As we approach Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Double Gameweek 33, it’s time for the latest instalment of our weekly Assistant Manager guides.
There are a few “table bonus” opportunities this weekend, including one Premier League boss with two fixtures.
We’ll assess the best options for this week as well as the rounds ahead as we continue to barrel through Double Gameweek season.
Let’s get into it.
- READ MORE: What is the Assistant Manager chip + when can FPL managers play it?
- READ MORE: New Assistant Manager points projections in our Rate My Team page
WHICH MANAGERS COULD GET A TABLE BONUS IN GAMEWEEK 33?
One key source of potential Assistant Manager hauls are table bonus points, whereby Premier League bosses earn extra points if they beat (+10) or draw with (+5) a team five or more places ahead of them in the table at the start of the Gameweek.
In Gameweek 33, there are five such managers eligible for table bonus points:
- David Moyes – Everton (13th) v Manchester City (5th)
- Kieran McKenna – Ipswich Town (18th) v Arsenal (2nd)
- Ruud van Nistelrooy – Leicester City (19th) v Liverpool (1st)
- Ange Postecoglou – Tottenham Hotspur (15th) v Nottingham Forest (3rd)
- Oliver Glasner – Arsenal (2nd) v Crystal Palace (12th)
First to contest a match with table bonus points on the line is David Moyes (£0.5m). The Everton boss is fresh off a 19-point haul in Gameweek 32 thanks to a last-gasp winner against Nottingham Forest. That was the Scot’s fourth time (two wins, two draws) earning table bonus since the Assistant Manager chip first became available in Gameweek 23, with his side losing just one of their last 12 league outings.
Kieran McKenna’s (£0.5m) Ipswich Town secured some table bonus points for the second time in three matches last weekend. The Tractor Boys’ relegation is all but a finality at this point, but at least they’re going down kicking – and there’s a chance Arsenal could stand to catch a stray blow or too, particularly after dropping points in their last two league matches and having been forced to deal with Real Madrid in the past two midweeks.
Gameweek 32 showed there may be some form of life left in Leicester, too, but this weekend will likely offer them little chance to build on that draw at Brighton, with league leaders Liverpool coming to visit the King Power Stadium.
Ange Postecoglou (£1.1m) only lost by a goal to nil when his injury-hit side last faced Forest, and he’ll be pleased to see the Tricky Trees’ form (five losses in their last 10 league matches) has started to slip recently. Still, Spurs have the same recent record as well as a quick-ish Thursday-Monday turnaround from their Europa League quarter-final exploits. The Lilywhites have nothing to play for at this point in their league campaign, while Forest have a spot in next season’s Champions League within their grasp.
Which brings us to Oliver Glasner (£0.8m). The Crystal Palace boss has both a Double Gameweek and table bonus point opportunity for the second week in a row, with the latter against the Gunners this time. Glasner has delivered on his table bonus promise on several occasions this season, but failed to do so in Double Gameweek 32.
WHAT THE BOOKMAKERS SAY
Before we dive into point predictions and our recommendations, let’s take a quick glance at the bookies’ odds for the table-bonus managers…
| % chance of home win | % chance of draw | % chance of away win | |
| David Moyes – Everton (13th) v Manchester City (5th) | 24.7% | 26.0% | 49.3% |
| Kieran McKenna – Ipswich (18th) v Arsenal (2nd) | 11.8 % | 20.9 % | 67.3 % |
| Ruud van Nistelrooy – Leicester City (19th) v Liverpool (1st) | 8.6% | 15.8 % | 75.6% |
| Ange Postecoglou – Spurs (15th) v Nottingham Forest (3rd) | 38.3 % | 26.0% | 35.7% |
| Oliver Glasner – Arsenal (2nd) v Crystal Palace (12th) | 62.6 % | 21.7 % | 15.7% |
CURRENT ASSISTANT MANAGER POINTS PROJECTIONS
The betting market heavily influences these points projections, so the odds of each Assistant Manager capable of earning table bonus points are factored in.
THE GAMEWEEK 33 DOUBLERS: ARTETA, EMERY, GLASNER, PEP
Four teams play twice in Double Gameweek 33: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Manchester City. As such, their respective managers score highly in our RMT tool and are prime targets for investment with the Assistant Manager chip this week.
We’ll start with Mikel Arteta (£1.5m), who leads the way for predicted points in Double Gameweek 33 with fixtures against Ipswich (A) and Palace (H).
The Gunners boss has no opportunity for table bonus points but is favoured to win in each of those outings, with the league’s tightest defence and fourth-most prolific attack this season. If you’re looking for a banker to notch (at least) one win as your Assistant Manager, Arteta is probably the safest bet of this week’s doublers.
