Chelsea flop Chris Sutton insists he has nothing to prove as he prepares to return to Stamford Bridge with Villa tomorrow.
The Premiership champions paid £10m for Sutton but he scored just once in 29 league games before a £6m move to Celtic in 2000.
Tomorrow he will be part of Martin O’Neill’s Villa squad attempting to cause a shock in the Carling Cup fourth round tie.”I didn’t have the greatest time there,” he said.
“But I’ve got nothing to prove to anyone. Sometimes things don’t work out and that was one of those. But I’m pleased I went there because I wouldn’t have ended up at Celtic, where I enjoyed my time.
“Chelsea is a marvellous club with an array of riches and a good manager. They have a squad everyone’s envious of and some great players.
“I think they’ll go close to winning the Champions League this year, so I suppose you couldn’t get a worse possible tie and we’ve got it all to do.
“But it’s 11 v 11 and we’ll see. Villa got an excellent draw there recently. It’s a tough tie. We’ll work as hard as we can and you never know.”
Sutton admits he still has a “long way to go” to reach full fitness. The 33-year-old was forced off in injury time of Sunday’s 2-0 win over Blackburn.
It was his first start of the season and the prospect of him playing two full games in three days appears slim, meaning Milan Baros could be recalled.
“It was just a bit of cramp at the end - it’s probably to be expected,” said Sutton. “I’d only played one full game in the reserves and Sunday was nearly a full match, so I’m getting there.
“I came here to work as hard as I possibly can. I’ve still got a long way to go in getting fitter. I’m coming to the end of my career but I want to give myself the best possible chance.”
O’Neill said Sutton should use 40-year-old Teddy Sheringham, still playing for West Ham, as a role model but the ex-Celtic man is cautious after having a hip operation. “I’ll just see how I go,” he said. “I had this operation a couple of months back, but all’s well.”
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