MORE FROM HUTTON

Former Sunderland loanee Alan Hutton recently spoke to us about SAFC, Rangers and Dan Neil. Now, Alan has spoken about our chances in the Europa League and why we might have reason to be optimistic! We spoke to Hutton via FootballPredictions.com.

DARE TO DREAM

"Sunderland can dream. I mean, you just have to look at Aston Villa last season and what they went through and what they achieved. It's more than possible. Is it going to be hard? Of course it is."

PREM STILL THE FOCUS

"I mean, the bread and butter is going to be the league. They want to be consistently playing at a high level in the Premier League. But that's what I think helps them, should I say, because week in, week out, you're getting tested by top opposition. I think it's the best league in the world."

OVERSEAS LEAGUE QUALITY

"And no disrespect to the Italian league or the Spanish league or whatever, I just don't think it's at the level that it used to be. So I don't think they should fear any of these teams. Yes, there's some big opponents within that competition, but I don't think they should fear it. They've got off to a great start, so why not dream?

MAKE THE MOST OF IT

"I mean, they've not been there for goodness knows how long, so go and dream and try and get the results that they need to get as far as possible."