Inside football: Leicester Mercury chief football writer Rob Tanner on Leicester City boss Nigel Pearson and the power of positive thinking.

In modern football no stone is left unturned to give players the best possible chance of performing at their optimum. At Leicester City, there is a whole team of sports scientists monitoring every aspect of each player's physical performance.

There are analysts, nutritionists, fitness coaches and strength and power coaches, all there to ensure that when City cross that white line on a Saturday afternoon, they are in the best physical shape to meet the challenge they face.

However, there is another aspect of a player's condition that is equally important, if not more so – their psychological condition.

At the very top level of any sport, athletes will be in peak physical shape, but the minute difference between victory and defeat invariably exists in the recesses of the mind.

As old taboos disappear, more and more clubs have been turning to sports psychologists to work with players, to help them develop the mental strength that can make all the difference. A player may be prepared physically, but still susceptible to the most crippling of conditions – self-doubt.

Putting it simply, if a player has any doubts about his performance, he won't perform.

Handling pressure is also absolutely crucial to a player's performance. It is said that top athletes will not see pressure as a problem, but as a privilege.

Marc Sagal, the renowned American sports psychologist and managing partner of Winning Mind, in San Diego, worked at City under Sven-Goran Eriksson and he believes one of the key goals of the sports psychologist is to help manage doubt and fear.

"The number one issue we encounter is around confidence," he says. "Stress manifests itself in many ways, but we pay particular attention to what is contributing to the lack of confidence, what can we understand about the player to help him get his confidence back.

"A striker may go a few games without scoring and then start to over-think or try too hard.

"Self-doubt creeps in and we have to find a way to interrupt that process. Things outside football can often contribute to distractions as well.

"One key strategy is to get players comfortable with being uncomfortable. Stress and pressure is coming at them and, naturally, they want it to go away.

"I try to help athletes embrace the discomfort, to find ways to be okay with being uncomfortable because that is the secret to handling pressure. It is not hoping it will go away. It won't.

"The best solution is for them to feel they can cope even when they are not at their best and still put in a good performance."

There is certainly pressure on City this season to maintain their incredible good form, their big lead at the top of the Championship and finally book their place back among the elite of English football.

Unlike some old school managers, City boss Nigel Pearson values the role of the sports psychologist and employs Ken Way, who he worked with at Southampton and Hull.

Sagal, who has also worked at Liverpool and Manchester City, says it is obvious from the way he speaks that Pearson values psychology.

Sagal believes City's experience last season, when they missed out on promotion in heart-breaking fashion, has made them mentally stronger.

"I have never met Nigel Pearson but I have heard from people who know him that he is a natural at this, he gets it," said Sagal, who played professional football in Sweden and Belgium before embarking on his career in sports psychology.

"I don't know whether he gets it because he has had exposure to it, but the way he talks is in line with what you might hear from people like myself.

"I think the experience of last year will be helpful to them too. Getting to the brink and then having been exposed to that will be a good experience.

"My guess is that there is a lot of motivation among them to put themselves out of touching distance so, if there is a hiccup, they are protected.

"The pressure to make sure they maintain the form they are in will be pretty immense."

Judging by City's recent displays, they look as though they can handle it this time.