Speaking exclusively to Football FanCast, Gary Mabbutt has defended Jose Mourinho despite Tottenham's recent slump.

Mourinho's future at Spurs has come under significant pressure in recent days following their brutal Europa League exit, just three days after their top-four hopes were dealt a major blow in the north London derby.

Tottenham responded to those defeats and Hugo Lloris' post-match comments by comfortably beating Aston Villa on Sunday to go into the international break on a high.

But Mabbutt believes that Mourinho's managerial stature is the reason he gets unnecessary amounts of criticism, and has backed the former Chelsea boss to deliver the goods at Spurs this season.

He told Football FanCast:

"When you have a manager that's probably the most famous manager in the world and has 25 trophies under his belt, you're always going to get scrutiny.

"Yes, you're going to have setbacks. When things aren't going particularly well, you're going to get a kick up the backside. We got that after the Arsenal and Zagreb games, and got the response that the manager and fans were looking for in the Villa game.

"Of course there is going to be scrutiny, it's never going to change. But at the end of this season, people could be saying 'what a great year for Spurs' - top-four, trophy in the cabinet, onto the next."

It's a strange situation at Tottenham heading into the final two months of the campaign.

Despite the doom and gloom, a strong end in the league could see Champions League football return to north London next season, whilst there's the possibility of ending their 13-year trophy drought in the Carabao Cup final.