Marko Marin could not be happier after finally making his Chelsea debut in the League Cup game against Wolverhampton Wanderers, and now the German international is looking forward to pitting his wits against his compatriots Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker when the Blues travel to Arsenal in Saturday's early English Premier League game.
"There are two German players to play against and I hope I am with the team," Marin told the club's official website. The important thing is to win and keep our position in the Premier League.
"We have a very good defence, so it will be very hard for Lukas to play against us. I'm not sure they have played against a team so good so it will be harder for him and I know Branislav Ivanovic very well, he is one of the best defenders in the world so I am not scared.
"At the beginning it was a bit new for him (Podolski) but now he is doing very well and has scored a few goals. I haven't talked to him. We know each other from the national team but we are not really friends, I talk more with Per Mertesacker because we played together at Bremen.
"Arsenal have a good team of course but they lost Robin van Persie, who was the best scorer last year, and is at the top again, so it is interesting to see how they do."
The German international had been sidelined with injury since the start of the season and the summer signing is looking forward to a more prominent role in the Chelsea team, which already boasts of the likes of Eden Hazard, Juan Mata and Oscar, all of who play in a similar position to Marin.
"It was a hard time doing the whole preseason and then the U.S. tour, then the injury, but it's football and it happens," the 23-year-old said. "Now I'm happy to be back and I played my first 20 minutes.
"Of course it's not nice, for any player, there is never a good situation to be injured but now I feel good and can forget that time, it's in the past and I look to the future.
"I have no targets, of course I want to play as much as possible and now I am nearly 100 percent fit again, it makes me happy and I want to play. The injury is done."
Chelsea were criticized last year for playing in a negative style, with Roberto Di Matteo and Roman Abramovich spending a lot of money in the summer, bringing in more creative players - including Marin -- to the squad and with it change the playing style. And Marin agrees with the fact that this year's Chelsea team is different from the last one.
"Last year to this year we changed a lot, now we have more creative and offensive players and I hope we can help the success like last year," he added.
"We hope there are lots of goals in this team, because then it is hard for teams to play against us, when not only one or two players can make the difference."
