The £52 million summer acquisition, who is 26 years old, has not yet made his West London team debut due to a pre-season injury to his knee.

On Saturday, he made his squad debut, with Pochettino declaring that he was “available” to play. However, despite Chelsea not utilizing all of their available substitutions, he was not substituted on.

With 15 shots and 78% of the possession, the Blues dominated the game on Saturday while the visitors managed just one chance on goal.

Even so, they were frustrated for much of the first half until Nicolas Jackson’s second goal, which ended the game, was scored just seven minutes after Cole Palmer’s 54th-minute goal broke the tie.

Chelsea supporters were itching to finally see the France international play, but Pochettino chose to keep Nkunku on the bench despite Sheffield United’s lack of danger of a comeback.

However, Pochettino, who is already juggling a number of injuries, is reluctant to rush the former RB Leipzig attacker’s recuperation.

‘We didn’t want to take a risk with him and give him more time for his recovery,’ Pochettino said when asked why he turned off giving Nkunku his eagerly anticipated debut on BBC Match of the Day.

In response to his team’s markedly better performance following back-to-back defeats, Pochettino said: ‘I’m very pleased. The performance was good.

‘It’s always good against a team who play aggressively with a low block.

‘In the second half we changed the position of Palmer and Raheem Sterling, we tried to put Palmer and Mudryk in a better position in front of goal.

‘I’m confident, even when we lose. I really believe in the players and the club. Now it’s about to use that in the next competition in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup.’

On man of the match Palmer, he added: ‘For me he’s a playmaker, a player who can link the team. He’s also a player with the capacity to score goals and give assists. The contribution of Cole Palmer from day one has been massive.’