When to play FPL's Assistant Manager chip? Five options

From gameweek 24 of the Fantasy Premier League season (1 February 2025), managers have the option to play the Assistant Manager chip.

It's new, might be a bit confusing and you need to plan ahead for it.

Don't panic! We're here to help you and have come up with five of the best options for activating the chip.

But first... how does the Assistant Manager chip work?

When you activate the chip, you bring a Premier League manager into your squad for three weeks and his team's results will earn FPL points for you.

How does the assistant manager score points?

His team wins = 6 points

His team draws = 3 points

His team scores a goal = 1 point per goal

His team keeps a clean sheet = 2 points

Table bonus = 10 extra points for a win, or five extra points for a draw, if the manager faces a club ranked at least five places higher in the table (at the start of the gameweek)

What will the assistant manager cost?

Prices have yet to be revealed but managers will cost between £0.5m and £1.5m and, importantly, that has to come out of your existing budget. So forward planning is needed.

Does the assistant manager count towards my quota of three players from any club?

Yes. Sorry.

What else do I need to know about the Assistant Manager chip?

There are three key things to consider when planning for the chip, aside from making sure you have some spare cash.

Playing other chips

Firstly, when the chip is active, you can't play any other chips. So think about when you might want to use Triple Captain and make sure you have a rough plan for using your wildcard.

Wildcarding in the weeks before you play the Assistant Manager chip could be a good plan.

Transferring managers

Secondly, playing the chip does not cost a transfer but you can change your assistant manager within the three-week period, which costs a transfer as if you were buying a player.

So that's a chance to get cute if you like and chase maximum upside with juicy fixtures.

Top managers have less upside

Because of the table bonus, it doesn't necessarily pay best to pick the manager of a title-chasing side.

Mikel Arteta, Arne Slot and Enzo Maresca have a best three-week score of 32 points or fewer this season. But Bournemouth's Andoni Iraola leads the way with a 47-point total, thanks to wins over Arsenal and Manchester City.

Of course, predicting those wins is the hard thing!

So do you play it safe or go for glory?

The safe as houses choice - Arsenal

Mikel Arteta's Arsenal hadn't exactly been tearing up trees, but Saturday's thumping of Crystal Palace shows they are very capable of putting together a run of high-scoring victories.

They, along with Liverpool, are most reliable for clean sheets too which earn you two points with this chip.

Could the Gunners realistically win at least 2-0 against each of Fulham, Everton and Brentford? Absolutely - and that would earn you a very decent 30 points.

The trying-to-be-clever choice - Chelsea plus one

Look at those first two games for Chelsea. The way Saints and Leicester have been playing this season, there could be a hatful of goals for the Blues.

A 4-0 win, for example, would be worth 12 points.

Arsenal away, on the other hand, is a horrible fixture! No upside and probably no table bonus on offer.

What I'd look to do is take a one-week punt by transferring a different manager in for gameweek 29.

Ipswich v Nottingham Forest, Everton v West Ham and Leicester v Manchester United could all be upset options for the home side.

The potential double gameweek bonanza - Liverpool

There's a strong chance that the Merseyside derby, postponed because of Storm Darragh, will be rearranged for gameweek 24, resulting in a double gameweek the first time the chip is available.

If so, this would make Arne Slot a very strong option.

Liverpool tick every box - likely to win most games, score plenty and keep clean sheets.

And you could flip to a one-week punt if you have a spare transfer rather than face Manchester City away in the last game of this run.

There are a couple of things to consider though...

If they do get a double gameweek, would you rather triple captain Mohamed Salah? Remember you can't play two chips at once.

And having Slot means you can only have two Liverpool players. Assuming Salah is one, that restricts you and may also impact your decision.

The outside-the-box choice - Brentford

After 16 weeks, Brentford were the third-highest scorers in the league, with 32 goals (more than Liverpool).

So they have the potential to accumulate a decent amount of points, even if goals are only worth one each.

The Bees are far better at home so this run gives you two matches at their Gtech Community Stadium - with the Villa game likely to be a table bonus chance - and a trip to leaky Leicester.

The timing of Brentford's run in the season also means you'd have the triple captain or bench boost option free for Liverpool in gameweek 24 or later when the Carabao Cup final results in a mini double gameweek for three or four teams.

The high upside, low floor choice - Crystal Palace

If you are of the mindset that you want to shoot for the sky and try to get the most out of this chip, Crystal Palace's Oliver Glasner might be the choice for you.

Palace are one of those sides with the attacking talent to beat any team on their day and they look to be putting an awful start to the season behind them.

Villa have lost half of their games on the road this season, so that presents a table bonus opportunity.

Ipswich at home should be a victory and potentially a couple of goals.

And then Newcastle away is a flyer - even if Palace snatch a draw you get eight points plus the goals they score.

Of course this option could go badly wrong and they lose each game!

Do you have a better option?

If you think you've spotted a better three-game streak for a manager, let us know in the comments.