Mousa Dembele admits that Jamie Vardy’s ban is ‘good’ for Tottenham as they try to overhaul Leicester City in the Premier League title race.
Vardy could be suspended for at least two of the final four games of the season after he was sent off against West Ham on Sunday and then hit with an additional misconduct charge by the FA for his angry reaction to the decision of referee Jon Moss.
The loss of the 22-goal England striker will be a major blow to Leicester and a significant boost to second-placed Spurs who closed the gap at the top to five points with an emphatic 4-0 win at Stoke on Monday night.
Asked about Vardy’s imminent ban, Dembele said: ‘Yes, of course, it’s one of their best players so it’s good for us.
‘But we concentrate on our own game. It’s good everyone is there, nobody is injured. Everyone is mentally ready so that’s the most important thing.’
The Belgium midfielder believes that Tottenham’s performance against Stoke proves they can handle the pressure and take the title race right to the end.
‘This is the situation where you can see if we are ready or not,’ added Dembele.
‘The pressure is there. Everyone knows it will be very difficult, but we play like this (against Stoke) so you can see the mentality is there.
‘Everyone wants it and we just manage to keep playing our game.
‘It was one of the best performances so that says something.
‘We just want it and we’re not scared of it. Everyone saw the way we played – confident, direct, creative, positive.
‘Everyone expected it would be very difficult and the circumstances are very special because we know we have to win these games.
‘If you can win playing like this, it’s even better.
‘We’re very proud and we keep on moving on. Every week is the most important game of the season.
‘Every week we say we need to win it. We hope it goes to the final day, that’s our aim of course.’
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