Tottenham's Dembélé Happy to Return to White Hart Lane
Tottenham central midfielder Mosua Dembélé earned his first start of the season against Sunderland on Sunday afternoon.
Mousa Dembélé would make his return to Tottenham’s starting lineup for the first time since he was suspended last May.
After getting subbed in to begin the second half against AS Monaco in the Champions League on Wednesday night, Dembélé would earn his second appearance (first start of the season) yesterday.
It would mark the Belgian’s return to White Hart Lane prior to his suspension and upon stepping onto the pitch, the 29-year-old said that it felt like home to him and he was happy to be back.
“It felt like home, Mousa Dembélé said (via Spurs’ official site).
“The supporters are carrying me, just like at Wembley [against Monaco]. It’s amazing. Wembley was unbelievable – I think that was best feeling ever in football.”
“To feel so appreciated, that was the best. I’m very happy to be back.”
With Tottenham facing a struggling Sunderland side who were winless in their opening four matches, Spurs had to pick up a win to move on from a disappointing loss against Monaco in the Champions League.
Statistically speaking, Spurs were by far the better team in a very lopsided match. Mauricio Pochettino’s side were determined to reclaim the aggression and passion they did not have at Wembley and after their 1-0 win, Spurs showed it in the first half.
The only thing stopping Spurs from having a blowout win was a fantastic effort by Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and David Moyes’ efforts to not have his defense concede multiple goals.
More from Hotspur HQ
A slim 1-0 win is still a win in the end but Mousa Dembélé knew that they had plenty of chances to make this game a rout than the scoreline showed.
“I’m very happy. We played well today,” Dembélé continued.
“I thought we’d win with a few more goals but we had so many chances it was unbelievable. It felt like we were on top.”
“If you only look at the scoreline perhaps you might think it was a more even game but it wasn’t like that, we were on top. We were very focused today. We missed a lot of chances but kept going.”
Dembélé said it best, that despite missing chances to put the game away very early in the first half, Spurs continued to pressure the Black Cats throughout the match.
Teams have found a blueprint to stop Mauricio Pochettino’s side and that’s to sit back and defend, hoping to catch Spurs on a counterattack. Five of Spurs’ fixtures in all competitions this season have featured this exact gameplan.
Because of this Tottenham have struggled to breakdown opponents to score goals. But even though they haven’t looked particularly good thus far they’re undefeated with three wins and two draws.
Mousa Dembélé knows that Spurs can play much better but they have had a good start record-wise to begin the 2016-17 Premier League season.
“We always want better. It’s a positive start and now we look towards Gillingham [in the League Cup] and then Middlesbrough [in the Premier League].”
This article originally appeared on 
