TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM – For the first time in a long time, the vibes at Tottenham are superb again.

Well, for tangible reasons anyway. There was a swell of optimism coming into the season off the back of a record-breaking transfer window that saw the club open their pockets and splash over £340m on new signings. A poor start to the campaign saw Spurs dwelling in and around the relegation zone once more, but they have now pieced together three wins in a row and are unbeaten over their last four having most recently seen off Crystal Palace.

Saturday night largely swung on a VAR-advised red card early in the first half, with Jean-Philippe Mateta judged to have gone in too high on Micky van de Ven’s Achilles during a sliding challenge. Soon after, Mohammed Kudus whipped in a delicious corner onto the head of Archie Gray, who nodded home to score only his third senior goal, two of which have come against Palace.

The Eagles fought resolutely to keep the scoreline down, though offered very little threat on the counter and seemed content to merely lose 1-0 – a plan that came unstuck when Jan Paul van Hecke bundled the ball over the line from a Mateus Fernandes cross. For long stretches of the contest, this felt like an open training session designed to improve Tottenham’s proficiency in breaking down deep blocks. By the end of the 90 minutes, 2-0 indeed seemed flattering to Palace.

In competitive sports, winning and losing are habits. For the last couple of years, Spurs have found themselves feverishly addicted to the latter. It’s a trend they must buck if they are to be considered a serious football team again.

Tottenham have long needed a stable foundation to build on. That was the rationale behind appointing the seemingly-sensible Thomas Frank as head coach to replace the trick-or-treat Ange Postecoglou, though that ended in disaster as he was, if anything, a bit too vanilla for a club so synonymous with chaos.

So, , the eventual pivot was to give almost total autonomy to Roberto De Zerbi, one of football’s fieriest managers. Yet he has found a way to channel his own madness into a winning method.

De Zerbi stuck his neck out to ensure Tottenham captured countryman Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United, beating Arsenal and Manchester City to his signature. The club’s first £100m signing, the sense was Spurs owed this particular deal to De Zerbi as a sort of “thank you” for keeping them up last season.

In the meanwhile, they were also wrapping up the £85m of prospective midfield partner Fernandes from West Ham United, stumping up when Manchester United refused to do so.

It took until October 24 for Tonali and Fernandes to actually start together in the double pivot, yet they looked like a pairing who had been closely acquainted for a decade, walking all over Chelsea in a famous 2-0 triumph at Stamford Bridge. Fernandes was named Player of the Match for his all-action performance.

The evolution of this partnership continued with the visit of Palace. Granted, the majority of the game came at the caveat of a one-man advantage, Tonali and Fernandes were still the engine driving Tottenham forward.

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There was barely a flaw to pick out in either of their performances. Both were industrious and maverick in equal amount, bringing the perfect equilibrium when calm heads were needed to navigate through Palace. The plaudits will inevitably go to Gray and Van Hecke for their goals, but that was a mature performance that may not have been possible without the Premier League’s newest elite midfield pairing.

While Spurs’ most major concern remains in the final third where they lack natural scorers (it seemed fitting that two defenders came up with the goals here), they are now able to safely control matches at their own tempo again. The tactical pendulum that determines this sport’s most successful patterns has whipped back the way of possession football, and Tottenham are primed to benefit from that.

It will be difficult for Tonali and Fernandes to individually live up to their respective price tags, but hey, winning cures everything. If Tottenham are successful with them in the side, no one will care how much they cost. They are now up to the dizzying heights of eighth in the Premier League and three points off the top five. De Zerbi’s revolution has liftoff.