Ian Wright: 'Tammy Abraham a better option than Michy Batshuayi'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 15 October 2017

Ian Wright believes that Tammy Abraham is a better all-round option than Michy Batshuayi to fill in for the injured Alvaro Morata at Chelsea.

Arsenal legend Ian Wright has claimed that Tammy Abraham would offer Chelsea more up top than Michy Batshuayi in Alvaro Morata's absence.

The Blues were without leading scorer Morata for Saturday's trip to face Crystal Palace and may also have to make do without the Spaniard against Roma in midweek.

Back-up striker Batshuayi has been turned to for the time being but, after firing another blank at Selhurst Park in Chelsea's shock 2-1 defeat, Wright believes that Abraham - the scorer of a brace for loan club Swansea City against Huddersfield Town - is the man the champions need.

"I said a couple of weeks ago that Batshuayi should be very disappointed that [Antonio Conte] would rather put [Eden] Hazard up there," he told BBC Sport. "The problem I have got with him is he is not working defenders hard enough to get some space to get a chance in the box, that's what he needs. He needs to make movements to get this space.

"When you watch him he doesn't move. His movement just doesn't have enough intensity about it, there's nothing in it. There were some fantastic balls [against Palace] but he was too late for many of them.

"Tammy set the tone straight away. What I really like about him is that he hits the target. I was hoping he would get some goals today to give him confidence. He worked hard and showed composure for his first goal and his movement today was superb. With that movement, I'm taking Tammy all day long."

Batshuayi has scored six goals in 11 appearances for Chelsea this season, while Abraham has five in 10 at Swansea.