Premier League manager hot seat tracker: Who will get fired?
There is less than a month left in the Premier League season. Many teams have nothing left to play for, feel secure in their mid-table finish or, in Aston Villa's case, have clinched relegation. Others are playing for the title, the top four, or trying to avoid the drop.
Basically, we've reached the point in the season where there is as much talk about what has already happened this campaign and what is to come this summer as there is the ongoing season. And that inevitably means manager talk.
So how hot is each Premier League manager's seat?
Arsenal - Arsene Wenger
Once again, Arsenal have been a disappointment and are left to battle for their coveted fourth place trophy. If they can't win the title in a year that Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United are all down then can the Gunners really have hope that they'll ever be champions again under Wenger?
Wenger is seemingly on this hot seat every summer now, but they haven't sacked him yet. This year is probably the worst yet and his contract does expire after next season, but the pressure from the outside is always way more intense than it is on the inside at the Emirates.
Seat temperature: Scalding, unless you work for Arsenal and actually have some power.
Aston Villa - No one
It would take a special kind of club to fire a manager they don't have, but if anyone can do it, it's Villa.
Seat temperature: [picture of Joleon Lescott's car]
Bournemouth - Eddie Howe
Howe is the difference between Bournemouth being in League One and being in the Premier League. And in case you weren't clear, the Premier League is the place where Howe has the Cherries comfortably midtable on a shoestring budget.
Seat temperature: The club better feel the heat of Howe leaving for a bigger club.
Chelsea - Guus Hiddink
The Dutchman was basically fired effective at the end of the season when he was hired. That's a complicated way of saying he's only the interim manager.
Seat temperature: Hiddink and Antonio Conte can fight over whose seat is cooler.
Crystal Palace - Alan Pardew
There are two ways of looking at this: Palace are clear of relegation and that's nothing to sneeze at, considering the club's relatively recent promotion. But also, what the hell happened to the team we were so impressed by in the fall?
The first option is why Pardew's job is safe -- being a former player, an established manager and someone those at Selhurst Park really like personally helps -- and the second is why the pressure will be on to start next season strong.
Seat temperature: Like a car's seat warmer in the spring. It's not bad, but it's uncomfortable.
Everton - Roberto Martinez
How quickly things change. Two years ago, Martinez was Everton's golden boy. He had come in and promised great things from the start. He wanted the Toffees in the Champions League and set an extraordinarily high bar. But as crazy and ill-advised as that may have seemed, he delivered.
Everton didn't lose in Martinez's first six matches, won seven straight matches later in the season and set a club record for points in a Premier League season with five matches to play. Toffees handed him a new contract and it looked like Martinez could do no wrong.
The problem is that Everton have not been that good since. They won just one of their final 10 matches last season and finished outside the top half of the league. They're 11th this season and their nine wins are fifth fewest in the Premier League.
As worryingly, Martinez's rhetoric hasn't changed. He continues to set a high bar and expects the team to be in the Champions League. That has changed the attitude around Goodison Park and created a toxic atmosphere among the fans.
Based on the standards Martinez has set and the state of the club, there's no real argument to keep him. But potential ownership change and not wanting to overhaul things -- especially when it means paying a manager to go away then hire a new one -- could save Martinez.
Seat temperature: As hot as the "Could Messi do it on a rainy Tuesday at Stoke?" takes.
Leicester City - Claudio Ranieri
Leicester Freaking City are top of the Premier League.
Seat temperature: FOH.
Liverpool - Jurgen Klopp
The cool thing about being hired mid-season, when the club have basically given up on the season, is you have no pressure. The cool thing about being Klopp is you get way more time to figure things out than most because you're just so damn likeable.
This entire season for Klopp has been about him figuring out which players he is going to sell in the summer, and he's even added a run to the Europa League semifinals to the mix.
Seat temperature: Chillin'.
Manchester City - Manuel Pellegrini
Can your seat be hot when the club have already decided to pull it out from under you and give it to Pep Guardiola?
Seat temperature: N/A
Manchester United - Louis van Gaal
There is so much to unpack here and none of it has an answer.
