Tottenhams' achievement is a trophy of its own

It was the perfect way to celebrate the demise of St. Totteringham's Day, that moment in the season (usually in the spring) when Arsenal are so far ahead of Tottenham that they can't be caught. Well, there will be no St. Totteringham's Day this season, and Spurs fans got confirmation of this in the most satisfying ways: beating Arsenal 2-0 and in the final North London Derby at White Hart Lane, no less.
By switching to the 3-4-2-1 a few weeks ago, Arsene Wenger may have shown that he is not the inflexible, one-dimensional stick-in-the-mud he is sometimes lampooned as being: Indeed, he stuck with it on Sunday. But to be fair, if he thought the back three was the answer to Arsenal's woes, it shows how misguided he was. They may have won three straight with the system, but one victory was against a free-falling Middlesbrough side who were winless since December at that point, while the other two -- against Manchester City in the FA Cup and Leicester in the Premier League -- could easily have gone the other way.

Away from home against a solid, motivated and gifted opponent, Wenger's formation was quite easily swept away. Tottenham could have been a couple goals up at the half and could have added more at the end, with only some fine Petr Cech saves preventing a total rout. In between, Dele Alli gave Tottenham the lead, and Harry Kane won (and converted) a penalty, both in the space of a few minutes.

Last season, Tottenham had the title within their grasp only to collapse mightily. Whether it was inexperience or lack of leadership or mental toughness, we're not seeing those issues this year. The FA Cup semifinal loss to Chelsea could have been such a turning point, but Spurs' reaction -- perhaps because although they lost at Wembley, they were not outplayed -- away to Crystal Palace and against Arsenal show that they are as focused as ever. There's a maturity and a grit there that weren't evident before.

Mauricio Pochettino has his own theory on this, and he does get a bit metaphysical when discussing it. He called it, in Spanish, "energia universal."

"I believe in energia universal," he said. "It is connected. Nothing happens for causality. It is always a consequence [of something else]. Maybe, it is one of the reasons that Harry [Kane] always scores in derbies. I believe in that energy. For me, it exists." Pochettino also used it to explain last season when the bottom fell out, as Tottenham fought "negative energy" when most neutrals were openly cheering for Leicester City to win the title.

You get the fact that confidence and good vibes exist and can help performance, but the whole "energy" thing sounds a little too "New Age" for many. And rationally, while it's true that events are interconnected, when there are a tons of them and you can only influence some, it's pretty much the definition of randomness.

Still, you can't argue with the eye test. It's working. Temperament seems to be the least of Tottenham's problems these days. And it feels as if there's a genuine cohesion and unity to the side: witness the fact that Kyle Walker has been dropped to the bench for two of the past three games and we've barely heard a peep.

Making up the four points that separate them from Chelsea would be a superhuman achievement, particularly given their respective schedules. Or to put it differently, it would involve a heck of a lot of randomness and negative "energia universal" raining down on Chelsea's heads.

But in some ways, it doesn't even matter. Tottenham will likely finish with their highest points total (adjusting for the three points-for-a-win rule) since their double-winning season of 1960-61. And they'll enjoy their highest league finish in 54 years.

In terms of achievement, it's not far off from actually winning a league title.