There was an article, I can't recall if it was a reliable source, that said the home field advantage is vanishing because "before" if many players were playing away they'd take advantage of their being away from home by going out, getting drunk and staying out late in the hope of taking one or more people back to their hotel. These days, if you're a star athlete you can live on Tinder and fairly reliably have someone turn up to your hotel room. You stay reasonably sober and get an early night.

I'd not be surprised to hear that this is complete nonsense, but it's a memorable story. A simpler version of this story is that people have steadily drunk less since WW2 when going out, and you're more likely to go out when away from home.

I was actually going to comment on the same fact about professionalism growing into English football. Back when the Premier League era began compared to now is just a whole different level as what most players have been saying on SkySports. You see players playing in their mid and late 30s.

I was also going to hypothesize that players are significantly mentally equipped to cope with away pressures and their tactical shape stays more consistent regardless of being home or away.

> A simpler version of this story is that people have steadily drunk less since WW2 when going out

Certainly athletes have got more professional, and less likely to drink at all, or during the season, or the night before a game.