How Des is still the talk of football for Spurs star Dawson

"He never shut up!" cracks Dawson, recalling his days as an 18-year-old product of Forest's academy. "Des could talk for England."

He could play for England, too — 59 times to be precise — the highlight being a World Cup semi-final appearance in Italia 90 as the nation suffered the agony of a penalty shoot-out defeat against Germany.

Walker's experience has left an indelible mark on Dawson. The combination of Walker's knowledge and Dawson's raw talent saw the pair become the defensive mainstay as Forest just missed out on promotion to the Premier League via the 2003 play-offs.

And Dawson, now 24, is quick to praise the arm-round-the-shoulder support Walker offered during his formative years.

"Playing with Des was a great experience for me," he says. "To be playing first-team football was fantastic, playing week in week out in front of 25 to 30,000. Being up near the top of the table and reaching the play-offs was great for me.

"Des was like a friend who just tried to help. He'd take the blame for a mistake when maybe it was my fault because the manager, Paul Hart, was very tough. He could definitely give out a few rollickings. But it was always good having Des there. Any mistakes and he would maybe take a little bit of the blame."

In the absence of injury-plagued captain Ledley King, the responsibility for standing up for your team-mate at Tottenham this season has fallen on Dawson's shoulders.

Spurs may now be up to the dizzy heights of 12th place in the table, but only Sunderland, Wigan, Reading and Derby have conceded more goals. There has been particular criticism levelled at £8million summer signing Younes Kaboul.

But mindful of the support that he received from Walker as a youngster, Dawson is quick to offer a confidence boost to the beleaguered 21-year-old.

Dawson says: "Younes is a great player. He's 21 and has come from France. It's a big change of environment for him. There's a lot of pressure and expectation. Younes is a big enough and strong enough character.

"He doesn't need me to talk about him and say what a good player he is. He knows that himself. From a personal point of view when you're criticised it hurts. I'm sure it's the same for him, but you just have to try to get out on the pitch and put it right."

In Dawson's absence with a bout of migraines, Kaboul has indeed begun to do just that as Spurs registered victories over Portsmouth in the League and Manchester City in the Carling Cup — their much-maligned defence also keeping clean sheets.

Now Dawson is intent on ending any lingering doubts over his own ability by returning to marshal Tottenham's defence against the might of Arsenal this lunchtime.

Key to Tottenham's resurgence has been manager Juande Ramos's desire to instil into his underperforming squad the reality of their plight. Now that realisation has filtered through, especially when compared to pre-season predictions of a top-four spot, Spurs have finally began the slow and steady clamber up the table.

"Of course, it has come as a shock where we are," admits Dawson. "We had ambition at the start of the season to be pushing for the top four but we're at the wrong end of the table. We're in that position because of the way we've performed this year. There's no hiding that fact.

"We've quality in the team but we know we have to keep on winning games. As soon as we start doing that we'll climb the table and it will all be better. It's only ourselves who can do that and we can't take anything for granted until we do."

Standing in the way of continuing Tottenham's progress under Ramos is the formidable obstacle of fierce local rivals Arsenal. Remarkably, today will be Dawson's ninth derby appearance, although the last time Spurs tasted victory over Arsene Wenger's side was more than eight years ago.

But Dawson is adamant there is no psychological barrier preventing Spurs from recording a long overdue win.

"If you fear a team you're on to a loser before you go into a game," he reasons.

"Don't get me wrong, Arsenal are playing well and are a good team. But we have to believe in ourselves. At the start of the season we were 1-0 up so it was disappointing to lose the game in the way we did. We've been close to beating them and we've just not got over the line. It is down to ourselves to make sure we do that."

Doing so would go a long way to silencing Tottenham's army of critics this season. Dawson himself has not been spared, but he clearly does not need anyone to tell him when he has underperformed.

"From a defensive point of view, I'm very critical of my own performances," he says. "I always analyse them, I think you have to if you're going to improve.

"It hurts when we get criticised. But the only way to shut people up is by winning games and playing well."

It is a sentiment his mentor Walker would have agreed with.