The unexpected Tottenham player who is one of the most creative in the Premier League

Cristian Romero has come out on top in the Premier League as a threat creator in one area of the opposition half while two of his Tottenham team-mates do so in other areas.

The Tottenham defender has weighed in with four goals this season but it is his build-up play that has put him at the top in one chart in the Premier League. Using Opta stats, one data scientist on social media, JK Football Analytics, has created a grid with 30 zones of the pitch and has worked out the top threat creators in each one.

The expected threat (xT) stats are generated from in-play passes, carries and dribbles to calculate the top threat creator in each zone and it only applies to those players who have played more than 900 minutes in total.

Two of Spurs' more conventional attackers come out on top in two of the zones. James Maddison is the top threat creator in the area that lies centrally in front of the opposition penalty area, with an xT of 0.061, ahead of Manchester City stars Rodri (0.041) and Phil Foden (0.038).

On the right of that same line on the grid, midway between the halfway line and the byline, Dejan Kulusevski takes the top spot with 0.097, above Arsenal's Bukayo Saka (0.087) and Manchester United's Antony (0.083). Kulusevski has created more chances than anyone else at Tottenham this season with 52 this campaign, seven more than the next most creative player at Spurs, his captain Son Heung-min.

One perhaps unexpected top threat creator is Romero, who comes on as the number one in the area just over the halfway line and to the right of the centre circle. It is an area of the pitch where Spurs fans often see the Argentinean World Cup winner advancing with the ball at his feet before trying to play quick through balls and with an