The race for Premier League survival is certainly hotting up, with a whole host of teams that could still be involved right up to the wire.

Even Southampton, who sit in ninth place, are only 10 points clear of the drop zone with eight games left to play and as things stand, Sunderland are the only side in the bottom six who haven’t sacked their manager this season.

Aitor Karanka (Middlesbrough), Alan Pardew (Crystal Palace), Bob Bradley (Swansea City), Claudio Ranieri (Leicester City), Francisco Guidolin (Swansea City) and Mike Phelan (Hull City) have all parted company with their respective teams so far this season but, in fact, this year has not been half as bad as the previous one for top-flight managerial sackings. 

Last year, the League Managers Association end-of-season report revealed that there were 70 managerial changes across the Premier League and Football League during the 2015-16 campaign, and 56 of these were dismissals, which exceeded the previous high of 53 back in 2001-02.

Out of these 56 dismissals, eleven Premier League managers were given the boot including the likes of Brendan Rodgers (Liverpool), Jose Mourinho (Chelsea), Nigel Pearson (Leicester), Roberto Martinez (Everton) and Steve McClaren (Newcastle United). 

Here are five Premier League bosses who might be out of a job next season…

Walter Mazzarri

Watford currently find themselves nine points above the relegation zone in tenth place and Walter Mazzarri has almost certainly secured Premier League football for The Hornets next season.

However, there is now speculation surrounding the 55 year-old and his future at Vicarage Road due to the playing style he is enforcing and his lack of English.

The former Inter Milan boss struggles with fluent English and currently speaks to the media through a translator and this is causing communication issues with his squad and with the media.

As well as this, his safety first approach has not gone down well with those associated with the club as they want to be more attacking, more adventurous and more clinical.

If history is anything to go by, he should be worried as the club have a reputation for changing managers and the Italian is the seventh boss since the Pozzo family took over the club back in 2012.

Mazzarri was handed a three-year deal when he joined, but it now seems that the likelihood of him seeing out the duration of this contract is somewhat small.

Craig Shakespeare

Until recently, Leicester City have been brought back down to earth with a sizeable bump and found themselves battling for safety down the lower end of the table.

However, under new boss Craig Shakespeare, the team looks revitalised and are starting to show glimpses of the pure class that they oozed last season.

The new manager quickly made an impact by becoming the first English boss to win his first four Premier League games, which is a feat that has only been matched by Jose Mourinho, Guus Hiddink, Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola.

The 53-year-old made this five back-to-back victories after beating bottom of the table Sunderland on Tuesday evening and has also guided the club to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Despite this, Leicester have shown with the sacking of Ranieri – the man who led them to Premier League glory last season – that they can be ruthless in their decision making.

His contract ends at the close of the season and there are no current plans to extend this. Shakespeare should be careful about what his future could hold.

Arsene Wenger

One of, if not the, biggest talking points of this season has been around the future of Arsene Wenger at the Emirates Stadium.

The veteran Frenchman has been in charge at the club for well over 20 years and is the longest-serving manager in the whole of the Football League, with the only boss coming anywhere close being Exeter City’s Paul Tisdale (10 years).

In recent years, Arsenal have become almost accustomed to stumbling at the final hurdle, but they do seem to currently be in a bad patch, losing four times in their last seven league outings.

The question to consider now though is whether they stick with what they know, or decide to move in a new direction as a club. If, as expected, Wenger pens a new two-year deal at the Emirates, the main issue to address is how he can go about reinventing himself and winning the fans back over.

With this decision expected imminently, there is no better time than between now and the end of the season to demonstrate why he deserves to remain in charge of the London outfit.

Slaven Bilic

Slaven Bilic has recently received the backing of the West Ham United board in his ability to lead the club, but will not yet be offered a new contract because of the worrying run of form.

The Croatian has one year to run on his current deal and remains popular amongst fans. The Hammers find themselves just five points above the relegation zone and have lost their five previous Premier League games.

The game against Swansea on Saturday will now be a crucial indicator as to whether his side will be dragged into the relegation battle and could mean that his side have picked up just two points in their last eight games.

Arguably, Bilic is not entirely to blame as he has had a lot of problematic things to deal with during his time at the club, including moving to the new stadium and new signings not quite living up to their expectations.

Should he wish to continue at the club and receive an extension to his current deal, there needs to be a real significant improvement in results going forward.

David Moyes

Despite being told by the board that he will be kept on as Sunderland manager, even if they are relegated, David Moyes’ future at the Stadium of Light must surely be in some doubt.

The former Manchester United manager’s time in charge of The Black Cats hasn’t quite gone as he expected with Sunderland rock-bottom of the Premier League, ten points from safety and all but relegated already.

Switching managers and Premier League survival has almost become a habit for the Tyneside outfit in recent years and this all started when Martin O’Neill departed back in 2013.

The replacement boss Paolo Di Canio kept them up and after then, Gus Poyet, Dick Advocaat and Sam Allardyce have all achieved the same feat and have led the great escape.

However, with only eight games remaining, it would now be almost a miracle if Moyes manages to achieve the impossible and regardless of the remarkable vote of confidence that he has been given, the Scot should definitely be concerned about what his future holds.