Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores has explained benching Troy Deeney for defeat to Tottenham.

The 27-year-old had begun all but one of the Hornets' matches this season but was a surprise omission from the starting XI against Spurs.

Sanchez Flores said, “We had three players who haven't trained since Chelsea on Wednesday; Behrami, (Odion) Ighalo and Deeney.

"They needed time to recover. Maybe with two more days they would've all been ready. But we had to play today against Tottenham.

“We knew that in the opening minutes of matches Tottenham are physically strong.

"I didn't want to waste the fitness of these players in the opening minutes when I knew we would have to defend.

“I wanted to manage the changes - like we did at half-time - but in the end it was not enough.

“I wanted to choose one player from Deeney, Behrami and Ighalo to start. In the end I chose Ighalo but I could tell he was tired."