Liverpool manager Arne Slot is regarded by many as a shoo-in for the English Premier League manager of the season accolade, as his Reds continue their march to the league title.
However, a trio of rival managers could give the Dutchman a run for his money. They include the Newcastle United boss who inflicted a bitter League Cup final defeat on the Reds, the only rival manager to beat him so far in the league, and another who has eclipsed his side's Champions League run.
Here, is our pick of contenders for the title who could yet pip Slot to the post:
Unai Emery has taken Aston Villa to the Champions League quarter-finals and FA Cup semi-finals.
Image: Justin Tallis/AFP
The 53-year-old Spaniard has only served to enhance his reputation as an astute football tactician and man-manager with Villa this season. He built on a strong campaign last season where he led Villa to the Champions League with a shock fourth-place finish. He now has the chance to reach the semi-final of Europe's elite competition.
Liverpool's conquerers, Paris Saint-Germain, await in the quarter-finals. While few would give the Villans much chance of winning the competition, Emery is a past master at engineering surprise results in European knockout football with Villarreal and Sevilla. He won three Europa Cup titles with the former and one with the latter.
Aston Villa are also involved in the FA Cup semi-finals, where they will face Crystal Palace, and are still firmly in the mix for a Champions League return next season. Should he win either of the highly prized cup competitions and get Villa back into the top or five, he will be breathing down Slot's neck in the race for the managerial honours.
Nuno Espirito Santo has defied expectations this season with Nottingham Forest.
Image: EPA
The 51-year-old Portuguese manager started life in the Premier League with Wolves with a bang, but had his burgeoning reputation tarnished in an ill-fated stay at Tottenham Hotspur. However, his achievements with Forest this season have erased that memory.
As with Emery, Nuno is recognised for his strong tactical awareness, and for getting the most out of and elevating a group of players that few of the traditional giants of the game would have coveted. Forest don't play the most exciting football; they don't dominate the ball or out-pass rivals teams. But they are solid and organised on defence, prepared to soak up the pressure for long spells, and lethal on the counter-attack.
Liverpool found out just how stubborn they are, and tough to break down.
Notable scalps this season also include the Manchester sides. While their rivals for Champions League have been waiting for the wheels to fall off, Forest refuse to wilt and relinquish their grip on third place. They are also in the FA Cup semi-final where they will play Man City.
Should they pile more misery on Pep Guardiola's limping giants and go on to lift the trophy, it would crown a remarkable campaign for club and manager.
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe celebrates with the League Cup after downing Arne Slot's Liverpool in the final.
Image: Reuters
The Magpies' League Cup final heroics against the Reds are still being toasted to in parts of Tyneside. They will also be toasting to the brilliance of a manager who secured the club's first piece of major silverware since 1969.
That's a long thirst.
One trophy may not seem like enough to elevate the 47-year-old into the conversation, but it is a sentimental choice based on what it meant to hordes of long-suffering Newcastle fans. By all accounts, Howe is a great student of the game. And he handed Slot a footballing lesson in the final with his side's typical suffocating press.
However, he would need to kick on from that historical achievement for the rest of the season to truly cement his status as challenger to Slot's crown.
In a season of surprise challengers for a place at Europe's top table next season, Fulham manager Marco Silva, Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler and even Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner deserve an honourable mention.
They have helped make the season one of the most exciting in recent memory, and enhanced the league's reputation as the 'toughest league in the world'.