Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Co-captain Chris Sutton cannot wait to savour an English win on Scottish soil in the Battle of the Brits

Chris Sutton, right, expects to claim bragging rights over Ally McCoist, left, at the Battle of the Brits
Chris Sutton, right, expects to claim bragging rights over Ally McCoist, left, at the Battle of the Brits

Old habits die hard for Chris Sutton and the proud Englishman expects nothing other than a win for his homeland on Scottish soil in the Battle of the Brits.

Sutton is one of two English co-captains named for the event at P&J Live on December 21 and 22 where the best of British tennis will go head to head.

Sir Andy Murray will be joined by his brother and tournament director Jamie Murray, Cameron Norrie and Jonny O’Mara in flying the flag for Scotland against the English team of Dan Evans, Joe Salisbury, Neal Skupski and Jack Draper.

Bragging rights are top of the agenda for Sutton, who will be joined by fellow English co-captain Clare Balding, with former Open champion Paul Lawrie and Ally McCoist co-captaining the hosts in Aberdeen.

McCoist joked the idea of Sutton gloating in an England win will be doubly unbearable. Former Celtic and Blackburn striker Sutton insists McCoist has not gone far enough with his assessment.

He said: “I think that’s probably not accurate enough. Try treble, quadruple.

“Let’s get it right, Ally and I think we know a lot about a lot of things, but we don’t know very much about tennis.

“I’d love to play him at tennis. If you look at his condition, he wouldn’t be able to move around the court a lot. I’d just keep serving and volleying.

“I used to follow Wimbledon very closely and my dad was a good tennis player and I had a game or two with him, but he sort of pushed me into badminton – the poor person’s tennis – so I’m desperate to get up to Aberdeen and I expect England to put one over on you boys.”

Sutton wants to continue winning run over McCoist

The Sutton-McCoist off-court teasing was in full flow with both giving their thoughts – separately – on the two-day event in Aberdeen.

Sutton makes no apology for wanting to win and he knows McCoist will be just as determined to send him homeward to think again.

Chris Sutton

He said: “It’s a showcase event and it’s great that it’s being put on to get people more interested in tennis.

“But once the players step onto the court, they’ll be fully focused.

“It’s like myself and Ally. We have a quiz every week – and I want to beat him badly every time.

“I beat him badly last year, in the last quiz of the year, just got my nose in front and beat him on the last day.

“All sports people are ultra-competitive. I think most of you guys are, as well.

“And the embarrassment of losing to an Englishman on home turf, it doesn’t get much worse than that.”

Given the verbal volleys which went back and forth, Sutton, who had the benefit of responding to McCoist’s barbs afterwards, is clearly excited about being part of the event.

When told McCoist had said Sutton had two England caps instead of one – his first and his last – the Englishman replied: “Ha, he’s right. But just imagine if I’d been Scottish, I’d be in the SFA Hall of Fame with about a hundred caps.

“No, look, myself and Ally are extremely competitive. I don’t know what impact we can have on our particular teams with motivational speeches, though.

“He was manager at Rangers when they were struggling, I was manager at Lincoln City.

“So it could be a battle of the tactical minds. I don’t think it’ll pan out like that.”

Half-fit Murray no match for England

Sutton was happy to play pantomime villain, but his confidence was clear for all to see on his media call and he was quite happy to stress why he expects an England win in Aberdeen.

He said: “Well, Andy Murray’s got a bad hip hasn’t he? It’s not a fully fit Andy Murray.

Sir Andy Murray, left, with brother Jamie Murray

“I’m looking forward to it, but it’s not the first time the English have been up to the north of Scotland and defeated the Scots. Do you remember Culloden – I remember it really well.

“You can chuck Bannockburn at us, but you had the advantage there because the marshes were in your favour. You won’t get the advantage in Aberdeen. Conditions will be the same for both.”

Sutton returns to Aberdeen 20 years after a trip he wishes he could forget

The Battle of the Brits will be Sutton’s first visit to P&J Live, but Aberdeen remains a vivid memory for him from his time at Celtic – and not all of the recollections are enjoyable.

He said: “There’s not an area of Scotland where I’ve not had a hard time.

“I played in the game when they beat us 2-0 (in December 2001) and they got on their hands and knees to go round the pitch, rubbed our noses in it.

Aberdeen players celebrate at the end after beating Celtic 2-0 in 2001

“But I always enjoyed going up there. A lovely city.

“I don’t remember if that was the snowball game, but I remember the celebrations.

“When we got back into dressing room, I remember thinking: ‘God, let’s not let that happen again.’

“So I’m coming up to Aberdeen to win this, to get my hands on another trophy, have a big speech ready – and rub Ally’s nose in it.”

Jamie Murray: Tennis authorities’ approach may differ – but making sure Peng Shuai is safe and can get on with her life is imperative