Mauricio Pochettino: 'I have confidence in Roberto Soldado'

Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino has insisted that he has faith in striker Roberto Soldado.

The 29-year-old has struggled for form since his £26m move from Valencia to Spurs last season, netting just six goals in the Premier League, none of which have come in the current campaign.

However, Pochettino believes that the Spaniard showed signs of improvement against Partizan Belgrade as he hit the post in Tottenham's Europa League win, and his manager is convinced that his hard work will soon pay dividends on the scoresheet.

Pochettino told reporters: "We need to give him the chances to play again and keep him calm. A striker always wants to score but against Partizan he created chances pretty well and was unlucky in front of goal. Maybe next time he will score.

"We work very hard at training and create the exercises for him to improve his finishing in front of goal, but he created many chances and was unlucky not to score [against Partizan].

"In football it's always mental and emotions, performances, physical condition, all these things affect your performance, but his performance was very good. For me, he was unlucky with his finishing."

Tottenham face Everton in the Premier League on Sunday, level on points with them in the table.