Eight-time top 10k finisher Zophar hosts the first of a two-part Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Q&A ahead of Gameweek 25. The focus here is on the Assistant Manager chip, with the second article concentrating on Aston Villa and Bournemouth assets.

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Q: Should I play the Assistant Manager chip in Gameweek 25 or later?

(via @FplDanilo)

A: As I see it, those who went Mohamed Salah (£13.7m) Triple Captain in Double Gameweek 24 and are tripled-up on Liverpool players have three options:

a) Assistant Manager Unai Emery and retain three Liverpool players
b) Assistant Manager Arne Slot and sell one of your existing three Liverpool players
c) Play no chip

EMERY

Playing the Assistant Manager chip on Emery is appealing on paper. Aston Villa looked very good against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday and you would expect them to put a few goals past Ipswich Town. However, they currently have a bit of a crisis at the back with the injury to Ezri Konsa (£4.4m) so the clean sheet odds do drop a bit. Could they possibly draw? Maybe but you would still back a win for Emery’s boys.

The second fixture against Liverpool becomes a lot trickier with the defensive issues. That’s the table bonus fixture where even a draw would be a favourable Assistant Manager result, but the chances look slimmer now. They have been good against the big sides at home though so there is still a chance.

You could then choose to stick with Emery for the home fixture against Chelsea in Gameweek 26 and Crystal Palace away in Gameweek 27, but there is no table bonus on offer and the results could really go either way. So you will likely want to move Emery on after Gameweek 25 and there aren’t many teams who have ‘banker’ fixtures in both Gameweeks 26/27, nor are there any teams I fancy for the table bonus in both matches.

Ipswich play Tottenham Hotspur in Gameweek 26 and Manchester United in Gameweek 27. In both matches, they are eligible for the table bonus as it stands so that’s one option. Wolverhampton Wanderers play Bournemouth and Fulham. Neither of these really inspire confidence but when you’re aiming for the table bonus, that’s going to be hard to come by.

In terms of ‘banker’ fixtures, Arsenal play West Ham United in Gameweek 26 but then travel to Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 27, which is offputting. You will therefore likely want to move off Mikel Arteta in Gameweek 27 to Enzo Maresca (Southampton at home). Bournemouth are probably the only side you would be comfortable backing over two games (Wolves and Brighton and Hove Albion).

So I think if you go Emery, you will be making at least one manager transfer, maybe even two. Villa do have very limited investible options though so one advantage of going with Emery is you’re not giving up any FPL points from a playing asset such as a Cody Gakpo (£7.6m) if you go the Slot route.

SLOT

This would require selling one of your Liverpool players so that’s a transfer you have to use. Salah is obviously going nowhere and while there are still some injury doubts around Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.4m) at the time of writing, assuming he is fit he is obviously a hold. If Alexander-Arnold is out, this decision becomes a lot easier – sell him and Assistant Manager Slot, hands down.

The third Liverpool asset then is likely Alisson Becker (£5.5m), Virgil van Dijk (£6.4m), Ibrahima Konate (£5.2m), Gakpo or Luis Diaz (£7.5m). In the case of the two attackers, I think minutes are a bit of a concern over the longer term so I would favour getting rid, preferably for someone with a good Gameweek 29 fixture. You’re banking on Slot outscoring one of them and I think that is quite possible. With the defenders, again the ceiling isn’t too high and you will likely want to lose one by Gameweek 29 anyway, so they’re sellable too.

However, a lot would depend on what you plan to do with Slot in the two weeks after when the Reds play Manchester City and Newcastle United. If like I mentioned above, you feel you would want to move Slot on in Gameweek 26, then using a transfer to free up the third Liverpool spot for the manager in Gameweek 25 feels a bit forced. You could just go Emery and a third Liverpool player and hope they outscore 2 x Liverpool and Slot. Transfers are precious, especially if you’re looking to save your Free hit in Gameweek 29.

If you feel you can hold onto Slot for Gameweeks 26 and 27, I think this is the way to go.

SAVE FOR LATER

We are only expecting a maximum of two further doubles in Gameweeks 33 and 36. How many teams will feature in each double is still a bit unclear but we now know after Liverpool and Spurs’ FA Cup eliminations that the Reds will likely not double again this season.

So the two windows for the Assistant Manager are then Gameweeks 33 and 36. Gameweek 34 will likely have a few blanks so you would perhaps want to use your Free Hit there. That might eliminate the Gameweek 33 option, of course depending on how the blanks fall.

The next window would then be Gameweek 36 and it is difficult to project right now what the picture might look like. The relegation spots/title race could already be decided, which might lead to unpredictability but also open up some table bonus results.

The tradeoff of course is you can’t play your Bench Boost chip in Gameweek 36, so that will have to be in Gameweek 33, which is fine.

I think I favour playing the Assistant Manager in Gameweek 25 and leaving flexibility for the other chips.

This is the only chip with a three-week lock-in period and I think towards the tail end of the season I want maximum flexibility in terms of when I want to play my Wildcard, Free Hit and Bench Boost, and this chip could be shackling those decisions.

I know it’s a lot to take in so I put this table together.