It's so nice that proper football is back and I think after the farce of the last two England matches I can confidently write proper football. I mean, some sides didn't even take it seriously so why should we have to. And that was not a question.
But football is back and it's Club football and it's Europe on Thursday in Italy at Bologna. They are currently eighth in the table and not on the best run. That said they've won three of the last five and they are at home and they will know what to expect.
But it's not just about this for us. Yes, Europe is very important but it's just that it's back and things feel good at the moment. I might be overly optimistic but with Youri and McGinn back it does feel like things are heading in the right direction, even though if you look at the form table, we are not in as good a position as our opposition on Thursday night.
It's amazing how one result and a couple of players can make you feel different about the matches coming up. Not that I thought it was end of the world stuff, but it was a struggle at times. But I think we all recognised that it was that we had our three first choice midfielders out. And that isn't me knocking the players that came in, but there is a reason why they are called first choice.
And I think this international break would have helped us. We had a trip to Spain, the players that went away did well and I don't think we've had any injuries coming back. This is good. And it sets us up for Thursday and Nottingham Forest on Sunday. Sunday will be tough too but three points and we are going to feel quite confident going into the remainder of the season.
So, this is sort of the match post, but there will be another on Thursday, but I can't leave this post without a little mention about Arsenal and Arteta asking for perspective. They are nine points ahead of Manchester City but City have a game in hand and Arsenal have to go to City. Will Arsenal bottle it?
Right, that's it. The kids are off school this week so I've got a plan to only work mornings, followed by a liquid lunch and in bed at a reasonable time all week, apart from Thursday. Who's joining me?