Tottenham captain Hugo Lloris says criticism of Dele Alli is unfair and has compared the midfielder to his France teammate Paul Pogba.
Alli scored a brace in Spurs' 3-1 win at Chelsea on Sunday, helping to dampen talk that he has been below par this season.
Pogba has also found himself out of favour this term and Lloris says both need time to mature.
"It is not easy for [Alli and Pogba] because you need to give time to them to get to the right age, to be mature," Lloris is quoted as saying by the I newspaper.
"But I think [Alli] has done so well for us, [the criticism] is a bit unfair. To see or to hear criticism, he is so talented -- there is a lot of expectation and obviously in football today it is normal that things like that happen. But he stays calm and stays good in his mind."
Alli's two second-half goals at Stamford Bridge earned Spurs a first win at Chelsea since 1990 and moved them eight points clear of their fifth-placed rivals with seven league matches remaining.
"He is human," Lloris added. "You can always have some doubt in a difficult time but I don't think it is a difficult time for him. He didn't play [for England] and he came back to training with a big willingness to show his quality and I think he is ready to finish this season strong."
Spurs can now begin to prepare for Champions League football for a third consecutive season, while they face Pogba and United in the FA Cup semifinal on April 21.
Lloris believes Champions League qualification would be another significant step for the club and claimed "something big" is around the corner for Spurs.
"[The Premier League] is the most competitive league in the world and there are a lot of great teams and we've reduced the gap to them and that is the main thing," Lloris said.
"Tottenham has to stay at this level at least. With the new stadium, something big is waiting for us and we cannot see this future without the Champions League."