The Tottenham team Roberto De Zerbi must start with against Brighton to keep Spurs up

The new Tottenham head coach cannot stick with the same team for Saturday's crunch Premier League clash against his old team

Roberto De Zerbi did not get the instant impact he wanted on his Tottenham debut in the dugout and his team selection for his first home game is going to be crucial.

Spurs are in huge trouble in the relegation zone as they lie 18th and two points from safety with all of their rivals above picking up points at the weekend as the north London club lost under their new head coach at Sunderland on Sunday to Nordi Mukiele's deflected winner.

Up next is De Zerbi's old team Brighton, who will arrive at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday on top of the form table with five wins from six matches. Spurs are rock bottom, as they have been for months.

It felt like the Italian played it safe with his first team selection at the Stadium of Light and the 46-year-old will have to take the handbrake off if his new side are going to start scoring the goals that their rivals above are.

Here's the starting XI we would like to see De Zerbi select for the huge game on Saturday and we're going for a kind of a hybrid 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 formation.

Antonin Kinsky

The 23-year-old Czech goalkeeper showed plenty of guts to put his horror show in Madrid behind him with a solid display at the Stadium of Light. He made a big save from the Brian Brobbey before taking a whack to the head when the Sunderland striker shoved Cristian Romero into him just after the hour mark.

With De Zerbi hoping that Guglielmo Vicario would be back in training this week, Kinsky's assured performance, albeit needing to be a bit more dominant at set pieces, could allow the Italian to be eased back gradually into action after his hernia surgery.

The only thing that might see De Zerbi look to Vicario is the loss of Romero because his compatriot would then offer a big voice in the backline that has been lost with the captain's exit for the remainder of the season.

Pedro Porro

You can quibble about Porro's defensive ability at times, but if Spurs want to score goals then he's one of the main creators they have available.

He's made far more successful crosses by a landslide than anyone else in the squad and is second only to Xavi for expected assists at Tottenham.

Djed Spence offers more pace and can beat a man, but when it comes to playing a ball into the box for a Spurs team-mate there's no real comparison.

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Kevin Danso

With Romero out it's time for Danso to step up as he has done on a number of occasions this season. He does not have the Argentine's ability to play the ball between the lines but he will give absolutely everything to the cause for the remaining six matches of the campaign.

He also brings with him the threat of that long throw which Spurs need to make far better use of than they have for all the talk of it this season.

Micky van de Ven

The Dutchman could take the armband in Romero's absence and he needs to rise to the occasion. Spurs have been stuck in a rut this season and Van de Ven has been right in there.

He started the season so well and was scoring goals to help out at the other end. He's got seven this season as well as one assist, but he's just fallen out of his rhythm in recent months as the club has.

Van de Ven has the ability to be a top centre-back and he needs to shake the disappointment off and show it in the final weeks of the season.

Destiny Udogie

When fit the Italian brings balance to Tottenham's play down the left. Like Spence, he needs to increase his involvement in the final third but he does carry the threat of being able to get to the byline.

He wasn't helped on Sunday by playing alongside Richarlison, who struggled on that flank, and a more natural winger in front of him might bring more joy as a combination but also more work for Udogie to cover in behind.

Archie Gray

Before Sunday's game, De Zerbi's staff put together a big rondo to prepare the players to bait and play around the Sunderland press. Everything during it went through Gray. While the others had bibs and switched to the inside of the rondo when they lost the ball, the 20-year-old was the sole go-to man in the middle for anyone looking for a pass.

He was the hub of it all, with De Zerbi watching on the whole time, and it hinted at a tactic that was never realised. Gray was mostly bypassed by his team-mates on the day as Tottenham did not use the clever young midfielder in any progressive way. He touched the ball just 23 times, which made a big part of the team's pre-match warm-up all the more confusing.

Gray is a fighter and has been one of the few Spurs players in better form in recent months and that has to be tapped into.

Yves Bissouma

This might be a bit of an unexpected choice but De Zerbi needs a progressive ball player in the middle of the pitch. Right now that's not Joao Palhinha and it's not the out-of-sorts Conor Gallagher.

Bissouma has been in and out of the team this season - just the eight appearances - and his future at Spurs remains unclear, but he will move the ball quickly and forward to where the team need it to be.

Yes, he can also make a daft mistake or two but taking on his old side Brighton will bring with it a further point to prove and when he's on song, Bissouma can be superb as he was in the final stages of the Europa League last season.

Lucas Bergvall

We're mixing it up a little here and we're going to play Lucas Bergvall on the right of the midfield, at times on the right of a central three and at times pushing up to make a three behind the striker.

The young Swede can then dovetail with both Porro, helping to cover him, but also come inside to allow others to burst forward. We know he's not an ideal wide man but Bergvall has played this role with some success, albeit occasionally on the left, and can also put in some good crosses from the right.

Randal Kolo Muani was probably the most threatening of Spurs' attackers on Sunday, which isn't saying much, but with the other two players we're picking in the attacking midfield areas, we need a battler and worker like Bergvall. Gallagher has played this role on the right but with little to no effect.

Xavi Simons

Spurs desperately need to create chances and score goals. Xavi has created more chances for the north London side than any other player this season. He's played more than double the amount of through balls than anyone else in the Tottenham squad, he's won the third most duels and his expected assists tally (3.56) is far beyond anyone else in the team.

The Lilywhites have only won three games when Xavi has been on the bench and his impact is often missed in the build-up to moves as he knits together the midfield and attack.

He needs to be in the team and can dovetail with Bergvall with one or the other taking a more central number 10 position or drifting out to the right flank.

Mathys Tel

Richarlison is just not as particularly effective a left winger as he is a striker. He does not have the ability to regularly beat a man down the flank nor the pace to be take advantage when he actually does. Tel can do both of those and is currently Spurs' most effective wide man.

When he came off the bench on Sunday he soon whipped in a good cross that Dominic Solanke should have done better with. Tel seems less confidence-drained than others and that's crucial for these remaining games as he can create something out of nothing and works well with Xavi.

Dominic Solanke

This really could be an either or with Richarlison because Solanke has not looked great in recent games, but De Zerbi rates him highly and said he is crucial to the team.

The head coach could play him and Richarlison up top together or choose one or the other. Either way, whoever plays up front needs service which they should get more of from that team behind them.