Fantasy Premier League are preparing to introduce a new chip into the game that should benefit players.
FPL participants can already use Bench Boost, Triple Captain, the Wildcard and Free Hit, but they will soon also be able to have an Assistant Manager.
This will see Premier League managers introduced into FPL for the first time.
However, they come at a cost, and players will need to re-balance their squads if they want to use an Assistant Manager.
What is the Assistant Manager?
The new chip will allow players to earn points from actual Premier League head coaches based on wins, draws, goals and clean sheets.
It will become available from Gameweek 24, which is scheduled to start on Saturday, February 1.
It is then available from that point until the end of the season.
But this chip doesn’t just last for one week like the Free Hit, Triple Captain or Bench Boost.
Instead, it stays active for three consecutive weeks, meaning players can look at the fixture list and plan out when best to deploy the Assistant Manager.
How does it work?
Once activated, the Assistant Manager is the only chip you can use for the next three gameweeks.
Points are directly linked to the club’s performance, and they cannot be captained.
The points are broken down as follows.
- Team win = six points
- Team draws = three points
- Goal scored by team = one point per goal
- Clean sheet from team = two points
- Table bonus: If your chosen manager faces a club ranked at least five places higher in the Premier League table at the start of the Gameweek, you get an extra points for a win, so 16 in total, or an additional five points for a draw, so eight in total
The last part is interesting, and it should stop everyone from choosing managers from the current top six.
In double gameweeks, Assistant Managers can earn twice as many points, but it would still only count as one matchweek.
Again, this is going to lead to a lot of thinking and trying to be creative around when to deploy this chip.
But the Assistant Manager does fall within the three-players-per-club quota, meaning someone can’t have Arne Slot, Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz and Trent Alexander-Arnold, for example.
One of those would have to be sacrificed to get Slot.
Do you have to pay?
Yes, each Assistant Manager has a set fee, and to afford one, you must use the money in your budget.
This could mean having to re-shuffle your team or make a sale to facilitate the manager you want.
Assistant Manager FPL prices
- Mikel Arteta – Arsenal – £1.5m
- Enzo Maresca – Chelsea – £1.5m
- Arne Slot – Liverpool – £1.5m
- Pep Guardiola – Manchester City – £1.5m
- Eddie Howe – Newcastle United – £1.5m
- Andoni Iraola – Bournemouth – £1.1m
- Fabian Hurzeler – Brighton – £1.1m
- Marco Silva – Fulham – £1.1m
- Nuno Espirito Santo – Nottingham Forest – £1.1m
- Ange Postecoglou – Tottenham – £1.1m
- Unai Emery – Aston Villa – £0.8m
- Thomas Frank – Brentford – £0.8m
- Oliver Glasner – Crystal Palace – £0.8m
- Ruben Amorim – Manchester United – £0.8m
- Vitor Pereira – Wolves – £0.8m
- David Moyes – Everton – £0.5m
- Kieran McKenna – Ipswich – £0.5m
- Ivan Juric – Southampton – £0.5m
- Graham Potter – West Ham – £0.5m