It’s when games are stretched as the players begin to run out of steam that Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal teams look their most lethal. And if the opposition are chasing a result rather than trying to secure one, they are in serious trouble.

The derby on Saturday confirmed that Arsenal are a team that stays the course to devastating effect. When play is stretched, it’s about having the energy to make use of the space that suddenly opens up as markers tire. Cesc Fabregas’ goal demonstrated this to the full, as Spurs’ midfield simply failed to track the number 4 as he joined an attack to inflict maximum damage.

The derby is a bit of a one off for Spurs, in that the game is more important than any other due to the bragging rights that go with it. To Arsenal’s players, it is certainly more than just another game, but they would not put the kind of surplus energy into the performance that Tottenham’s fans would demand of their own players. The evidence of this millennium suggests they don’t need to. Certainly Spurs were guilty of missing some gilt-edged chances, but the visitors were equally profligate, and had created more chances.

Ultimately, it didn’t come down to who wanted it more, but who had most to give as the clock would down. I’ve been to Members’ Days and watched Wenger train his players at least four times. He doesn’t seem to do anything special, but somehow he has produced a super fit group of players that put the majority of Premier League opponents to shame.

Quite significantly, this season, Fabregas apart (although some might make an argument for Rosicky), there are no real ‘stars’ in the team, in the sense of big star names with reputations on the world stage to compare with the likes of Europe’s other big clubs (of which financially, Arsenal are now one of an elite group). But in biting the financial bullet to move the club into a new stadium and developing a side on the relative cheap, Wenger has seemingly knitted together a very spirited group of players who are growing together as a team.

Significantly with a nod to the fitness, he has largely dispensed with old heads. Gilberto, Gallas and Lehmann are the only players in the squad who one would regard as having passed their peak years as footballers, and two of those were not required to beat Spurs. The other played out of position to cover injuries and suspension. But in looking at how and why Wenger’s players last the pace, their relative youth may well be a factor. Le Boss is very hot on physical monitoring and one imagines that after their late 20s players begin to gradually decline in what they are physically capable of.

Wenger has only recently become a developer of players from such a young age. Previously, he could afford to buy those he would transform when their football education was a bit more progressed, such as Henry and Pires. Exceptions were Nicolas Anelka and the promotion of Ashley Cole, but by and large, talent came into the Arsenal set up with a reputation of sorts already in place. (Patrick Vieira may have been only 20, but he had already been spotted by Milan and spent a season in Italy.) As Wenger had the money to buy more established players, less points were sacrificed as they were blooded in. The team perennially finished in the top two.

Yet, the last two campaigns demonstrated how gaining experience does cost points. So two fourth place finishes as younger imports adapted to the English game. Now, it must be hoped that period of adaptation is over. Clichy, Hleb, Rosicky, Fabregas, Van Persie and Adebayor have been at the club for a minimum of one season and most of them at least two. Seasons when we doubted them.

Of course it’s early days in the current Premier League campaign, but it was always vital that the team got off to a good start, got confidence behind them and did not allow other teams to open up a significant points gap. Granted, Blackburn were gifted a point due to Lehmann’s nightmare, but otherwise, the results indicate that the current Arsenal are a much improved outfit on that of a year ago. You really can’t ask for much more than top place with a game in hand over the holders and Chelsea.

Bigger tests than Tottenham away are to come, but last season these youngsters demonstrated that they can match anyone on their day, as Man United and Chelsea will both testify. This season, they have started by not dropping cheap points to teams that they should despatch with relative ease. That is what went so catastrophically wrong in the first year at Ashburton, both home and away.

It promises to be a different story this time around. The big tests will come when certain key players (specifically Cesc) miss games, as is inevitable. However, one of my doubts was how the team would handle the pressure of the last couple of months of the season if they could remain in the hunt for honours. After seeing the way the team have physically dominated opponents in the closing stages of their matches of late, I think that this will not be such a problem. And not only do I think they will be ready in body, the signs are that they will have the temperament to handle the situation as well.

Having given up on the team after 80 minutes of the Premier League opener against Fulham, I am delighted to be eating a decent dose of humble pie. Come on you Gunners!