Dhoni's men have gone 14 Tests away from home without success, and have not won a five-day match on English soil since 2007.
However, Trent Bridge - the venue of their most recent success in the UK - plays host to the first Test, and with India facing a confidence-hit England, it is the tourists' best chance of breaking their drought away from home in quite some time.
Dhoni claimed India's visits to South Africa and New Zealand in the past eight months - both resulted in 1-0 series losses in the respective two-match series - showed India are showing signs of performing outside the sub-continent.
"If you talk about the last four Test matches we have played outside of India - the tour in South Africa and the tour in New Zealand, I think the performance of the team was really good, though we lost both the series but we were definitely in a position to win the series and win the Test matches," the Indian skipper said.
"So I feel overall there's plenty to learn for the cricketers and if I compare the first match we played in South Africa to the last that we played in New Zealand, I think there have been considerable improvements, so it's the right way of moving ahead."
Dhoni said England's recent struggles - Alastair Cook's men are winless in eight Tests - are part and parcel of cricket, and that the home side's fortunes were due to improve.
"When it comes to international cricket, there comes a phase when every team does really well and there comes a phase when they won't do too much, they will not move in the right direction, so I think personally I would say it is a phase that every team goes through," Dhoni said.
"Let's talk about the West Indies when they were really dominating - once you dominate like that you go through a phase when you won't do well - it may be the form of the players or a few of the players moving out and fresh players coming in.
"So there's a lot of reasoning behind it, so any one can be the reason for England not doing so much well as of now, but also the good thing is you definitely pass through that, go through it, and I feel the England side have got very good talent, they've got very good players, and it's just a matter of time before they come back and perform."