Rafael van der Vaart has said Tottenham Hotspur can win the league title for the first time in more than 50 years after establishing themselves as serious rivals to Manchester City and Manchester United.

Tottenham are third in the Premier League, only three points behind the leaders City and level on points with United following their victory against Everton on Wednesday. They play City at the Etihad Stadium a week on Sunday and the Dutchman believes that they are perfectly positioned to take advantage of the vulnerability of Roberto Mancini's team.

"Of course we can push for the title," Van der Vaart said. "It was important we beat Everton, really important we got the three points. Now everybody knows Tottenham have a great team and if we can keep playing like this we will be one of the favourites to win the title. Manchester City is going to be a massive game and we're really looking forward to it.

"City are not so consistent any more [having one win from their past five matches]. They have lost a few games recently and maybe that's a little bit in their heads so we can take advantage. City have many good players, many individual players who can score goals and decide a game. But we are more like a team I think. So it's going to be an interesting game."

Van der Vaart added: "Nobody likes to come to White Hart Lane to play us because at home we are unbelievable. After next weekend against Man City we will know where we stand. But everybody in the dressing room believes we can win the league. Absolutely."

City will be without their captain, Vincent Kompany, due to suspension and the Touré brothers Kolo and Yaya, who are at the Africa Cup of Nations, and Van der Vaart said this weakens Mancini's side. "They are good players. Will City miss them? Of course they will," he said. "But we played well there last year [losing 1-0], and could have won so we will have a lot of confidence."

Tottenham's win against Everton was their 14th in the league this season. Their only defeats came against both Manchester clubs – back in August – and at Stoke City in December. The 28-year-old Van der Vaart, who has scored eight goals this season, believes that Spurs are the form team and praised his manager, Harry Redknapp, for his summer recruitment of Scott Parker from West Ham United and Emmanuel Adebayor on loan from City.

"We know we are good," he added. "Last season as well we played some great games, but we were not consistent. This season, apart from the first two games [defeats to United and City], we have played well. We are now getting so far in front [of Chelsea and Arsenal] we have to look up the table and not down.

"I knew we had a great squad and big squad when I arrived [in summer 2010] but there were maybe a few parts missing. Now we have another fantastic striker and signing Scott Parker was really important for us. Maybe they were the two missing links. Now you can see we are a fantastic team. Everybody can score, everybody can play. It's a nice mix."

Phil Neville, the Everton captain and a six-times title winner with Manchester United, believes Spurs, who last won the title in 1961, are genuine contenders, but has warned that the hardest part of their campaign is still to come.

"They're right in there, especially the way the league is measuring up. Teams are dropping points, and it doesn't look like Tottenham are. So there's a long way to go but at this stage of the season they couldn't ask for more. They are playing with freedom and confidence. But the biggest test will come in March when you don't play with that kind of confidence and freedom.

"Whether they can grind out results at that stage of the season, that's the question they still need to answer. The biggest test for any championship-winning team is when you've been on a winning run and you draw a game or lose a game, and you've got to bounce back. Come March and April when everybody is going to drop points, the biggest test is how you react to that."