LONDON -- Dele Alli believes Tottenham Hotspur have "turned a corner" and says they are ready to challenge for the Premier League title -- starting in Sunday's match at Manchester United.
Spurs followed the 5-0 Premier League win against Swansea City with Wednesday's 3-1 victory over CSKA Moscow in the Champions League, having managed just one win -- and four goals from open play -- in 10 games before Saturday.
Manager Mauricio Pochettino believes his team have "recovered" and Alli, who scored and forced CSKA goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev into an own goal on Wednesday, believes they are ready for the "massive" game at Old Trafford.
"It does feel like we're turning a corner. Every team goes through a spell where their form drops a bit. I think we've gone through that and we're now coming back stronger. I feel like we're playing really well again now and we're getting the results and getting the goals which is important," the England international told reporters.
"Are we title challengers? Definitely. We're happy to stay under the radar, keep plugging away and keep getting the results we need. We don't want to get too carried away with ourselves -- it's important to stay focused like we did last season and keep getting the results.
"It was important as well that we got the win tonight ahead of a massive game at the weekend for us. After the win over Swansea, it was important we kept that momentum going by getting the win here. At the start of the season we were a bit slow when it came to scoring goals but we're pulling up now and we just have to keep it going."
Alli was guilty of two glaring misses against the Russians in the first-half before his super, curling finish levelled the scores after Alan Dzagoev had given the visitors a shock lead in their first attack.
The midfielder was unlucky not to bag a second after Akinfeev saved his close-range header, only to scoop the rebound over his own line with a trailing leg.
"When you miss chances it's hard to keep your head up but fortunately I did and when I got the next one I put it away. I'd love to claim the third, I feel like if the keeper didn't put it in himself I was going to put it in anyway so they should just give it to me!" laughed Alli.
The result ensures Spurs will compete in the Europa League for the sixth consecutive season via a third-place finish in their Champions League group and Alli's teammate Jan Vertonghen believes Spurs can win the competition.
"I think we can -- maybe Champions League experience will help. We are very hungry to win trophies. It's a shame it's not in the Champions League this year but we are one of the better teams in the Europa League and now we have to show it," he said.
Spurs have confirmed they will continue at Wembley for Europa League home matches and Vertonghen is pleased that Wednesday's victory -- Spurs' first in seven matches at the national stadium -- ended the club's hoodoo.
"It's very important to get the win for different reasons -- to get to the Europa League, all the Wembley stories put to bed, keep playing well. Good performance today.
"It was important for us to show to the fans, to everyone watching that we can do the same here as at White Hart Lane. For us as well, it's good to have the win in the bag so we can focus on other things.
"It's strange at times, you have a bad game and don't do well. We had one very bad half -- the first half against Monaco. The other halves weren't that bad, but in that game we conceded too easily, two goals. Nothing crazy."