Mikel Arteta Named Among Best Assistant Managers For Gameweek 26 In Holly Shand’s Latest FPL Tips

Holly Shand returns with another round of FPL tips on SportsCasting – this week centred around the best Assistant Managers for Gameweek 26.

Over two million fantasy managers currently have their Assistant Manager chip active as we head into an unpredictable round of fixtures, where title challengers Liverpool travel to holders Manchester City.

So who are the best managers to back in FPL this weekend?

FPL Gameweek 26 Tips: Best Assistant Managers

Mikel Arteta vs West Ham (H)

If you have cash in the bank, then the easiest pick for Assistant Manager this week is Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta (£1.5m) ahead of the visit of West Ham to the Emirates. Arsenal were the 5-2 victors in the reverse fixture, with the Gunners unbeaten in the Premier League since early November.

They come into this game in good form, winning three of their last four, with ten goals in this time and two clean sheets, with only Everton’s David Moyes and Fulham’s Marco Silva boasting a better form metric. The Arsenal boss feels safe for around a ten-point haul in this fixture.

According to the UK’s best football betting sites, Arsenal are the red-hot favourites to win this weekend and also to score 2+ goals, while Brighton are the only side ahead of them for clean sheet hopes. Opponents West Ham have just one point from their last four games, scoring twice and conceding six goals.

Andoni Iraola vs Wolves (H)

Bournemouth’s Adoni Iraola (£1.1m) is my personal favourite of the managers for this round of fixtures, having won Premier League Manager of the Month in January. His rich vein of form continues, with three wins in his last four games and an impressive 12 goals scored in this period.

The only blot on Iraola’s record was the 2-0 defeat to league leaders Liverpool in Gameweek 24. The Cherries beat Wolves at Molineux earlier in the season, with the scoreline 4-2 to the visitors on that occasion. Iraola scored 13 against Nottingham Forest and nine against Southampton.

Crucially, the Bournemouth boss also comes in £0.4 million cheaper for managers who are tight on funds. Meanwhile, opponents Wolves have just one win and one clean sheet in their last six games, conceding 12 goals to date in 2025. Expect the Cherries to have the advantage!

Kieran McKenna vs Spurs (H)

Six managers are eligible for table bonuses in Gameweek 26 from the following sides: Leicester City, West Ham, Wolves, Crystal Palace, Ipswich and Southampton. Only three of those managers play at home, which should be an important swing when considering the assistant manager chip.

Of these, I think Ipswich Town’s Kieran McKenna (£0.5m) is the most attractive option as his side host Spurs, with an additional five points available for a draw and ten for a win against the side who sit six places above them in the Premier League table. McKenna is among the cheapest managers in the game.

Ipswich Town are no pushovers at Portman Road, having beaten Chelsea 2-0 in late December, and they’ve also drawn against Manchester United, Leicester City, Aston VIlla and Fulham. They also beat Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium 2-1, one of just three wins in this campaign.