How's your Fantasy Premier League season going? Whether you're flying high at the top of your league or languishing mid-table, the new Assistant Manager chip could make all the difference in the second half of the Premier League campaign.
Players could really boost their points hauls with this new chip, but as with everything in this game, you need to be clever in how you use it.
Here, GOAL takes a look at the new Assistant Manager chip in FPL, as well as how best to use it.
What is the FPL Assistant Manager chip?
The Assistant Manager chip is a new chip in FPL that allows players to earn points from the head coaches of Premier League teams.
Introduced for the second half of the 2024-25 Premier League season, the Assistant Manager chip takes into account the performance of a particular team, with points awarded for wins, draws, goals and clean sheets.
When the chip is activated and the assistant manager is chosen, you will score points for a team's results for the next three gameweeks in a row, so you will have to look ahead at the upcoming fixtures.
Assistant Manager points are calculated according to the following metrics:
- Team win = 6 points
- Team draw = 3 points
- Goals = 1 point per goal scored
- Clean sheet = 2 points
- Table bonus = Extra 10 points for a win or an extra five points for a draw versus a team five places higher in the table.
So, if your assistant manager's team wins 3-0 against a team that is five places higher in the league table, you will earn a total of 21 points from them in that particular gameweek. Sounds good, right? It could be a game-changer for FPL players who have struggled in the first half of the season.
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When can you use the Assistant Manager chip?
The Assistant Manager chip can be used for the first time in gameweek 24 (February 1, 2025) and at any point after that during the 2024-25 season.
Remember, though, once activated, the chip is live for three successive gameweeks. So, if you activate the Assistant Manager chip on gameweek 24, since only one chip can be used in any given gameweek, you will not be able to use another chip until gameweek 27.
FPL Assistant Manager Chip price list
| Team | Manager | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | Mikel Arteta | £1.5m |
| Chelsea | Enzo Maresca | £1.5m |
| Liverpool | Arne Slot | £1.5m |
| Man City | Pep Guardiola | £1.5m |
| Newcastle United | Eddie Howe | £1.5m |
| Bournemouth | Andoni Iraola | £1.1m |
| Brighton | Fabian Hurzeler | £1.1m |
| Fulham | Marco Silva | £1.1m |
| Nottingham Forest | Nuno Espirito Santo | £1.1m |
| Tottenham | Ange Postecoglou | £1.1m |
| Aston Villa | Unai Emery | £0.8m |
| Brentford | Thomas Frank | £0.8m |
| Crystal Palace | Oliver Glasner | £0.8m |
| Man Utd | Ruben Amorim | £0.8m |
| Wolves | Vitor Pereira | £0.8m |
| Everton | David Moyes | £0.5m |
| Ipswich Town | Kieran McKenna | £0.5m |
| Leicester City | Ruud van Nistelrooy | £0.5m |
| Southampton | Ivan Juric | £0.5m |
| West Ham | Graham Potter | £0.5m |
Of course, there is a trade-off here and in order to use the Assistant Manager chip it will cost you. While the initial manager selection will not cost, if you wish to play the chip again, you will need a free transfer, otherwise, it will cost you -4 points to deploy.
As you can see in the table above, Mikel Arteta, Arne Slot, Enzo Maresca, Pep Guardiola and Eddie Howe are the most expensive options at £1.5m each.
As well as the cost, which may require you to rejig your team, the Assistant Manager also counts towards the three-player per club quota. Therefore, if you already have Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz and Alisson, you will have to sacrifice one if you wish to choose Arne Slot.
You will have to weigh up the options: do you go with a manager at a club that is more likely to win games, or do you take a risk on a lower-league club in the hope of earning bonus points?
Who is the best Assistant Manager choice?
At the most basic level, the best choices are head coaches of the teams that are most likely to win, score and keep clean sheets, so you are looking at the traditional big-hitters here: Liverpool, Arsenal et al. However, the official Premier League website has singled out Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola and new coaches as solid alternatives.
To give you a sense of things, at gameweek 20, the manager with the most FPL points was Liverpool boss Slot with 159 points. The Dutchman was followed by Eddie Howe (153 points), then Marco Silva (150 points).
Interestingly, Iraola is next on the list with 147 points, but he also has the distinction of earning the best three-gameweek score (47 points). Meanwhile, Everton and West Ham have appointed David Moyes and Graham Potter respectively, so they could be set to benefit from the famous 'New Manager Bounce'.
Ultimately, you will have to look at each team's fixtures and make a call on how likely they are to do well across three consecutive gameweeks.