Tottenham Hotspur will provide stiff reading for Arsenal when they release their financial figures for last season, The Sun reports.

Spurs are set to reveal a wage budget of £91.1m ‘or below,’ leaving the White Hart Lane outfit to financially mirror their payroll of 2010/11.

Over the last five years the Gunners have posted wages of £89.7m (2007), £101.3m (2008), £104m (2009), £110.7m (2010), £124.4m (2011), and £143.4 (2012). The most recent differential between last year and the 2011/12 season has seen an exponential increase of 15%.

Compared to the balance sheet on the other side of the Seven Sisters Road, this substantial rise in payroll might be cause for concern for Arsenal fans. For £1m extra a week in wages - £52m a year – a mere one league position above your local rivals can be achieved.

Contrary to growing angst at Arsenal leading chief executive Ivan Gazidis to counter any suggestion that he was ‘ruining the club’ by keeping the purse strings tight during October’s AGM, these figures seem to suggest that the red side of North London are beginning to punch their weight.

In today’s global economic climate - and amidst a milieu of rival Premier League teams spending each other out of silverware – the wage rise at the Emirates might not be such a cause for concern, as Arsenal step up to the financial environment set by the Premier League’s big spenders.