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Alasdair Gold

The Danjuma and Kulusevski battle that could be crucial for Son, Tottenham and Stellini

There will be a battle on the training pitches of Hotspur Way this week between two players in particular as they try to win a key spot up for grabs in Cristian Stellini's Tottenham team to face Bournemouth on Saturday.

Arnaut Danjuma and Dejan Kulusevski would not normally be up against each other when it comes to Tottenham team selection but Saturday's victory against Brighton and the manner of the winning goal might just cause Stellini to have pause for thought.

At the weekend, in the 78th minute, word came from Stellini - who had been banished to the stands - to the dugout to make the change - Danjuma for Kulusevski. The Swede had again been dynamic in his running against the Seagulls but he had been poor with his final ball, a feature of recent performances.

READ MORE: The reason Roberto De Zerbi was upset with Cristian Stellini and what Romero did after Son goal

Danjuma took up a role on the left of the front three and that meant Son Heung-min moved across to the right-hand side. A minute later and the Netherlands international had made his mark in a move where he did not even touch the ball, having immediately started pressing the Brighton defence.

Cristian Romero intercepted the ball from Mitoma's loose flick and played it to Son. The South Korean in turn played a clever pass through the legs of Adam Webster and into the path of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

The moment Romero had won the ball back on, Danjuma had set off and sprinted to the left-hand side of the six-yard box and dragged a couple of Brighton defenders with him. That left acres of space for the advancing Harry Kane, spotted well by Hojbjerg who looked up just before he passed it across the box, and the striker's shot deflected off the hip of Joel Veltman and into the far left corner of the net.

In one fell swoop the lesser-spotted Danjuma had provided another attacking threat for Brighton to worry about and it transferred Son's quality to the right-hand side.

Just for a moment, Spurs shed the predictability that has dogged them for much of the season, Brighton were suddenly all at sea and it ended up securing an important victory.

What Danjuma offers is a more direct threat to stretch teams than most of Tottenham's other options such as Kulusevski, Richarlison, Harry Kane and mostly Son. The first three players prefer the ball into their feet while the latter is able to operate both in that way but also running on to balls over the top.

Danjuma lies more in that latter category, a direct runner who sets off as soon as he anticipates a move forming. That did not fit Conte's system which relied more on two more central number 10s playing behind Kane, two players who would mostly receive the ball deep or join the striker in the box to receive the crosses from the wing-backs.

Conte made that very clear when appraising the Netherlands international and explaining why he had not played much under him.

"About Arnaut, for sure I am sorry. I am sorry for him because he arrived in the transfer market in January and the club wanted to sign on loan this player," he said. "For sure he has good characteristics, good quality and maybe he has not specific characteristics to be a number 10.

"Maybe he is more a second striker or a winger, but for sure I am appreciating a lot his desire, his will in every training session. Against Milan, if we don't have that red card to Romero, he was coming to try to play with a 4-2-4. I have to try to find always the best solution."

Conte and Stellini have mostly used Son on the left, whereas under previous managers he would occasionally play on the right and often to devastating effect because of his ability to use his left foot just as well as his right.

Son's versatility and the unpredictability he brings when on the right could help Stellini see a way to occasionally shake things up during the remaining eight matches. A little bit of variety for Son might not be the worst thing either to continue his recent improved numbers and allow the coaches to see how a partnership with Pedro Porro could look with Son's pairing with the more advanced Ivan Perisic yet to ignite.

Kulusevski's drop off in form in recent months, plus the fans' calls to see more of Danjuma, could also push Stellini into making such a decision. Richarlison will come into the equation soon. The Brazilian was surprisingly named on the bench against Brighton, despite Stellini saying he wasn't ready yet.

However, with Richarlison having only trained alone in the week before following his calf injury there was an uncertainty over just how much game time he could handle. Stellini was prepared to only give the Brazilian a handful of minutes at the end of the game if desperately needed. Richarlison had declared himself fit, but so had he after suffering the problem in the warm-up at Southampton only to break down a few minutes into the match.

In the end he was not used at all against the Seagulls and the likelihood of him being fit enough to start against Bournemouth this Saturday would seem a slim one.

Stellini has a decision to make this Saturday, whether to persist with his first choice front three despite its struggles in recent weeks as a trio or to hand Arnaut Danjuma a rare chance to show what he can do to bring a very different dynamic to the Tottenham attack.

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