Along with the back catalogue of Kasabian, Claudio Ranieri and his Leicester side have drawn inspiration from the works of Rudyard Kipling this season. In particular, his most famous poem, ‘If’, which features the pertinent line: “If you can keep your head when all about you, are losing theirs and blaming it on you.”
For as Ranieri relaxes in Rome during the Foxes week off in the wake of the 2-1 defeat at Arsenal last Sunday, the overriding narrative is whether or not they can handle the intensity of being front-runners.
In spite of the narrow loss at the Emirates Stadium, Leicester remain two points clear of Tottenham and the Gunners at the summit of the Premier League and have a very agreeable run of fixtures until April 30 with six of their next nine games against teams in the bottom half of the table before Manchester United away, Everton at the King Power, and then concluding with a potential Hollywood-style finale at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea.
When the subject of pressure arises, and the players will continue to be peppered with that line of questioning until the season’s end, the situation Leicester are in now is nothing compared to last season.
Claudio Ranieri at Stadio Olimpico watching Roma v Real. Cristiano Ronaldo to #LCFC next season? He'd be a good back up for Marc Albrighton.
— John Bennett (@JohnBennettBBC) February 17, 2016
Although the Foxes perilous position 12 months ago is used as context to illustrate their incredible rise, it’s rarely seen as a source of potential strength for the squad.
The pressure most of these players were under then, to stay in the division, far outweighs the luxury of being first in the Premier League and gunning for a title nobody, even Foxes die-hards, would have ever envisaged.
Indeed, seven of the 11 to have started against Arsenal on Saturday were at the club last season. This must now seem like paradise. Those who weren’t at the club to witness last term’s heroics – N’Golo Kante, Robert Huth, Christin Fuchs and Shinji Okazaki – have all made telling contributions, but the one individual also missing from that survival act, who has been integral to everything that has been achieved so far is Ranieri.
And it is Ranieri who is the most interesting when considering the idea of pressure. Because, at 64, this more than likely represents the last chance he will have to win a top-flight league title in a 28-year managerial career that has taken him to some of the biggest and most prestigious clubs in Europe.
As charismatic, humble, humorous and likeable the Italian is, he’s not a man to win you silverware. Not that Leicester were even considering that upon appointing him. But here they are and Ranieri, with 12 league games to go, has never had a better opportunity to prove to himself he can get over the line.
Before this season he’s been involved in seven title races, finishing second on four occasions: in 2003-04 at Chelsea, 2008-09 with Juventus, 2009-10 at Roma and 2013-14 with Monaco. But in each, his side were playing catch-up.
Arguably the closest he came was in 2008-09 when, with 12 matches left, Valencia were second, four points behind Barcelona. They did finish fourth, qualifying for the Champions League while also winning the Copa del Rey, but the gap grew to 14 points as Los Che only won five of their remaining games.
With Spurs, Arsenal and, to a lesser extent, Manchester City bearing down on them, Leicester simply cannot afford any more than two or three slip-ups in results.
Leicester’s players don’t have anything to prove. Whatever the outcome, this season will go down in club history. Of course, they want to win it but expectations remain realistic.
For Ranieri, it’s a different story. His career is long and distinguished with many highlights and a number of disappointments. This could prove his crowning glory or his most agonising regret.
