Spurs progress, Arsenal regress
Spurs look well poised to earn bragging rights over Arsenal this season
The two sides of North London are currently at opposite ends of the earth.
Tonight, Tottenham take on Juventus in Melbourne. On Friday morning (Singapore time), Arsenal face the MLS All-Stars in California.
But there was little distance between them last season, when they were separated by a single place in the final standings.
Without a doubt, the battle for North London will again have a major bearing in the English Premier League title race.
But there is apprehension among the faithful. Spurs fans fear fatigue could consume an inexperienced squad once more, while the Gunners are always at the mercy of those miserly men in the boardroom.
Who will prevail? Here's a look at the progress, or lack of, at both clubs.
1 The hangover
Arsene Wenger has already admitted he's in no rush for his Euro 2016 participants to return.
He saw at close quarters the debilitating effects that an arduous campaign can have on players.
They're called Spurs.
Wales' Aaron Ramsey, Germany's Mesut Oezil and French pair Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny were all handed extended breaks.
Arsenal's opening fixture against Liverpool is just three weeks away, but Wenger sees the bigger picture, sprints and marathons and all that.
Over at Tottenham, Mauricio Pochettino's greatest asset dramatically morphed into a sudden weakness.
His established core of bright young Englishmen turned up in France exhausted and returned home shattered.
Dele Alli and Harry Kane were awful. Kyle Walker and Danny Rose were better, while Eric Dier started brightly and then faded with his woeful colleagues.
All five return with bruised egos.
Tottenham's opener against Everton will leave no place to hide.
Verdict: Arsenal's boys look brighter.
2 The transfers
Arsenal's chief executive Ivan Gazidis believes Arsenal's squad are already good enough to win a title.
Well, they're not.
Granit Xhaka was a notable and expensive capture.
At £30 million ($53.4m), Wenger shouldn't be buying potential but a proven product.
A couple of commanding group-stage performances at Euro 2016 hinted that the Swiss midfielder was the real deal.
Centre back Rob Holding, the 20-year-old from Bolton, offers back-up and long-term potential, but the signing of Takuma Asano feels a little neither here nor there.
The 21-year-old Japanese striker doesn't particularly address the French elephant in the penalty box (see the team section).
But Tottenham's transfer business has so far been typically Pochettino, quietly effective with little fuss or fanfare.
An old, dependable colleague at Southampton, Victor Wanyama, adds steeliness to a midfield that folded like an errant deckchair last season.
Young gun Georges-Kevin Nkoudou comes fully equipped with speed and energy along the flanks, a French winger with genuine potential.
But the real find could be Vincent Janssen. The Dutch striker banged in 28 goals last season at AZ Alkmaar, earned a national call-up (and scored) and was awarded national player of the year honours.
Tottenham's previous transfer policy of lavishing huge sums on brand names and hoping for the best has been smartly replaced with Pochettino's simpler "square peg, square hole" recruitment programme.
Finally, Tottenham have a clear plan and strength in depth.
Verdict: A big win for Tottenham. They are thinking about the future. Arsenal are still thinking about the dollars and cents.
3 The team
The number crunchers, bean counters and bottom liners in the Arsenal boardroom should watch one game endlessly, on a loop.
It isn't a Gunners game or even an EPL fixture.
It's the Euro 2016 Final, France against Portugal, hosts against underdogs or a superior nation with an inferior striker.
Initially, that sounds harsh.
Olivier Giroud delivered in the earlier stages for France and is always a committed campaigner for both club and country.
Occasionally, his relationship with Antoine Griezmann and Dimitri Payet was electrifying and he chipped in with his share of assists (as he does with Arsenal).
But he squandered too many opportunities, as he does with Arsenal, in the contests that really mattered.
Arsenal were the lowest scorers in the top four last season, the only side in the top four without a recognised, efficient marksman up front.
Unless Wenger finds a reliable goal source beyond Asano, his other signings are window dressing - frilly and pretty but struggling to hide the bare cupboard behind.
Xhaka solidifies that malleable midfield, but Wanyama will do much the same at Tottenham, a much cheaper but equally effective option.
Per Mertesacker spoke of Arsenal's persistent soft centre and Xhaka and Holding will certainly address that brittle spine, but the attacking apex lacks a reliable, fixed point. That's certainly not the case at White Hart Lane. Spurs already boasted the most complete English striker of his generation in Kane.
Even if Kane struggles with post-Euros fatigue, Holland's rising starlet Janssen looks an astute addition to the attacking ranks.
Back home, they're already calling Janssen the next Robin van Persie.
At Tottenham, he just needs to hold the fort until Kane recovers.
Together, they promise an explosive partnership; two dynamic and dependable centre forwards.
The Gunners don't even have one.
Verdict: Arsenal's mini-mavericks in midfield might please the purists, but power, speed and attacking urgency are all in Tottenham's favour at this stage. If Wenger doesn't sign a proven striker, he can probably write off the battle for North London and his team's title chances.
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