IT MAY sound clichéd to suggest the relegation battle gives players sleepless nights, but for Aaron Ramsdale that has not been far from reality.

While this is the first season since promotion to the Premier League that Cherries have sat in the bottom three at such a late stage of the campaign, for Ramsdale a scrap for survival has become commonplace.

Still only 21, the young goalkeeper is one of the more well-versed players among the squad when it comes to how to deal with the pressures of a fight for survival.

The Chesterton-born ace has also seen both sides of how relegation can impact a club.

During a six-month loan spell at Chesterfield in 2018, Ramsdale played 19 games but was unable to prevent them slipping through the League Two trapdoor.

Fast forward 12 months and Ramsdale was out on loan again, this time at AFC Wimbledon where he played an influential role in helping the Dons achieve an astonishing escape to survive in League One on goal difference after losing just one of their final 12 matches.

And now, with his stock rising by the week, the England under-21 international is going to be a key cog in determining whether Cherries extend their top-flight stay into a sixth season.

“Obviously being probably the closest one to it (a recent relegation battle), I definitely know how it feels and what it’s like,” Ramsdale told the Daily Echo.

“After games you honestly are mentally just drained and you feel yourself staring at walls and not really thinking much. You go over the game probably 10 times.”

Asked what he does to try and switch off mentally away from football, Ramsdale continued: “There’s not a lot really. You can just talk to friends, family, try and play Xbox and things like that.

“But the most important thing especially for me is after games just trying to sleep, sleep at night-time and then next morning go through it and then you’ve just got to move on.

“You’ve just got to recover right and it’s so intense.

“Even in League One with Wimbledon I found myself doing the same just because of the position we were in and how intense the games were.”

Speaking in the Cherries programme earlier this season, midfielder Lewis Cook revealed: “We’ve had workshops on going to bed and trying to sleep better, but ultimately it’s down to yourself, what you need and what’s right for you.”

Discussing the importance of getting enough sleep during such a stressful time of the campaign, Ramsdale said: “Sleep obviously is a massive part of recovery. It’s one of the main things, sleep and food.

“When we travel to away games and you’re staying in hotel rooms, different ones each week, obviously some people can sleep, some people can’t. It’s just one of those things.

“We have tried different things this season. Some of the lads like it, some of the lads just get on with it. Sleep is so important just to keep your mind fresh above anything really, not just because of the intensity, it’s just keeping your mind fresh and keep concentrated.”

Asked whether he has suffered from sleepless nights or struggles to switch off in recent weeks, the former Sheffield United talent added: “I can (struggle), especially last week (after Chelsea). A game like Saturday (against Liverpool) I’ll go home and I think I’ll be sleeping okay.

“Especially last week when it was in our hands and how the goal came about with (Marcos) Alonso and I probably replayed that save and then the goal about 30 to 40 times in my head and that definitely took me longer to get to sleep.”

But after reflection is complete, Ramsdale knows in his role as a goalkeeper, you have to move on and prepare for the next challenge swiftly.

“You understand what the part and parcel of goalkeeping is from a young age,” he said.

“Obviously you’re tired on Sunday but you try and get your sleep in and have a nap in the day or at night-time and then you come in on Monday morning and go through the game with (coaches) Neil Moss and Ant White and that’s me then, I’m just ready for training and just move on.”