The way that Arsène Wenger described his terror of time this week almost made you think Arsenal built the Emirates Stadium just so their manager could escape Highbury’s Clock End. “My relationship with time is distressing in every way,” he told L’Equipe’s Sport & Style magazine. “I’m always afraid of being late, of not being ready, of not being able to accomplish what I’ve planned.” That certainly suggested all the ambient prattle about this season representing a case of now or never for Arsenal’s Premier League title ambitions should be enough to have the Frenchman’s nerves jangling like the manacles of a cop in the dock.

Arsenal came into the north London derby knowing that their most obvious title rivals, Manchester City, had drawn a blank at Aston Villa; that Chelsea are imploding; Liverpool embarking on another overhaul and Manchester United failing to convince even their own fans. The immediacy of Arsenal’s opportunity is clear.

The “never” flipside is melodramatic but not entirely without substance. When you have seen a team let opportunities pass them by so often, you are near thinking that they do not have it in them to seize one. The explanations start to seem like rationalisations, the waiting – for a stadium to be paid off, for young talents to blossom, even, perhaps, for the world to right itself and fall back in line with their manager’s ideals – seems not so much a necessity as a shirking of responsibility, or a delusion.

“I’m very interested in the history of others – in mine I’m much less interested,” Wenger told L’Equipe. “Because I know it and not going through it allows me to forget all the stupid things I’ve done. You avoid the feeling of guiltiness. I always found it a bit pathetic that people would tour their own museums and talk about all the good they’ve done in their lives.” Wallowing in past glories can indeed be pathetic but not looking at the past can also mean not learning from mistakes, from all those “stupid things” he or his teams have done.

For a while against Tottenham it looked as if Arsenal had not even bothered to cast their minds back a few days, to their midweek embarrassment against Bayern Munich or, indeed, to last weekend’s Premier League trip to Swansea City. In both matches Arsenal started dozily.

They were let off in Wales, whipped in Germany. Surely that ordeal was, at least, a well-timed warning to look lively from the start against their much improved neighbours? A fine time to come out all guns blazing, as they did so superbly and promisingly against Manchester United a month ago. But no, it seemed as if Arsenal had learned nothing, nor even been paying attention to Tottenham’s progress. Mauricio Pochettino’s team, despite playing their third match in six days, started stronger and sharper than Wenger’s side, more like men intent on seizing their moment, not just waiting for one.

Christian Eriksen went close early on when Arsenal allowed him to receive a short corner; Eric Dier headed wide after the home defence failed to spot the large midfielder calling for a free-kick in their box and Harry Kane deftly opened the scoring as Laurent Koscielny lazily appealed for offside. Same old Arsenal, freezing, dawdling, frustrating, generally turning a chance to triumph into boom time for amateur psychologists. “I was not disappointed with the start, mentally we were at the races,” Wenger insisted afterwards, preferring instead to blame his team’s subpar first half on Santi Cazorla’s strange malaise. “He isn’t sick but he was dizzy and couldn’t move,” the manager said, explaining why he replaced the Spaniard with Mathieu Flamini at half-time. “Cazorla is usually the guide in our game.”

Without their guide, with a slew of other players injured and Alexis Sánchez again seeming jaded, Arsenal had all the excuses they needed to convince themselves that another lost opportunity should not be seen as a sign of chronic weakness. Here’s the thing, however: they didn’t take them. They rose up. Not after the game was all but lost but while the chips were still on the table. Not only did the players improve individually but Wenger’s in-game alterations bore fruit, even the one that drew quizzical looks at first – the usual left-back Kieran Gibbs replacing a forward, Joel Campbell. Flamini helped regain some control in midfield. Now we had a proper battle with two fine teams going at each other with gusto.

Olivier Giroud missed two good chances for Arsenal – “he wanted too much to score,” balonied Wenger – and it took a mistake by Tottenham’s keeper to help Gibbs equalise, and some excellent saves from Petr Cech – Wenger’s Big Lesson Learned – to stop Spurs regaining the lead. Ultimately, Wenger’s team secured a point against a strong side in a match that in the past they would probably have lost. “We are good at responding to disappointments,” Wenger said. In recent seasons the responses have tended to come too late.

Arsenal’s timing is improving. You get the feeling this title race will go down to the last day and Arsenal will finish first or very close.