Norwich City's defensive talisman S�bastien Bassong is adamant he had to leave Tottenham to re-ignite his career.

The Cameroonian centre-back has proved an inspired signing for the Canaries following his summer switch from White Hart Lane. Bassong was on the fringes of Andre-Villas Boas' star-studded squad, but the 26-year-old has emerged as the heartbeat of City's recent revival.

Bassong's second goal in three games helped earn Chris Hughton's men a hard-fought Premier League win over Sunderland that extended their unbeaten run to eight league games. The Cameroon international has only been on the losing side twice for his new club, including the 1-0 defeat at his former employers Newcastle when Bassong lasted only eight minutes through injury.

Bassong's stellar season on Tyneside following his move from France back in 2008 clinched a multi-millon move south and the defender believes regular football again is bringing the best out of him.

'It makes a big difference for a player, especially somebody like me and my body,' he said. 'I need to play week in, week out to get the best out of me.

'I've no regrets about leaving Tottenham. I am enjoying my time here and the results are good for us. The people around me at the club, the fans as well are lovely, so I am really happy to be here. I hope I can keep on scoring and helping to win games for Norwich.'

Bassong, speaking on Talksport, allayed fears he picked up a knee injury against the Wearsiders following a collision with Sunderland's Connor Wickham.

'I'm okay. I just damaged my knee a bit when I went shoulder to shoulder with Wickham,' he said. 'He is a big lad so I had to go quite strong and when I landed my knee twisted a little bit but I knew I was going to be okay to finish the game. I've had a bit of treatment. We knew it would be tough in the second half.

'We were expecting it from them because the goal just before half-time will have given them a lift and after a third game in a week it was really tiring for us but we dug in and we got the three points.'

City survived a sustained onslaught from Martin O'Neill's men in the second half at Carrow Road, which included a glaring close range miss from Black Cats' defender Matthew Kilgallon after Craig Gardner's free kick cannoned into his path.

'I was just maybe one or two yards away from him when I saw our keeper save the ball and it bounced to his feet,' said Bassong.

'I was thinking he had to put it in but as I said sometimes you need a bit of luck and we got some there. The spirit and the results are fantastic for us.

'After all the work we have done from the start of the season until we are all delighted with how it is going. It's hard to say what has made us change, but the most basic thing is how hard we have worked.

'A lot of new players came in so it just took time to adapt. We work hard every day in training.'