Players try to adopt cool, calm exteriors during a title race. If you ask them probing questions in pre- or post-match interviews, they will say they are simply “focused on the next game”.
But when things are going to wire, as it is with Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City at the top of this season’s Premier League, what is going on in their minds?
The Athletic has spoken to those who have been there, done it and fretted along the way. This is the story of how it is done — and how to cope with the pressure.
Although sports psychologist Dan Abrahams tells The Athletic that the important thing for players is to focus on what they can control, that is much easier said than done. “Literally every time I got in the car after training, I imagined lifting the trophy,” Robert Huth says. “It was just my crazy little brain thinking about the ifs, buts and maybes.”
The German was part of the Premier League’s greatest upset, when Leicester City won the 2015-16 title against all odds. “Your mind starts predicting the future,” he says. “You can’t help but think about the end game.”
Leicester retained top spot from mid-January onwards and realised that dream — but others around Huth and his team-mates played a key role.
“I always felt like the staff — including Claudio Ranieri, who was brilliant — knew what was going on in our heads,” he says. “They let us dream but they also brought us back down to earth and set the tone when it was time to work. We weren’t arrogant to think we could do it, but you can’t help thinking about the best outcome. It’s human nature.”
