Everton and Stoke City begin their preseason campaigns with the opening match of the Barclays Asia Tour 2015 in Singapore on Wednesday.
Both teams will go into the new Premier League season with high hopes, and in order to keep those hopes high, what is essential is a good preseason workout.
The Premier League Asia Trophy provides the two sides, and Arsenal, that opportunity, with Roberto Martinez, the Everton manager, looking forward to facing Stoke, who will probably rival them for European places come the new season.
"As a challenge, Stoke are very much a team that plays with real confidence and real belief and what they did last campaign [by finishing in ninth place] was no accident, it was something they really, really deserved," Martinez said.
"They've got terrific experience and really good individual talents, so I expect a really good game between two sides who will both really want to win.
"Both teams can be really strong on the ball and really dynamic as well, so I expect a really tough game and it will be interesting to see how both teams can adapt to the conditions."
The conditions will be one of the primary points of focus, as the humidity in Singapore could play a part. Both sets of teams are not used to playing under humid conditions, but the workout in Singapore should help them get back to the fitness levels needed for the new season.
"The humidity and the heat is something quite different to what we are used to back in our league and it will be interesting to face an opposition we know so well in different conditions," Martinez added.
Everton have left Darron Gibson, Leighton Baines, Muhamed Besic, Aiden McGeady and Bryan Oviedo back in England as they recover from their respective injuries, while Stoke City will be without Ryan Shawcross and Philipp Wollscheid for this opening game.
"Both players have been working out here, but they aren't fit and ready for minutes as of yet," manager Mark Hughes told Stoke City Player.
"Ryan has a little bit of trouble with his back, which will hopefully clear up quickly, whilst Philipp has had a bit of stiffness in his hamstring.
"It would be silly of us to put them at risk on Wednesday, so we will hopefully look to get them involved in the second game on Saturday evening [where Stoke will play either Arsenal or Singapore Select XI]."
The three new signings – Shay Given, Glen Johnson and Marco Van Ginkel – have flown out to Singapore, but are not expected to be involved in this first match of the Barclays Asia Trophy 2015.
Where to Watch Live
Everton vs Stoke City is scheduled to begin at 3.30 pm IST (6 pm local time, 11 am BST, 6 am ET). Live TV coverage in India and the rest of South Asia will be on Star Sports 4 and HD.
Viewers in the UK can catch the match live on Sky Sports 1, with the live stream option on Sky Go.
