Arsenal was really poor in the end, and then he slunk off to Barcelona before coming in at Chelsea. I’m not so sure it was ever going to work and now it seems like he’s been totally frozen out by Graham Potter. There’s an inevitable end going to happen there.”

Pochettino should come back to Spurs & unite fanbase

When quizzed on who should be the next Spurs manager post-conte, Sutton said;

“I don’t know whether there’d be a split in the fan base or not really. Pochettino was much loved in the fact that he got them to the Champions League final, and improved the team. He gets the club, he gets the brand of football which was Conte’s downfall really because he didn’t. Really, I think a lot of Spurs fans would like him back. But Nagelsmann has now lost his job at Bayern Munich and everything I’ve read suggests he’s making a play for the job. So it’s Stellini in charge to the end of the season with Ryan Mason, but that’s just to stopgap.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if somebody did come in before the end of the season – if Daniel Levy can crack a deal. But it’ll be interesting whether Pochettino is the one to come back. I’m not so sure they’ll go down that route, which probably means, he’ll be the next manager.”

Saka is the best RW in the world at the moment

After Saka’s MOTM performance against the Ukraine, Sutton had this to say on Arsenal’s talisman;

“I love the bravery of the young players at Arsenal. Saka especially, Is there a better right winger in the world at the moment? I really don’t think so. He’s 21. Martinelli is flying. But what a job Arteta has done with the youngsters!”

Sour Grapes Ten Hag is jealous of Arsenal success (following Arsenal injury comments)

Reacting to the comments Ten Hag made about Arsenal’s supposed “injury free season”, Sutton said;

“That could well be a bit of sour grapes maybe from Ten Hag yeah. I don’t think that you can say Arsenal have been lucky with injuries. The players have obviously been doing the right things and working hard. They’ll be doing stuff pre-training to make sure they’re conditioned and ready to play. And then warming down correctly after games. That’s not to say Manchester United players aren’t doing the same things but in some seasons you get more injuries than other seasons. But you know, as a consequence of Arsenal having that continuity while they’re doing so well. Ten Hag has done well but he’s probably jealous to be looking and seeing Arsenal just miles ahead of them at the minute.”

Maddison has more in his locker for England than Grealish

After Maddison’s impressive performance against Ukraine, Sutton said;

“I love James Maddison and not only due to his links to Norwich City. He’s done very good things at Leicester. There were always seemingly issues between Southgate and Maddison. Whether it was an attitude thing, and you know they had that as a few rumblings on the way. He was in a casino one evening when he said he was injured, something like that.

“But there’s no doubting his talent as a player. He’s a brilliant player, and I think many people, myself included, think he should have got the opportunity to start long before now. What he has done is knuckled down and trained well, and I think he’s going to be hard to oust from the team. I think he’s a little bit different from Grealish. He’s not such a dribbler, but I think in terms of impact he’s got more in his locker.”