Thursday is the day that it will all become real for Arsenal fans.
The Gunners' fifth-place finish in the Premier League last season meant that the Champions League qualification that they had come to regard as a formality had suddenly gone, and they were cast into the murky waters of the Europa League.
In truth, the continent's second-tier competition isn't actually all that bad, but Arsenal's mere presence in it seems to confirm everything that their club's fans feel is wrong with them right now.
They'll have to get used to watching their team play on Thursday nights after previously existing solely in the Tuesday-Wednesday world of the Champions League, but it isn't the actual game that's worrying Gooners.
It's what comes before it.
It's the anthem, specifically.
Because whereas the Champions League has the iconic "Chaaaaaaaaampions" anthem that everyone knows, the Europa League has a far less well-known tune greeting the players as they come onto the pitch.
Revamped in 2015, the tune is composed by Michael Kadelbach and accompanies both teams as they walk on, and when it echoes around the Emirates ahead of the clash with Cologne on Thursday it will make for quite an odd occasion.
And one that these Gooners aren't looking forward to.
All together now...
"Doo doo doo doo doo..."