Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen thinks Andre Villas Boas has got the side performing well at both ends of the pitch, and that their rivals are starting to take notice of the North London club’s displays.

The Belgian told the BBC: "We have a lot of confidence. I think everybody can see we don't concede a lot of goals.

"We also score a lot of goals now and have a big squad. I think other teams are watching."

Vertonghen was speaking after Spurs’ 4-0 demolition of Aston Villa on Tuesday, a third round match that came just two days after Sunday’s Premier League tie in Cardiff.

"We can be happy," he continued. "Last year we were kicked out of this tournament in the second round and we wanted to better that this year. I have never played two games in three days. It was quite a test.”

As the fixtures build up, the defender says that the strength in depth of the squad will be essential to maintain the club’s great start to the season: "It is tough but we already need everybody. We have five or six people who are injured and couldn't play," he said.

"Some players didn't even travel [to Aston Villa] and quite a lot of them will play on Saturday.”

Next up is Saturday’s match with Chelsea at White Hart Lane, and Vertonghen is keen to improve on the result from last season’s figure.

"Last year we lost because of quite a lot of injuries in my opinion. We want to do better this year.

"We lost to a direct opponent the other week against Arsenal and we want to do better this time."