At both Arsenal and Leicester City over the last few days, the message to the players has been to stay calm, to not let the fact they lost their opening Premier League match overly affect them. That is just as well, because it is often self-defeating for a nervous team to dwell on the pressure of an occasion, given that it can cause further anxiety and hesitation in their play.
That pressure ahead of Leicester-Arsenal is unmistakable, though, even if it does seem ludicrously early in the season to talk about a must-not-lose match. The problem is what a poor start would mean for these particular teams this season.
If Leicester were to lose a second game in a row -- one to a relegation candidate Hull City 2-1 last week and then one to a fellow Champions League challenger in Arsenal -- it would see their "champions" aura evaporate. Doubts would grow in the team and they would lose any fear factor and confidence they had built from winning the league.
While few expect Leicester to claim the title again, they could become a presence around the European places and semi-regular top-four challengers. That is dependent on keeping momentum, though. It is probably just as well that star winger Riyad Mahrez already signed his new contract this week, because a second defeat which further changes the atmosphere around the place could have deepened any second thoughts he had about staying.
Sources at Arsenal have told ESPN FC that they were never actually interested in Mahrez; they insist that many of the stories about a potential move to the Emirates came from the player's representatives looking to investigate options. But that is unlikely to soothe the discord around Arsene Wenger after last Sunday's 4-3 defeat to Liverpool.
After another summer of transfer frustration and injuries to key players, a second successive defeat would see the hostility at the Emirates escalate. Indeed, we could see a mood around the club which is even worse than August 2011, when similar issues combined to see a humiliating collapse in the 8-2 defeat at Manchester United and just four points picked up from the first five games.
Wenger argued in his Thursday news conference that his approach deserves trust -- saying: "I think I've shown in 20 years that it doesn't work too badly" - and it is certainly justifiable to point out that Arsenal responded to the rancour of August 2011 to rally and finish an impressive third, but things in the Premier League have greatly changed from that campaign. A bad start now could be much more damaging in a more competitive 2016-17 league, where points are much harder to get.
Things have changed for Wenger too. The Emirates has never seen anything like the rancour from the crowd amid fan protests during April's 1-0 win over Norwich City and that in a season when they finished second! One Arsenal source told ESPN FC that the mood on the bench during the loss to Liverpool was especially downbeat and Wenger faces a tough task to right it before they face Leicester on Saturday.
Neither side dare lose, but the issue with matches like this is that one of the best approaches is to lock things down and try to stay steady. Neither appeared capable of that in their last game.
Leicester looked unusually panicky in the loss to Hull. Without N'Golo Kante in central midfield, the team seemed to completely lack a defensive structure, badly exposing a defence also missing the suspended Robert Huth. Wes Morgan, such a solid performer last season, was a shadow of his former self and the forwards were much the same with their shots.
Mahrez never looked as penetrating as he did last season, while the only speed Jamie Vardy showed was in badly rushing so many of his finishes. It was as if Leicester just weren't comfortable in this new situation; the champions just didn't look confident in themselves.
Arsenal followed suit -- though that was always going to be the case with 21-year-old Calum Chambers and a 20-year-old Rob Holding in the centre of defence. The Gunners actually started strongly, but their forays forward gradually made Liverpool realise that Wenger's side were vulnerable.
The defence was so fragile that Wenger is considering putting Laurent Koscielny back into the team, even though he probably isn't 100 percent fit after the summer's exertions at Euro 2016. Meanwhile, Huth returns to the Leicester defence in the hope of restoring some of their resilience.
Arsenal's failure to sign a centre-forward (namely Vardy, who rejected the chance to join them in the summer) will likely see Alexis Sanchez play through the centre. And of course the England striker will be keen to take advantage of Arsenal's nervousness at the back.
The Vardy situation adds an extra element to an already intriguing affair. Things could have been rather different, but what both sides need right now is for their performances to be very different from last week.