Mauricio Pochettino rotated his squad to face Brighton in the Carabao Cup fixture.

Pochettino made five changes from the Aston Villa starting team, as Cole Palmer, Ian Maatsen, Lesley Ugochukwu and Marc Cucurella all started the tie.

Surprisingly, there was no place in the matchday squad for Madueke, who had returned from injury.

Pochettino has now revealed that he didn’t bench the winger due to injury, but that he chose to.

When asked about Madueke’s absence after Chelsea’s win at Stamford Bridge, Pochettino replied: “It’s about choice, it’s about choice. Election.”

Pochettino went on to praise Cole Palmer for his good performance against the Seagulls.

“I think like all of the team, I think the team was really good,” Pochettino said.

“If we assess all of the players, I think we are in a very good level.

“Cole is a very talented player, he was key in this victory tonight. Still young, still needs to settle in the club, not only the team, in the club and the city. I think we saw today how good he is.”