Why Charlton showed how Roberto De Zerbi can get Savio and Mathys Tel in same Tottenham XI

Roberto De Zerbi may not be able to keep Savio out of his Tottenham Hotspur starting lineup for long.

The Brazilian came off the bench for the final 20 minutes of Spurs' 5-1 Carabao Cup win over Charlton on Wednesday night.

At the time of his introduction, the Lilywhites possessed a three-goal lead over their London rivals.

But just 15 minutes later, Savio had scored his first Tottenham goal and provided an assist for Spurs' fifth of the night from Ben Davies.

A left winger by trade, the ex-Man City man is widely perceived to be a big threat to Mathys Tel's starting role.

However, there is strong evidence to suggest that with a bit of De Zerbi tactical magic, the Frenchman can share the pitch and shine on it with Savio.

Why Charlton proved Mathys Tel is best-suited to non-winger role

Tottenham's win over Charlton was an emphatic one, with many in Lilywhite shirts enjoying excellent performances.

Tel, however, endured a frustrating night, as he was unable to take one of a host of opportunities to get involved in the scoring.

As per FotMob, his five shots taken were the most of any player on the pitch on Wednesday evening.

Three of those were on target, and the same number were taken from inside the Addicks' box, whilst he also completed 96 per cent of his passes successfully.

Interestingly, his two efforts from outside the area were also within the width of the 18-yard box, meaning all of his sighters at goal came from the central third of the pitch.

His three that were on target were all inside the width of the six-yard box too, further proving the potential for goals from a central position.

Tel also took seven touches inside the Charlton box, but completed just one of his six dribble attempts and was accurate with one of his three crosses.

So, those latter numbers aren't ones of an elite winger, but his former ones in the shooting department are of a dangerous central attacking midfielder.

But with Newcastle coming to town on Saturday, who needs to make way for Tottenham in order for this idea to come to life?

Why De Zerbi had the right idea, wrong player vs Brentford

Against Charlton, De Zerbi set his side up in an attacking 4-3-3 formation, as opposed to the 4-2-3-1 he deployed against Brentford.

Spurs were stung badly by the Bees in that Premier League curtain-raiser, but that was partly due to how unimpactful Conor Gallagher was in the 10.

Per FotMob, he created zero chances, took one shot on goal which was off target and was accurate on only 84 per cent of his pass attempts.

Compare those numbers to Tel's above, and it's clear who the more effective number 10 would surely be in De Zerbi's system.

So, by sacrificing Gallagher and moving Tel into attacking midfield, that would free up Savio to start down the left and Mikey Moore to likely keep his place down the right.

Savio is an extremely direct and skilful dribbler with the ball too, which should strike fear into Newcastle left-back Lewis Hall.

The Englishman has given away penalties in his last two games, and so having Savio charging at him all evening could be a ticket to a hat-trick.