Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Mousa Dembele is set to start against Chelsea tomorrow.
Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino has told the London Evening Standard that Mousa Dembele is nearly back to his best.
Dembele missed the first few matches this season with suspension, after he picked up a six-match ban for scratching Diego Costa’s eye last season when Spurs met Chelsea.
With Tottenham due to face Chelsea again, Dembele’s temperament could well be tested again by Antonio Conte’s side.
But Pochettino insists that Dembele is in a good place. He said: “He is nearly there. He is a very important player for us.
“A lot of small things happened around him that meant he could not show his real quality, but he was a key man for us and he will be again.
“He is calm now. He was tense before the last Chelsea game, but we realised why afterwards because he told us he had been thinking a lot about how to play that game. He is calm again now though and we are at another stage as a team.”
Tottenham head into their match against Chelsea in poor form, after winning just one of their last nine matches in all competitions.
Spurs were knocked out of Europe on Tuesday night, when they fell to defeat against Monaco.
The French side were the better team throughout against a lacklustre Spurs team, and managed to pick up a 2-1 victory.
Tottenham will need to put in a far better performance against Chelsea, if they are to protect their unbeaten record in the Premier League.
Spurs are currently in fifth place, but they will move to within a point of Chelsea if they are able to pick up a victory.
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