In our Fantasy Premier League newsletter you will find lots of our essential articles in the lead up to the deadline. We also share a Assistant Manager Exclusive from Fantasy Football Scout expert Neale Rigg.

Firstly! Over at FFC we have a BRAND NEW PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP. For JUST £12 per year you will have access to UCL Fantasy, and FPL top picks and team reveals for every single round!

Does that sound like something you would be interested in? If so use this link and sign up right here!

So, then, the Gareth Keenan of chips (Assistant to the FPL Manager) has been officially unveiled.

Not many of us saw this one coming, not least because the chip doesn’t directly concern players. It doesn’t have much to do with head coaches themselves, either, despite the name.

Instead, it’s all about the collaborative effort. The club’s results will dictate how successful your Assistant Manager chip goes in Fantasy Premier League (FPL), with points on offer for wins, draws, clean sheets, goals scored and the beating of teams higher up the division.

We won’t need to finalise a decision on when to use it until 2025. The earliest window for playing the Assistant Manager is Gameweek 24, at the beginning of February.

However, given that we can’t activate another chip in the same three-Gameweek window of usage, strategies will have to be considered in advance.

Here are our early thoughts on when FPL managers could possibly use it.

BEST FIXTURE RUNS FOR EACH CLUB

Before we begin, an overview of the fixtures.

Above, we’ve adapted the Season Ticker to pick out theoretically favourable runs of matches for each club.

There is a caveat with this, however. Gameweeks 29 and 34 are set to be blanks due to cup clashes, while Gameweeks 33 and 36 should be doubles. Those are highlighted in red and green respectively. Fixtures will likely be cancelled and rearranged for those weeks.

There may be an additional mini-double involving Liverpool and Everton following Saturday’s postponement of the Merseyside derby.

• READ MORE: When are the FPL Blank and Double Gameweeks in 2024/25?

Some of the highlighted runs above are more than three games in length to give the option of different starting points. For example, if you thought that Everton might make things tough for Arsenal in Gameweek 31, you could activate your Assistant Manager chip in Gameweek 32 instead for Mikel Arteta’s run of Brentford (h), Ipswich Town (a), Crystal Palace (h).

Again, these are provisional dates due to the likelihood of postponements/rearrangements.

1. USE ON ARNE SLOT IF LIVERPOOL GET AN EARLY DOUBLE

If Everton and Liverpool get their own mini-double, say in Gameweek 25, then there is an early chance to use the chip on Arne Slot.

A home match against Wolverhampton Wanderers also takes place in Gameweek 25, although the fixtures around that hypothetical double aren’t ideal:

FPL does allow you to switch head coaches when using the Assistant Manager chip. So, there is the option of moving Arne Slot out for a manager of one of the below in Gameweek 26:

The downsides of this strategy is that:

a) Slot takes up one of the three Liverpool, er, slots.
b) You might prefer to Triple Captain Mohamed Salah (£13.3m) in Gameweek 25, if it becomes a double. Two chips can’t be used simultaneously.
c) Moving Slot on requires the use of a precious free transfer.

2. WAIT FOR THE LATER DOUBLES

As of now, we’ve no firm idea of who will blank or double later down the line.

Blank Gameweeks 29 and 34 will only be confirmed after Gameweeks 24 and 29 respectively. Most/all of the outstanding fixtures will then go into Double Gameweek 33 or Double Gameweek 36.

Saving it for a later, as-yet-unannounced ‘double’ is another play, regardless.

Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur could have an extra game added to an already good run in Gameweeks 31-33, for instance, should their respective Gameweek 29 fixtures against Chelsea (h) and Fulham (a) be postponed due to an EFL Cup final clash:

Manchester City could have Everton (a) – if it’s postponed in Gameweek 33 due to an FA Cup semi-final clash – added to the end of the following Gameweeks 34-36 run:

The downside to using the Assistant Manager is, as discussed, not being able to use another chip at the same time. This will be a particular headache if you’ve got all of them at your disposal going into the run-in.

However, there are some viable early strategies out there:

• Gameweek 30: Wildcard

• Gameweeks 31-33: Assistant Manager (catching the doubles in Gameweek 33)

• Gameweek 34: Free Hit (for the blanks)

• Gameweek 36: Bench Boost (catching the doubles)

• Gameweek 30: Wildcard

• Gameweek 33: Bench Boost (catching the doubles)

• Gameweek 34: Free Hit (for the blanks)

• Gameweeks 35-37 or 36-38: Assistant Manager (catching the doubles in Gameweek 36)

Those with a Triple Captain still intact can hope for Everton v Liverpool to fall earlier than this, say in Gameweek 25, and use it on Salah then.

3. TARGET THE MID/LOWER-TABLE CLUBS WHO ARE ON THE UP

Given the extra rewards on offer for beating a team 5+ places above in the table, there is the temptation to stray from the Slots, the Artetas and the Guardiolas and go elsewhere with the Assistant Manager chip. More specifically, further down the league.

What you’d ideally want is a lower-to-mid-table team hitting form after Gameweek 24, a bit like Oliver Glasner’s Crystal Palace did last season.

And what you’d also desire is their opponents higher up the league embarking on a slump.

It’s hard to know who will be in mid-table mediocrity by February, with still eight Gameweeks to come before we get a chance to use the Assistant Manager chip.

But take Tottenham Hotspur as an example. If they’re still bobbing about in the bottom half in the spring (that might be a stretch…) but showing signs of improvement, then the likes of Brentford, Bournemouth and Fulham may be ideal opponents if they are sitting roughly 5th-7th.

Manchester United, similarly, might be a mid-table team on the up under Ruben Amorim in early 2025.

Probably a more realistic team for a scenario like this is the aforementioned Crystal Palace.

They’ve only lost one of their last seven and are starting to look more like themselves. And yet, they still lie in 17th.

Should they still be lower-table but steadily improving come Gameweek 24, you could opt for the Eagles in three of the below Gameweeks. As well as some winnable games against fellow strugglers, there might be a good chance of a ‘giant killing’ or two depending on how the likes of Fulham, Villa, Newcastle and Brighton are faring at that point:

4. WAIT TILL THE RUN-IN

The end of the season is traditionally a time of goals galore, with the final day usually a bit potty.

It’s also a period where some clubs have been accused of being ‘on the beach’, having secured their season’s targets early – ie safety, a title or European qualification – and with not much else to play for.

Some teams may have their eyes elsewhere, too, say on the FA Cup or a European competition.

On the flip side, clubs fighting for their lives or for league glory will have their eyes firmly on the prize.

Could this be the time to go for the 16-point wins and look for upsets?

Take Wolverhampton Wanderers for instance. They might be battling for survival at that point. You would also not be surprised if a) they’re under new management by that stage and b) the likes of Brighton and Brentford have little tangible left at stake.

Fellow strugglers Ipswich Town and Leicester City also encounter current high fliers Brentford, Forest and Bournemouth in the final three Gameweeks:

One or more of these three clubs could even double in Gameweek 36, should they have a match postponed in Gameweek 33.

Hall of Famer and FPL expert @dmpwright reveals his team for Gameweek 16:

Not sure who will return points this week? We take a look at the top 10 predicted player points for the new round:

We dive into player ownership ahead of the new round, find out who the top 10 most popular picks are for Gameweek 16:

Are you planning on using the Wildcard chip this week? Take a look at this draft here:

Looking to gain rank or an edge this week? Take a look at our experts differentials:

Be sure to check out all of our latest articles over at Fantasy Football Community.