Belgian has been a key figure this season and he praises Mauricio Pochettino for instilling a real character and determination into the side that is built to last

Mousa Dembélé’s eyes widen in acknowledgement. Yes, the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder knows this particular story. It is the one about the pithy and offensive line that was once delivered by Sir Alex Ferguson. “Lads, it’s Tottenham.”

According to Roy Keane, Ferguson used it as his pre-match team-talk. He did not need to add anything else. Spurs were the team with the smart shirts and the nice style but they would routinely fold. For years, Ferguson held the upper hand.

When Louis van Gaal addresses his Manchester United players before Sunday’s Premier League fixture at White Hart Lane, the tone will be different. “Lads, it’s Tottenham,” will have an alternative meaning. Mauricio Pochettino’s team are the coming force, the one with the clarity, tempo and excitement. And, above all, it is they who have the title dream.

“In the past, everybody always liked Tottenham but to make the step forward – it was different,” Dembélé says. “You can feel that there is a different vibe now. And people respect us differently. Other teams know that they need to play against us like they play against a top team. The way that teams look at us is important. I speak with a lot of players and they say: ‘Ah, yeah, Tottenham is a nice club.’

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“The most important thing for a club is to have a certain way of thinking and there is a clear plan here. They know what they want. It’s [not for] a long time that I have seen that they know exactly what they want. There is a good vibe. I don’t have this feeling just because we’re having a good season, although that has a lot to do with it. You can just feel that we’re in the right direction. We feel like this is the start of a bigger Tottenham future.”

There have been the signs under previous managers, particularly Harry Redknapp and, even, André Villas-Boas, that something was firing at the club. But the wheels soon came off. Dembélé argues that the Pochettino overhaul is built to last.

At the heart of it has been the emphasis on hardiness, which is not a word that has been associated too readily with Tottenham over the years. Pochettino has created something of a fear factor, while remaining clubbable and fairly matey with his players, which is a neat trick when pulled off and the No1 rule is to do things his way. Those who have not or cannot, including Emmanuel Adebayor, Aaron Lennon and Andros Townsend, have found that it is a short distance to the exit door.

“It’s exactly like that,” Dembélé says. “It’s important to have someone who has a strong way of thinking and who can translate it to the team. And if you don’t fit into the team, it’s going to be difficult for you. What he wants is how to press, how to be ready for the team, how to come back, determination.

“If he explains that he expects this and this from a player – for example, he wants a midfielder to press and come back, press and come back – and you are not willing to do it, then you don’t fit into the philosophy. So, I have the feeling that anybody can come into the team and anybody can come out, almost.

“Everybody knows that they can be the best player in the team but if they don’t work, then it’s not going to be good enough. I think that’s the difference. We don’t have superstars. Of course, we have players who can make the difference, like Harry Kane, but even Harry knows: ‘OK, I need to work.’ And you see it. I don’t know another striker who works harder than Harry. This puts him on another level to most other strikers.”

Tottenham have been running hard since the season’s first whistle. Pochettino’s gruelling pre-season was designed to instil endurance but he does not subscribe to the old-school view that, from around Christmas time, training becomes merely about ticking over. Instead, Pochettino’s sessions have maintained their intensity. He has continued to work his players extremely hard.

The fear has been the risk of burnout but it has not been realised. The team looked fresh, for example, in last Saturday’s high-octane draw at Liverpool and the fitness programme has come to look perfectly calibrated. Pochettino’s players are defined by their stamina and athleticism and, crucially, they have been conditioned to avoid muscular injuries. A further notable detail is that almost all of Pochettino’s best XI stand six feet tall or more. The only small players are Danny Rose and Christian Eriksen.

“I’ve played in other teams and we speak with a lot of other players and you can’t compare it,” Dembélé says of Pochettino’s fitness programme. “We work very, very hard and the training sessions are still tough now. The staff have a certain way of thinking to make the players fit for the whole year and not to be on holiday for the last five weeks.”

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It is easy to make the link between physical and mental toughness, and Dembélé is confident that Spurs will not crack on either front during the run-in. They may fall short of Leicester City in the final reckoning – how they could come to regret the 1-0 home defeat to the league leaders on 13 January – but it will not be because of the pressure. “Honestly, we are not feeling the pressure at all,” Dembélé says. “It is a bit different but there is a nice stress and not a negative stress. Tottenham have always had unbelievable players and the only thing that has changed is our mentality. We were very disappointed, for example, to only draw at Liverpool. We went there with respect but we thought: ‘OK, it’s at least 50-50. We can do something.’ So it’s a different mentality.”

Dembélé has been the unsung hero of Tottenham’s title push. His midfield colleagues Eric Dier and Dele Alli have shot to prominence; Kane has been irrepressible; Hugo Lloris has held everybody together; and Toby Alderweireld, somewhat belatedly, has been recognised as one of the outstanding central defenders of the season.

Dembélé’s profile is low, partly because of his quiet and unassuming nature, but he has found his groove, driving the team with his urgent and probing passes. According to Opta, he has an accuracy of 90.22% – the fourth best in the league – while, perhaps under the radar, he has also made the fourth highest number of tackles.

The 28-year-old prefers to talk about the team, and how his qualities have been highlighted by it doing so well. “It’s just easier to come into the team because there is a philosophy,” he says. “Eric Dier is playing unbelievably and Dele, too. They are amazing players but we also have Ryan Mason, Nabil Bentaleb and Tom Carroll. Whoever plays, there is a certain structure so the team is not collapsing because of one or two players.”

Dembélé, who will be in the Belgium squad for Euro 2016, signed a new contract at Spurs in January, tying him to the club until 2019. There are likely to be several more new deals put forward in the coming months by the chairman, Daniel Levy, and it is clear who must be kept the sweetest.

Pochettino is hot property – Ferguson has described him as the best manager in the league – and, were United to part company with Van Gaal in the summer, there would surely be covetous glances from the Old Trafford hierarchy towards the Argentinian.

“Are we worried about losing him?” Dembélé asks. “We are very happy here with the manager, we have a good structure but there are things that we can’t concentrate on too much because we don’t have it in our hands. I don’t read a lot of things and, if I hear things, I don’t really think about them because it’s useless.

“If it happens, it happens. I don’t know what’s happening, whether it’s rumours or not. Responding to rumours makes them more interesting so I don’t really want to talk too much about it.” Dembélé’s focus is purely on beating United.