Pep Guardiola (£1.5m) is second only to his countryman and former protégé in our points predictions, with Man City visiting Everton (A) before welcoming Aston Villa (H) to the Etihad.
Neither opponent are pushovers, but City need to lock in a few wins if they are to avoid slipping out of the Champions League qualification spots and showed in last weekend’s comeback against Palace that they still possess some of the grit required to grind out victories when needed. Plus, with constant lingering uncertainty over which players – particularly in midfield – will receive the most gametime, Guardiola could be a safe way to ensure some points are won regardless of his team’s line-ups.
Oliver Glasner’s (£0.8m) Double Gameweek 33 fixtures aren’t much more appealing than the ones the Austrian coach was faced with in Double Gameweek 32, but he does hold some advantages over his aforementioned Spanish counterparts.
Firstly, he’s a little under half their price, which gives FPL managers an extra £0.7m to play with. Second, Glasner’s back-to-back doubles mean plenty of managers will already have him in place as their Assistant Manager, so there’s no real need to spend a free transfer swapping him out. And third of all, the Eagles boss has the potential to earn table bonus points if he can grab a result against the Gunners in his second fixture of the Gameweek – which comes after the visit of a stuttering Bournemouth side with just one win in seven.
The fourth doubler among the Assistant Manager ranks this Gameweek is Unai Emery (£0.8m).
The Villa boss has won four straight in the league, keeping clean sheets in three of them, but may have a harder time doing so against Double Gameweek 33 opponents Newcastle (H) and City (A). That being said, Villa’s home form is immense, with just two losses (none since October) on their own turf in all competitions this season, and Emery’s men have beaten City twice in the last two campaigns, including in December.
Emery doesn’t qualify for table bonus points in either outing this time, though, which does limit his potential upside compared to the equally priced Glasner. But for those FPL managers who may already own three Palace players but have an open Villa spot, Emery – now with a narrowed focus following his side’s midweek Champions League exit – offers a rotation-proof option at a time when it’s a little tricky to predict his starting XI.
FINAL THOUGHTS: GAMEWEEK 33
To recap, then: Arteta likely offers the highest likelihood of wins of the doublers. While Emery and Guardiola have more to play for in the league (a Champions League place), the narrowing gap behind the Gunners was addressed by their manager in Friday’s presser – suggesting a refocusing of efforts.
If we had to rank them, the order in our points predictor tool is probably as good a shout as any.
One caveat to note with all four of these Assistant Manager options is that they’ll require a transfer out if your chip is still active next weekend, due to Blank Gameweek 34.
Glasner aside, Ange Postecoglou (£1.1m) is perhaps the pick of the table bonus-eligible gaffers in this round. He is forecast to score the third-most Assistant Manager points of all Premier League bosses in Gameweek 33, despite a match facing third-placed Nottingham Forest. Interestingly, Spurs are favoured by the bookies to win this one, which – along with his table bonus potential – boosts his predicted points higher than everyone bar Arteta and Guardiola.
We could also see David Moyes (£0.5m) and co nick a point at home to City for what would be their seventh draw in 10 league matches.
Elsewhere, it should be no real surprise to see Arne Slot’s (£1.5m) fixture against Leicester labelled as a “banker” win for the Liverpool boss, with the Dutchman a consistently low-risk Assistant Manager option.
Graham Potter’s (£0.5m) West Ham are winless in five matches, meanwhile, but shouldn’t be too hard pressed to take all three points from their home match against relegated Southampton.
FINAL THOUGHTS: LOOKING FURTHER AHEAD
TWO GAMEWEEKS REMAINING
If your Assistant Manager chip is only active for this and one more Gameweek, and you’re against using a transfer in that time to swap your choice, both Ange Postecoglou (£1.1m) and David Moyes (£0.5m) have unrivalled potential upside due to their back-to-back table bonus opportunities against Forest (H) + Liverpool (A) and City (H) + Chelsea (A).
Meanwhile, if you’re set on backing one of the Assistant Managers who plays twice in Double Gameweek 33 and then transferring them out for Blank Gameweek 34, the likes of Eddie Howe (£1.5m), Arne Slot (£1.5m) and Fabian Hürzeler (£1.1m) all offer good combinations of respectable points predictions and winnable-looking fixtures in the two rounds after this weekend.
THREE GAMEWEEKS REMAINING
For similar reasons, those three could also be good set-and-forget options for Gameweeks 33-35.
Nuno Espírito Santo (£1.1m) falls into that category as well, with Forest ranked highly on our Season Ticker over their next three Gameweeks.
On current form, you could even lump Vítor Pereira (£0.8m) in there, given Wolves have won four straight and lost just two of their last nine league matches. Matches against United (A) and Leicester (H) in their next two now look increasingly winnable, and then there’s a chance of table bonus points against City in Gameweek 35.
