Mousa Dembele responds to questions about his fitness and learning from his suspension

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The Tottenham Hotspur midfielder is hoping to feature in his first league match of the season against Sunderland.

Tottenham’s Mousa Dembele in action with Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey

Tottenham Hotspur star Mousa Dembele has provided a series of assurance about both his fitness and his temperament, as he prepares to return to Premier League action against Sunderland on Sunday, in comments appearing on the Spurs website.

The 29-year-old was arguably one of the club’s best players last season, playing a vital midfield role that helped reinforce the defence but also provide crucial attacking impetus.

Tottenham’s Mousa Dembele in action with West Brom’s Craig Gardner

But having missed six matches through suspension, spread across two seasons, following his clash with Diego Costa in May, Dembele has made it clear that he has been learning from watching matches and keeping his fitness up.

“I’ve watched a lot games in the last few months and, of course, I’ve been doing a lot of training, more than normal I think,” the Belgium international told the club website.

“Mentally as well, I feel ready and I am focused to be important for the team.

Tottenham’s Mousa Dembele and Chelsea’s Pedro in action

“I think we’ve started well in the Premier League. The (Stoke) game is the most fresh in my mind, that was amazing with the way we played and I think it can only become better.”

Dembele also touched on the incident that saw him miss the end of last season and the beginning of this one, when asked whether he had learned from the suspension.

“Yes, of course,” he responded. “You want to react in a different way next time, you need to keep your temper and just do the right things.

“It’s football, there are emotions involved but it’s something that’s behind me now and I don’t want to concentrate too much on that.”

Spurs will be looking to extent a winning run against Sunderland at White Hart Lane – the Black Cats’ last visit to the current ground – and Dembele will very much hope to play a part in a positive result having impressed in the second half against Monaco earlier in the week.

And Tottenham fans will certainly be hoping to see his name on the team sheet ahead of the 4:30pm kick off.

Monaco’s Bernardo Silva in action with Tottenham’s Mousa Dembele