Leicester City need to squeeze all the positives they can out of their current Champions League run, while they still have the chance.
The Foxes are on nine points from three straight wins heading into their fourth group game away to Copenhagen on Wednesday.
Europe is the only thing the Premier League holders have going for them following a disappointing start domestically.
With 12 points from the first 10 games of the league, they are only one point better than record-worst defending champions Chelsea and Blackburn Rovers were at this stage back in 2015/16 and 1995/96 respectively.
Leicester’s Champions League run — where they are only one of three clubs including Barcelona and Atletico Madrid to have already guaranteed progression to at least the Europa League heading into round four of matches — is their only saving grace.
But it’s a redeeming feature that could fizz out fast come February, leaving them without a midweek morale boost to lift their spirits.
Let’s be honest, Leicester’s group with Copenhagen, Porto and Brugge isn’t the hardest, but when it comes to drawing one of the big clubs in the second round they are out.
If they can’t use confidence gained from current European form to help them steady their domestic plight now, then you get the feeling that once out of Europe and low on motivation an inevitable second half of the season slump could leave them in trouble.
No one’s been relegated from the top flight the year after winning a league title since Manchester City in 1937.
There is the other argument of course, that once rid of the distraction of a resource-stretching sojourn on the continent they might finally be able to refocus their efforts at home.
But you fear the opposite as well, the lift you get from playing in Europe can’t be underestimated and they have to harness that before it fades — however tiring it is to travel and play so many games.
I may be being disrespectful. Of course, the fact Leicester won the league for the first time in their history last year and are now doing so well in their debut campaign in Europe is phenomenal, but it’s phenomenal because of the modest size and stature of the club.
The fact they have even achieved this is unthinkable, and unthinkable because they were always just a yo-yo club — they almost got relegated the year before.
If anything is to be gained from this whole experience to ensure it wasn’t all just a flash in the pan, they must use the current exposure to finally generate long-term stability.
Their focus shouldn’t now be on the extremes of pulling off the remarkable, but rather avoiding the downright disastrous by focusing on the middle ground with some consistency.
That’s not to say they should stop trying in Europe, they should still strive but use the experience for what it’s worth to straighten out league form. It’s sort of started, they are unbeaten in two and sit in 11th in the league, just six points off sixth.
What they need to avoid is dropping any lower — Chelsea hold the record for the worst follow-up from a champion finishing 10th with 50 points last season — and history is full of clubs that have overstretched themselves only to never return. The legacy of Leicester’s triumph must be long-term stability.
