Liverpool, Manchester City, the Premier League title and Schrödinger’s cat

Its simple physics lads.

In 1935, physicist Erwin Schrödinger proposed a thought experiment based on quantum mechanics, and it’s become a metaphor that has since been reused, recycled and rehashed ever since.

While Schrödinger originally used this theory to illustrate the paradox of quantum superposition, and that the state of the atom is indeterminate, consisting of equal parts decayed and not-decayed – I am going to unashamedly dumb it down and use it to describe this weekend’s Premier League title decider.

Basically, Schrödinger was trying to suggest that when something is undetermined, it can be two opposites of the same thing. The example he used to describe this was an imaginary cat – picture that it is closed in a box for one hour, with poisoned sardines.

If the cat eats the sardines, then it is dead, but if it doesn’t, it will still be alive – but here’s the kicker – there’s no possible way of knowing if it’s dead or alive, until you open the box.

This means that for the hour that the cat is in the box, it is simultaneously both dead and alive – mind-blowing, right?

Well, this weekend, Liverpool and Manchester City can both claim the Premier League title, but they can both lose it, meaning that right now, in the days leading up to Sunday, they are both Premier League winners and losers.

If City manage to beat their opponents Aston Villa, they will claim the title, regardless of how Liverpool perform against Wolves.

However, if Steven Gerrard’s Villans were to nick a draw or defeat Pep Guardiola’s side, then The Reds will be crowned champions – provided they beat Wolves.

Both games will be played at exactly the same time, and although the scores can differ throughout the 90 minutes of play, until the full time whistle goes in each game, then the result of who will be the winners will remain undetermined.

I believe that there is bliss in this current state of purgatory, as you still have all the hope that your team will prevail, and when you allow yourself to imagine what that will or could feel like, you are immediately shut down by your own brain reminding you of just how horrible it would then feel to lose.

This then triggers a response of giddiness as you allow yourself once more to indulge your imagination with the possibility of success, but with an even greater appreciation of the magnitude of the win, because only seconds ago, you experienced the thought of defeat.

This thought-limbo can elevate your heart rate without you as much as moving a muscle, and come Sunday evening the world will return to fact and fiction, right and wrong, winners and losers.

Depending on the determined result and where your allegiance lies, you might find yourself looking back on this current state of uncertainty with nostalgic rose-tinted glasses.

If your team is the one who prospers and your body is being pumped with wave after wave of relief, then you could look back at this time as a form of suffering, that you no longer have to endure.

Of course, much like the result of this Sunday’s decider, and the wellbeing of Schrödinger’s cat, how you will feel at that time is still undetermined.

Personally, I choose to whip out the old ‘ignorance is bliss’ cliché, and just convince myself that I’m better off not knowing.

The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10