When you are fighting a battle against relegation, you know the end is close once you hit the 30-game mark and, if you're not in good form, the pressure becomes greater and greater.
I know what it feels like: I was relegated twice from the Premier League as a player with Queens Park Rangers in 2013 and 2015 and was also part of the team that escaped relegation in 2012, so I have experienced at first hand just what it's like to fight for survival in the final months of a season.
Players will carry the hope, but as time passes and results aren't there, that hope fades, and the harsh realities of the sport appear. Soon, you get to a place where you don't know whether you've already had your last win of the season. Maybe one of the teams in the relegation scrap won't win another game this season. You just have to hope that team isn't you.
NEDUM ONUOHA: A Player's Perspective
Nedum Onuoha played 14 seasons in the Premier League with Manchester City, Sunderland and QPR before finishing his career in MLS with Real Salt Lake. Now, he works as an analyst and columnist for ESPN, giving a player's perspective on the biggest talking points in soccer.
If we accept that Wolves and Burnley are now in a hopeless situation at the bottom of the Premier League, there are four teams -- West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Nottingham Forest and Leeds United -- who are locked in a fight to avoid the third and final relegation spot, and they each have seven games to make sure somebody else is relegated.
They will all have hope right now because there are still enough points to be won, but they will also be checking the fixture lists of their rivals, whether they play before or after their own team, and it's unavoidable to try to predict how games will turn out and the impact those results will have on your team.
This weekend is a prime example of how it can all get into the minds of players at the bottom end of the table. West Ham, who are third-bottom right now, play Wolves at home knowing that a win will take them above Spurs before Roberto De Zerbi's reign as manager begins away to Sunderland on Sunday.
The implications of Friday's game are huge because of the ripple effect that comes with whatever the outcome might be. If West Ham win, then Spurs are suddenly in a relegation position, and they haven't won a league game since December. They will have to go to Sunderland, who have a strong home record, knowing that they simply have to win if they are to climb out of the relegation zone.