The pressure of a title race can do funny things to teams and could level the playing field for Leeds United on Saturday but in Unai Emery, Daniel Farke thinks Aston Villa have a manager too wily for that.
Arsenal's wobbling form is keeping Villa interested as outsiders in a three-horse Premier League title race, eight points behind the leaders with a game in hand.
That gap means leaves little scope not to win at home to Leeds on Saturday, playing before Manchester City's game at home to Newcastle United, and Arsenal's at Tottenham Hotspur the next day.
Financial realities make staying in the top division arguably even more important for Leeds, but with a six-point gap to the bottom three, they ought to be growing in confidence.
Of the weaknesses they will look to exploit in their second trip to Birmingham in a week, mentality does not appear to be high on the list.
"It's not the only skill that you need to have – the quality is important, the quality to score goals, to dominate games," reflected Farke, who has won leagues with Leeds, Norwich City and SV Lippstadt. "Also, in a long season, the way you play is quite important.
"But it's remarkable what they've done in terms of consistency.
"If you show the consistency over 26 gamedays to sit in position three just a few points off the lead, then you have the pedigree and the skills to be in a similar position or even higher by the end of the season.
EXPERIENCE: Aston Villa manager Unai Emery (Image: Dan Istitene/Getty Images)placeholder image
EXPERIENCE: Aston Villa manager Unai Emery (Image: Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
"They have to keep the nerves and to stay mentally strong. It's a different mindset needed to be in the title race, especially a winning mentality.
"Especially when there is a little setback with a loss or an unlucky draw, it's not to doubt yourself and to show a reaction in the next game.
"And during the games, not to get nervous and run into counter-attacks. The belief you can always score in the last minutes is quite important.
"This mindset to be a team who wins the title is slightly different to a team who is just in a good position but Villa have improved step by step.
DIFFICULT TIME: Sean Longstaff has not recaptured his early-season form after a calf injury (Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)placeholder image
DIFFICULT TIME: Sean Longstaff has not recaptured his early-season form after a calf injury (Image: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
"Unai has won many European titles (four Europa Leagues) so he has proven he is able to implement such a mentality into his team. For that, they have chances."
He is yet to get back to form so important in the first half of the season.
"I think at this level, you have to accept there are sometimes ups and downs for a player due to injuries or sometimes due to form," said Farke.
"We have more competition in this squad than perhaps in former years, especially in the central midfield position. We have outstanding players with Ethan Ampadu, Ilia Gruev, Ao Tanaka, Anton Stach, Sean Longstaff, a few others as well.
"When you have good momentum, you have to keep going because if you're out for a few weeks, sometimes a different player comes in and steps up.
"There is no position on the team guaranteed. If a player performs well, he has chances to stay there. Then others have to be patient, work hard in training and grab the chances when they get a few minutes.
"I'm happy to have Sean back. I think he covered 15.5k in 28 minutes on the last gameday.
"He played a bit longer than I wanted (the game went to extra time and penalties). For a few players it was a bit like this."