Sunderland’s Jeremain Lens believes his experience of having played with Ola Toivonen at PSV Eindhoven means their understanding on the field is already well rehearsed.

Toivonen joined the Black Cats on a season-long loan deal from Rennes last week and, having come off the bench at half time in Saturday’s clash with Aston Villa, he quickly set up Lens for the goal that ensured Dick Advocaat’s men left with a 2-2 draw.

Lens feels their past experiences together in the Eredivisie means Toivonen already knows how to get the best from him.

“He understands the way I play and he knows I have the speed to make the most of passes like that,” said the former Dynamo Kiev player.

The 27-year-old insists that Toivonen can play a leading role in helping Sunderland climb the Premier League table after the international break.

“He is a good attacker; he scores goals and creates them, so hopefully he can help me score more like he did at Aston Villa,” he added.

“To have him in the team is good for us and it would be nice if he can play in more games for us now. He can help us get better results and climb up.”

With Fabio Borini and DeAndre Yedlin joining the Sunderland ranks from Liverpool and Tottenham respectively on deadline day, the Netherlands international says Sunderland now have the class to move away from their current spot at the foot of the table.

“We’ve added a lot of quality to the squad. We need to keep everyone together, work hard and at the end the results will come,” he added.

Sunderland face Tottenham in their next league game, with Advocaat’s team 3.80 to win the Stadium of Light clash. Spurs are 1.95 with the draw 3.40.