With Arsenal having three first team players in the Germany squad that won the World Cup in Brazil this summer, Arsene Wenger has had a difficult start to the season as they all came back pretty late and still in party mode after the celebrations.
There are benefits to the situation as well, though, and hopefully Arsenal will now start to see the best from Per Mertesacker, Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski again. The BFG has retired from international football which should help him to prolong his club career, but at 29-years old it looks like Podolski is keen to carry on.
And I think the Gunners can benefit from the situation, because the striker will be aware that he needs to play regularly and well in order to keep his place. Podolski is already on the fringes a bit with Joachim Low and with the likes off Reus, Draxler and Schurrle, he is going to have to be in top form.
But Podolski has a fantastic record with Germany, with his 118 caps the third highest in their history. He also needs just one more goal to become the third highest scorer. He could have got that after coming on against Scotland if Gotze had been less selfish but you can bet he will be desperate to get it.
So Arsene Wenger needs to use this and the euphoria that Podolski experienced this summer to really get the best out of him for Arsenal. Do you think Podolski will push on and have a good season?