The advantage among the sides battling it out at the foot of the Premiership table is currently with Manchester City. But it could be a case of looking over their shoulders and finding 18th-placed Charlton Athletic within touching distance by Good Friday, when the two clubs come head to head.

What can City do to arrest their freefall? Stuart Peace for now is playing his experience card. Three players with 160 international caps between them are back in the manager's first-team plans and given that none are English, it can only dispel any idea of serious unrest in the camp.

Andreas Isaksson, Didi Hamann and Sun Jihai’s combined appearances this season amount to only 20 games due to injuries and the form of goalkeeper Nicky Weaver. But this trio may be about to steer City away from the dreaded relegation zone.

Isaksson and Hamann cost Pearce less than £2.5 million last summer. City’s FA Cup sixth-round clash at Blackburn last weekend was Hamann’s first start since the crushing defeat in the local derby at Wigan last October. Meanwhile, a knee injury restricted Sun to seven appearances in the whole of the 2004/05 season. The China international has been troubled by a hamstring injury since pre-season, and his first appearance since recovering was at Portsmouth three weeks ago.

Club captain Richard Dunne’s comments to the press combined with 7,000 travelling City fans descending on Ewood Park and a live Sky television audience meant all eyes were on Pearce last weekend. His team's limp performance was only deserving of one outcome - crashing out in the quarter-finals for the second year running. A display with more determination at home to Chelsea in midweek was required to get the supporters back on side, and that’s what a team with only two changes, including Isaksson for Weaver and Emile Mpenza for Georgios Samaras, delivered - to everybody’s momentary relief.

“I have a great working relationship with the chairman,” said Pearce. “He knows this club inside out and we want the same thing: for Manchester City to be successful. It hurts him, me and the players right now. [Dunne’s words] probably put a little bit more pressure on the club and it was probably a little bit misguided. It would have been nicer if he had shut up, frankly, but he’s an honest kid.”

“This so-called word 'hunger'; I had to have hunger because I didn't have the talent to get out of non-League football. Some of these boys have a great deal more talent. I only ask that players stand up and show me the talent they have as footballers.

“I don't hold with the theory that the foreign players are on one side and the British players on the other and I told the players after the game there is no way a team supposedly split down the middle can play like that against Chelsea.

“I am not going to lose sleep over what the board are thinking. I am thinking only of Middlesbrough on Saturday. What team I pick? What formation? How can we hurt them?"

Will Stuart Pearce survive? And what does the future hold for City? Let Sportingo have your views.