Does Premier League playing experience count for anything when trying to manage a team to safety?

As we enter the last ten games of the season, who will stay up, and who will go down?

If you don’t take into account already doomed Portsmouth, five of the league's bottom seven teams have managers who have experienced life in the Premier League as a player.

Owen Coyle, Steve Bruce, Gianfranco Zola, Brian Laws and the newly appointed Iain Dowie have all played in the top-flight for varying amounts of time.

That should give them the perfect experience to pass onto their current charges, but will it be enough to stop their teams from joining Avram Grant's Portsmouth in the Championship next season.

Who is best equipped to keep their side up, and who has the better run of games from now until the end of the season?

Hull City

Former Hull boss Phil Brown was encouraged after his side's spirited display in Saturday's narrow 2-1 defeat to Arsenal, but it wasn't enough to keep him in a job.

Ex-West Ham, Southampton and Crystal Palace striker Iain Dowie is the man tasked with the job of keeping the Tigers up, and he couldn't have wished for a better start.

Dowie, who scored 178 Fantasy League points in six seasons during the 90's, takes his troops to Portsmouth before hosting notoriously poor travellers Fulham next week.

After that they have critical games against Burnley, Sunderland and Wigan before ending the season away at Liverpool.

Current position 19th
Current points 24
Predicted remaining points 9
Predicted final points 33
Predicted final position 18th

Burnley

Reports in the press this week suggest that Burnley boss Brain Laws' job is already under threat after just two months in the job.

Former Nottingham Forest defender Laws, who scored -38 points in his Fantasy League career, has failed to put an end to Burnley's dreadful away record.

With some tough home games to come against the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham it's very difficult to see where they will get enough points from to survive.

Current position 18th
Current points 24
Predicted remaining points 3
Predicted final points 27
Predicted final position 19th

West Ham United

Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola spent his seven years as a Fantasy League player at the other end of the table with Chelsea.

The Italian, who scored 291 Fantasy League points in his time in English football, guided West Ham to ninth in the league in his first season at the helm and so a relegation battle will come as a new experience for him.

In their nine remaining games the Hammers play three of their fellow strugglers, Wolves, Sunderland and Wigan, crucially all at Upton Park.

With their fire-power and the fact that only Sunderland can better their goal difference they should be fine.

Current position 16th
Current points 27
Predicted remaining points 9
Predicted final points 36
Predicted final position 14th

Sunderland

Like the aforementioned Zola, Sunderland manager Steve Bruce is used to life at the top of the league, having spent nine successful years at Manchester United.

The former United captain notched up 247 Fantasy League points in the early nineties, but has got experience of life at the bottom both as a player and a manager.

Bruce experience relegation from the Premier League with Birmingham and will be keen to avoid the same with the Black Cats, especially after their impressive start to the season.

Sunderland on paper have goals in them and with four of their last five games against West Ham, Burnley, Hull and Wolves they should have plenty to spare come May.

Current position 14th
Current points 31
Predicted remaining points 6
Predicted final points 37
Predicted final position 13th

Bolton Wanderers

Bolton boss Owen Coyle is the least experienced of our featured managers, having played just a handful of games (scoring no FL points) for Wanderers in the Premier League.

Many Burnley fans criticised Coyle's decision to move to Bolton but it will be vindicated, in his mind at least, if he manages to keep Bolton up rather than slipping out of the league with Burnley.

Bolton have a very, very tough run-in so it's lucky they have enough points on the board already.

In their last eight games they play seven of the league's current top 11 teams, only bottom club Portsmouth are outside that bracket.

For that reason I can't see them getting too many more points, and they would seem the most likely to slide into trouble, but I see them being just about ok.

Current position 13th
Current points 32
Predicted remaining points 4
Predicted final points 36
Predicted final position 15th

Here are my predictions for the other three teams in the bottom eight…

Portsmouth

Current position 20th
Current points 10
Predicted remaining points 7
Predicted final points 17
Predicted final position 20th

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Current position 17th
Current points 27
Predicted remaining points 7
Predicted final points 34
Predicted final position 16th

Wigan Athletic

Current position 15th
Current points 28
Predicted remaining points 5
Predicted final points 33
Predicted final position 17th

Therefore, the final table will end up as follows:

13th Sunderland 37
14th West Ham 36
15th Bolton 36
16th Wolves 34
17th Wigan 33
18th Hull 33
19th Burnley 27
20th Portsmouth 17