Graham Potter reveals his surprising Danny Welbeck plan for Tottenham

Brighton head coach Graham Potter expects former Arsenal man Danny Welbeck to be involved for Albion as they travel to north London to take on Tottenham in the Premier League on Sunday
Brighton striker Danny Welbeck has trained well this week and is pushing for a starting role at TottenhamBrighton striker Danny Welbeck has trained well this week and is pushing for a starting role at Tottenham
Brighton striker Danny Welbeck has trained well this week and is pushing for a starting role at Tottenham

Potter looks likely to use Danny Welbeck at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after the 29-year-old striker had a good week’s training.

He was an unused substitute in Monday’s 1-1 draw with West Brom, but will feature in the Seagulls’ plans as they go in search of their second win of the new Premier League season against Jose Mourinho's men.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“He has been good, he has been good since he came in. Nothing has really changed since last time I spoke about him.

"He has come from his situation at Watford, not too much team training, we put him on the bench,” Potter said.

“On reflection I could have used him for the last bit of the game, but took another decision. He will be involved.”

The arrival of Welbeck on a free transfer gives Potter an additional option up front. Neal Maupay, Leandro Trossard and Aaron Connolly, who scored twice against Spurs in a 3-0 home win last season, will all be competing for a starting role in attack.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Again it is a bit of everything," said Potter when asked if he will favour two up front at Spurs. "How people act during the week, where they are in terms of their form, how they are training, how they interact with their teammates, all that sort of stuff.

"Take into consideration how you want to attack, the opposition, what's the role when we are defending, what's the role when we are attacking, what's the balance of the team.

"It is not just about selecting one or two strikers it is a bit more detailed than that in terms of how you want to attack, defend, and play as a team."

Brighton have played some decent football at times this season but a failure to take their chances when on top has proved costly, which was highlighted last Sunday in the first half against West Brom.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Potter however was reluctant to put additional pressure on his strikers ahead of a stern test at Spurs.

"There’s an assumption that every chance you get you’re going to score – that’s not reality, so we can’t say we must put our chances…it doesn’t work like that," said Potter.

"The hardest thing in football is to score and there’s better players than our players that miss and there’s other teams that are far better than us that miss so we have to understand that.

"We shouldn’t be putting ourselves under any pressure in terms of ‘we must score this chance, we must score this goal’.

"Sometimes the opponent does well and we have to keep going and that’s the mentality I would rather us have."