A sunny Surrey morning greeted Mauricio Pochettino and his squad at Cobham with the task at hand putting the disappointment of Saturday’s defeat at Newcastle behind them – and refocusing for the next testing Premier League encounter that awaits.

Pochettino wants his players to learn from what he described as 'our worst performance of the season' at St James' Park.

‘We have certain levels that are required of us and it’s important we get back to those as soon as possible, and sometimes you need a situation like this to make you realise what it takes.

‘We are a young, talented squad, but regardless you have to compete every time you step on the pitch. Those are the fundamentals and we have to learn from this.’

Marc Cucurella, who will miss the Brighton game through suspension but participated in training today, recognised the need for a good week on the grass at Cobham.

‘We have a lot of talent but we need to show that every week. It’s not enough to show it one week and then not the next. We need to be more consistent.

‘When you have a good result you are not the best team, and when you lose you are not the worst, so we need to stay together in these bad moments and train hard because we have a very important game next week.’

The players were worked hard this morning with the focus initially on running for those who started at St James’ Park.

Moises Caicedo came off the bench with Pochettino explaining his minutes needed to be managed after his late return from international duty in Ecuador.

The midfielder will be desperate to feature against his former club on Sunday and he had his eye on the ball today.

Elsewhere, Christopher Nkunku continued his rehabilitation as he edges closer to a return to action.

The attacker starred in pre-season but has yet to feature in a competitive fixture because of the knee injury he sustained against Borussia Dortmund.

Before the Newcastle game, Pochettino gave the latest on Nkunku and other long-term absentee Romeo Lavia.

‘Lavia and Nkunku are still out. There is no timeframe for them, it is difficult to say because we need to assess them day-by-day.

‘They are in a good condition, Nkunku a little bit ahead of Lavia. He was doing things with the group last week but it is still not a full recovery to be part of the squad.’