John Pemberton believes that Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham, who is on-loan with his Bristol City side, has some of former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright’s qualities and reminds the Robins’ boss of the player he worked alongside at Crystal Palace.
The eighteen-year-old scored his tenth goal of the season at the weekend, as City destroyed Fulham 4-0. Pemberton, who was a defender for the Eagles when Wright was playing for them, said, “Tammy is very much like Ian Wright with regard to being in the right place at the right time. Ian Wright could create something out of nothing and Tammy is the same with regards to goalscoring”.
Bristol City were concerned that the departure of Jonathan Kodjia to Aston Villa in the summer might leave them light in the final third, given that the Villans new £11 million man scored 20 goals in 52 games and was City’s record goalscorer last season. They did everything they could to keep him as nobody at Ashton Gate wanted him to go. Pemberton said, “At the time, we really didn’t want to lose Jonathan and we tried to persuade him to stay. He wanted to go and, when he did, I’d be lying if I said we were not a little bit worried”.
The goalscoring prowess of the Chelsea loanee has taken a few people by surprise, however. Such is his ability that the Bristol City manager believes he hasn’t been missed. He said, “Tammy has been absolutely outstanding. Because of the way he has performed, we have hardly missed Jonathan Kodjia at all. None of us could have imagined that situation a month ago”.
Kodja, who arrived in Bristol from the French side Angers for £3.2 million, scored one goal in his four games for City before moving to Villa Park. He has since found the net just once in five games and Pemberton said, “To be honest, I think we’ve got the better end of the deal at the moment”.
The Bristol City manager praised the Chelsea striker’s desire to learn, saying, “He is like a sponge, he wants to take everything on board. He’s frightening and he just has this knack of getting there when you think he can’t do it, and that is something Wrighty had as well”.
Abraham has scored two goals against both Burton Albion and Sheffield Wednesday and also found the net against Villa, Fulham and Rotherham. He managed to shake off a dead-leg in order to play against Leeds United last night and failed to score for the first time in five games. His form has seen him rocket to the top of the Championship goalscoring charts and some bookies have reduced the odds of him finishing as top-scorer from 66/1 to 8/1.