LONDON -- Mauricio Pochettino says Christian Eriksen wants to stay at Tottenham, and backed his playmaker to start scoring regularly soon.
Eriksen, 23, scored his first Spurs goal since October in Sunday's 2-2 FA Cup third-round draw with Leicester City and looked full of confidence in Sunday's Premier League defeat against the Foxes, twice forcing fine saves from his Denmark teammate Kasper Schmeichel.
The Spurs attacker finished the 2014-15 season with 10 league goals but has managed just two so far this term, both brilliant direct free kicks in the 2-2 draw at Swansea.
While Eriksen has six assists this season, treble his total from the whole of last term, three have come from corner kicks and the player's critics argue that he has not been at his best from open play.
The summer arrivals of Dele Alli and Son Heung-min coupled with the form of both Mousa Dembele and Erik Lamela have helped lessen the burden on Eriksen, but the added competition means his starting spot is by no means assured.
But Pochettino is relaxed about Eriksen's subdued form having attributed it to a change in circumstances from last season, and backed him to rediscover his scoring touch.
"It's a different season, a different style to how we play, different teammates," the Spurs coach told a prematch news conference. "Sometimes it's about form and moments. He's a talented player and we hope and expect that he starts to score again like last season.
"I've changed from last season because I'm one year older, Christian is one year older too. In my life, I moved -- I changed my house -- I changed the teammates, not the wife!
"It's difficult to say: 'OK, every season we need to repeat the same performance, with the same timing.' If Harry Kane or Christian Eriksen score 10 goals in the first 10 Premier League games, if next season they score nine, we start to say: 'What happened? Why they not score 10?'
"I understand that it's football and it's always important to assess and analyse. But Eriksen is a very talented player. We need to wait, to analyse. Sometimes different things happen around your life and sometimes you're in a good run, sometimes you're not in a good run. It's obvious that he's a very good player for us."
Having spent two-and-a-half years at Spurs, Eriksen is now at the midway point of the five-year deal he signed in summer 2013. However, he reportedly shelved fresh contract talks with the club last season in order to concentrate on playing.
According to reports, Spurs re-opened negotiations with the former Ajax playmaker -- recently named Danish Player of the Year for a record third consecutive year -- last month, and Pochettino believes Eriksen's future lies at White Hart Lane.
"He's said that he's happy and he wants to stay here," he added. "He's young. It's important for us and he knows that. I think he has a future with us."