Mauricio Pochettino insists he will not rest players for Brighton even with Manchester City on the horizon

Tottenham Hotspur play Brighton on Wednesday before travelling to Manchester this weekend

Spurs currently sit two points outside the top-four (Getty)

Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that Tottenham Hotspur’s success in the Champions League has come at the expense of “energy” in the Premier League, but stated that he will not rest players for Wednesday’s match against Brighton and Hove Albion, despite travelling to leaders Manchester City on Saturday.

Spurs finished first in their European group while beating Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund along the way, but that coincided with a slump in form across November in the league, that was only ended with a 5-0 win over Stoke City at Wembley on Saturday - just after the Champions League first round had come to an end.

“When you spend a lot of energy like we use in the Champions League it so difficult to feel fresh again and compete with this energy in the Premier League,” Pochettino said.

“Because it is completely different in the Premier League and the players this season were determined to show because it was a massive frustration last season how we went out.

“This season we were determined to show that we have quality enough to compete with the best teams in Europe and maybe that affects a little bit our performance in the Premier League.

“It is so difficult to explain why against Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Apoel away, amazing performance and then we don’t win against Swansea [City] or West Brom. Sometimes the energy is not the same as we spend a lot of energy in the Champions League.”

Toby Alderweireld limped out of the victory over Real Madrid (Getty)

With Toby Alderweireld now confirmed as out until February with a hamstring injury, and Davinson Sanchez suspended, Pochettino said he would not be resting players against Brighton.

“No, because I think the most important game is tomorrow. We need to win and if some players show they are a little bit tired it is maybe best to avoid problems and play with maybe another. Then we will see tomorrow, after a win tomorrow I hope and wish, and then we play on Saturday. If I rest players, it could seem like we are not focusing on Brighton and I don’t want to make that mistake. We could rotate in different positions or we assess some players that are not in a good position to play again or repeat games, then maybe we rest and provide the team with more freshness to win.”

Jan Vertonghen is one booking from a suspension, so could well end up missing Saturday’s match against leaders City, but Pochettino said that will not influence his thinking.

“That decision I never like to take because it Jan gets another yellow card and cannot play against City another player in going to play. Because sometimes it happens that you want to avoid something like this and the day before on the training pitch the player gets injured and the player is still one yellow card off a ban and still doesn’t play. It is a tricky situation. It is a tricky situation.”