And Van der Vaart believes Tottenham, who will not be hit by key players disappearing for the Africa Cup of Nations, unlike City who will lose Yaya and Kolo Toure, should be considered genuine title contenders, possibly even favourites.
"Everybody knows Spurs have a great team and if we can keep playing like this, then we're also favourites to win the title," said the Dutch international.
"When we played Man City in August, they were too good but in the last few games they have not been as consistent and they lost last night, too. Maybe it's a little bit in their heads.
"They have invested so much money, so everyone expects they're going to win it but we're still there. Do we believe we can do it? Absolutely. It's a massive game and we're really looking forward to it but first we must beat Wolves on Saturday.
"We are much better now than we were at the start of the season, so I'm really looking forward to the games that are coming up.
"City have so many good players that even when they're not playing well, they can decide a game, whereas we're more of a team. It's going to be very interesting.
"We played well there last season but lost 1-0, so we will go there with confidence and there is no reason why we can't win."