EXCLUSIVE: the thin-air secret behind Ramos' fitness revolution at Spurs

But Sportsmail Online can reveal that the REAL improvement in Spurs' fitness and energy levels is the result of their using a special chamber that mimics the effect of training at altitude.

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Tottenham are the only Premier League club to use a hypoxic air chamber, which they installed several months ago at their training ground, near Chigwell in Essex.

The hypoxic chamber, which is supplied by the Basingstoke-based Sporting Edge company and is already being used by Britain's Olympic rowing team at Bisham Abbey, creates a reduced-oxygen environment.

Sporting Edge claim that their system "provides the means of achieving the extra endurance, power or critical half-yard of pace that (separates) the winner from the loser".

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Training in the chamber boosts the absorption of oxygen by the lungs, and stimulates the production of red blood cells. Recovery from injury is accelerated while the athlete's fitness level is maintained.

Dr Charles Pedlar, an exercise physiologist at the Institute of Sport, said: "There would be substantial benefits for footballers from high-intensity exercise in the chamber.

"It improves the tolerance of lactic acid build-up, and allows you to exercise longer before you reach exhaustion. It also improves your overall aerobic conditioning."

But Dr Pedlar warned: "It's not a magic fix. Footballers still need to do the hard work in the chamber if they want to gain the benefits."

The technology consists of two units: an integrated compressor/dryer unit plus a control cabinet which together regulate the supply of air to the training chamber.

The chamber is also capable of replicating the temperature, altitude and humidity conditions to be found anywhere on earth, which would be particularly useful if Tottenham were going to play in, say, Moscow in winter or Seville in summer.