Maybe Manchester United have already decided not to bring van Gaal back next season. And maybe they have already reached an agreement to hire Jose Mourinho as his replacement. Or maybe they have decided to get rid of van Gaal, but don't have an agreement with Mourinho.
And then there's the possibility that van Gaal is coaching for his job in the last month. After all, he could still win the FA Cup and fourth place isn't entirely out of reach.
The only thing clear about this is that you will fall asleep watching the Red Devils play.
Seat temperature: Doesn't matter, so long as the seat is shaped like a question mark.
Newcastle - Rafa Benitez
Newcastle's survival was on the line and they hired Benitez. That is definitely a thing that happened.
Seat temperature: Determined by their relegation status.
Norwich City - Alex Neil
Neil is just 34 years old and looked like a wunderkind when he took over the Canaries last January, then got them promoted five months later. This season hasn't been as great, with Norwich in a relegation fight, but they look like they might stay up.
The question is whether Norwich are willing to continue dealing with Neil's growing pains. Considering they have little talent and little money relative to their competitors, simply avoiding the drop is an accomplishment. Any growing pains are probably worth it.
Seat temperature: Warm, but more out of concern than fear.
Southampton - Ronald Koeman
Koeman is no longer the magic man at Southampton. That's what happens when you're no longer in the race for the top four, like the Saints were a year ago, but Koeman has the team in seventh place. That's plenty good and everyone involved is happy.
Koeman will probably leave Southampton before Southampton decide to get rid of Koeman.
Seat temperature: Like the Southampton weather in January
Stoke City - Mark Hughes
Hughes is a monster. He transformed ugly, physical, detestable Stoke into a decently attractive team with likeable players that are worth watching.
No longer can we make easy jokes about how terrible Stoke are, and they're in the top half of the table to boot. You robbed us of this, Mark.
Seat temperature: Like a rainy Tuesday night at Stoke.
Sunderland - Sam Allardyce
Allardyce took over a team that spent £40 million in the summer on 10 players (two came on a free) and Sunderland are in a relegation place. That's not exactly great. Now, you could argue that making so much change in one season is difficult and it takes time for the squad to figure things out. Maybe that's true, but the club decided to do it anyway and risked this potential relegation. Not a lot of great thinking going on there.
Think of it this way: if you owned Sunderland and were looking for a manager this summer, would you hire Allardyce?
Seat temperature: Warm enough to justify Allardyce's constant red-in-the-face look.
Swansea - Francesco Guidolin
It took Swansea weeks to decide that they should hire someone to replace the fired Garry Monk on a permanent basis. That wasn't smart. Then they handpicked Guidolin, who had done incredible things with Udinese on a tiny budget. That was smart.
The problem is that Swansea are reportedly set to have new ownership and they've hardly been sensible about their management this season.
Seat temperature: We don't know who is in charge of turning the heat dial.
Tottenham Hotspur - Mauricio Pochettino
The Argentinean has said that the club should build statues to all of the Spurs players if the team win the league. Tottenham might do just that, after they build a statue of Pochettino.
Seat temperature: It's made of ice.
Watford - Quique Sanchez Flores
The second half of the season hasn't gone according to plan for Watford, who had a stretch of four straight losses and have just two wins since Christmas. And the result? The Hornets are in 12th place.
You don't fire a manager who led you to 12th place when you're Watford.
Seat temperature: Like a swimming pool that's perfect for August.
West Brom - Tony Pulis
You don't hire Pulis because you want to play pretty soccer or really do much of anything other than sit midtable.
And where are West Brom? Midtable (ish).
Seat temperature: Cool as a cucumber, unless West Brom forgot why they hired Pulis in the first place.
West Ham - Slaven Bilic
The Hammers have spent most of the season on the fringes of the Champions League discussion and comfortably in the Europa League. Now they get to move into the Olympic Stadium with European soccer, and the club will have more money than ever to spend to complement a team that already looks solid.
Pretty much all of these good things have come together under Bilic, so he's safe.
Seat temperature: It doesn't matter because even if it was hot as hell, no one with any desire to survive would dare tell Bilic he is out of a job.
