He's getting back to fitness. The majority of the time, he doesn't do much (partly because we're not noticing him in good positions) but he has a knack of being in the right place at the right time - hence, good productivity and critical goals. You could say that about the likes of Darren Bent (great positioning, average finishing), but Bent hides where Dempsey hussles. Deuce is more of a poacher than Defoe too imo, it's just a shame he's not faster and not particularly inclined to lead the line. I don't think AVB requires his striker to be good with his back to goal, considering how much he likes Leandro - the main criteria seem to be clinicalness, good movement, and pace on the counter.
I don't think Dempsey has the technical quality and guile to be a starter, considering we'll likely only play with one striker and that one AVB prefers to be a pure-ish no. 9 (and I don't think we can afford three players as selfish/shot-happy as Defoe, Bale, and Dempsey in the same XI) but he's a very useful card to have in the deck. Will be a key squad/tactical player next season imo.
(It's interesting to me to see how AVB has started to be swayed by the 'character' types in our squad like Dempsey, who's had to fight his way into the starting XI at most of the clubs in his career so far. Dawson was originally the one CB left out in the cold, probably because he's the least technically gifted of our defenders, but these days AVB actually seems to quite like him - maybe because he's Captain Popular, the natural leader in this group, but his character must be so refreshing compared to John Terry! AVB/Freund have also been very enthusiastic about highlighting Lennon's workrate, Friedal's maturity, and Parker's leadership. I've also heard that Walker is a very hard worker on the training pitch, it's just that he's not very adept at staying calm and executing them during games so far.
We must look like a bunch of saints compared to Chelsea :lol