STOKE, England -- Mousa Dembele says Tottenham are thriving on the pressure of fighting for the title and warned Leicester City: "We just want it and we're not scared."
Harry Kane and Dele Alli scored two goals apiece as Tottenham thrashed Stoke City 4-0 on Monday to close the gap to league leaders Leicester to five points with four matches remaining.
Mauricio Pochettino described his team's display at the Britannia Stadium as "perfect" and said Spurs "really believe" they can overhaul the Foxes, who will be without top scorer Jamie Vardy for at least one match after his sending off in Sunday's 2-2 draw with West Ham.
Dembele echoed his head coach's sentiments, claiming Spurs' rampant performance at Stoke shows they are "ready" to take the title race down to the wire.
"This is the situation where you can see if we are ready or not," Dembele told reporters. "The pressure is there. Everyone knows it will be very difficult but we play like this, so you can see the mentality is there. Everyone wants it and we just manage to keep playing our game.
"It was one of our best performances, so that says something. We just want it and we're not scared of it.
"Everyone expected it would be very difficult and the circumstances are very special because we know we have to win these games and if you can win playing like this it's even better. We're very proud and we keep on moving on. Every week is the most important game of the season.
"Every week we say we need to win it. We hope it goes to the final day -- that's our aim of course.
"In the past it was very difficult as well. Everyone saw the way we played, confident, direct, creative, positive."
Tottenham's cause has been aided by Vardy's suspension for Leicester's next match against Swansea on Sunday, while the England striker -- who has scored 22 goals this season -- faces an extended ban after being charged with misconduct by the FA for remonstrating with referee Jon Moss after his second yellow card.
Since Leicester returned to the Premier League for the 2014-15 season, they have played 12 games without Vardy starting, losing six and winning just three, while he has started their last 44 league matches, scoring 26 times and adding 10 assists.
Dembele said: "It's one of their best players so it's good for us of course, but we concentrate on our own game. It's good everyone is there, nobody is injured. Everyone is mentally ready so that's the most important thing."
Meanwhile, Alli's remarkable rise continued with two fine goals, taking him into double figures for the season.
The 20-year-old said: "When I signed my target was to get 10 starts but then after I got a run of games I wanted to get 10 goals and happily I've reached that target. Now I can set a benchmark for myself for next season and I've got to set it even higher.
"We showed what we are all about. We won't stop fighting until the end of the season. Stoke is never an easy place to come and it was a strong performance. We created a lot of chances and could have scored a lot more. It's a good statement.
"We've been pretty strong all season. Maybe a few games not at our best but we've got a great team here and we do look like we're getting stronger. We're a good team and we'll keep working hard on the training ground."
But Alli was also responsible for a contender for the miss of the season -- rounding Potters' goalkeeper Shay Given at 2-0, only to hit the post with the goal gaping -- and he admits Spurs teammate and friend Eric Dier is unlikely to let him forget it in a hurry.
"It was one of those moments... I don't know how I missed it," he said. "Thankfully I scored two and we won so hopefully it's been forgotten, but I'm sure it won't be!
"He [Dier] has already got on to me about it as soon as I walked in, so I'm sure there will be more to come. He just showed me a video that someone sent him on Twitter so I'm sure I'll get a lot more stick for it."