Express & Star

Tammy Abraham urged to be Aston Villa’s hero

Tammy Abraham has been challenged to write himself into Villa folklore by being the club’s hero at a sold-out Wembley next week.

Published
Last updated

The 21-year-old has played a major part in Dean Smith’s team reaching the play-off final and will lead the line when they face Derby for a place in the Premier League on Monday.

Abraham has top scored for Villa with 26 goals since joining on loan from Chelsea and fired home the winning penalty as they edged past Albion in last week’s semi-final.

And former Holte End hero Garry Thompson is now urging Abraham to put the seal on a fine campaign by firing Villa past the Rams.

Thompson, who finished top scorer when Villa last won promotion in 1988, said: “Abraham will be right up for this one, as any player should be. If you were being honest you would have to say he was not quite at his best in either leg of the semi-final, even though he scored in the first.

“But he always shows courage and rarely shies away, even when things aren’t going his way.

“Villa need him to be back up to the levels he has shown for most of the season at Wembley.

“He’s scored in both games against Derby and the fact he will be facing a Chelsea team-make, Fikayo Tomori, should only encourage him further.”

Meanwhile, Villa have announced a new three-year kit deal with Italian sportswear company Kappa.

The agreement sees Kappa replace Luke 1977 in designing next year’s shirts, which will again be manufactured by Fanatics.