Some Fantasy Premier League managers may have let England fever take over a little too much in their preparations for the new season this summer.
That’s because the ownership levels of Jordan Pickford (£5.0m), Kieran Trippier (£6.0m) and Harry Maguire (£5.5m), stand-out performers at the World Cup, have surged in the last two weeks.
Such trust may prove to be misplaced as the trio are currently in danger of missing Gameweek 1 after returning to training later than their respective team-mates.
Trippier (24.8 percent) and Maguire (21.2) are now the two most popular defenders in FPL after just two weeks of the game being open.
The pair are clearly responsible for the two percent dip in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s (£5.0m) ownership, which has pushed him from first place to third when it comes to popularity among defenders.
Marcos Alonso (£6.5m) remains on 17 percent despite his role at Chelsea jeopardised by the arrival of Maurizio Sarri.
Jan Bednarek’s spell as the most fashionable £4.0m defender has come to an end, presumably due to Southampton’s signing of Jannik Vestergaard (£5.0m). The new holder of that position is Scott Malone (£4.0m) with 11.1 percent ownership, although he appears to be the second-choice left-back behind Chris Lowë at Huddersfield.
Meanwhile, Aaron Wan-Bissaka has started both of Crystal Palace’s friendlies so far and resides in just 2.6 percent of squads.
Pickford’s rise up the charts may be the reason that David De Gea (£6.0m) has seen his lead at the top of the goalkeeper popularity contest trimmed.
The Spaniard enjoyed 34.6 percent ownership two weeks ago but now sits in just 31.6 of squads. Alternatively, the drop-off may have been caused by Jose Mourinho declaring that he was unlikely to use any World Cup players in the first few weeks of the season.
Lukasz Fabianski (£4.5m) remains in second place with 24.7 percent ownership but has lost two percent since our last check.
Just below the now third-place Pickford is Ederson (£5.5m) whose ownership remains stable at 17.4 percent, while Nick Pope (£5.0m) has lost two percent.
In midfield, Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) remains comfortably the most popular player on the game, in 46.5 percent of squads.
Kevin De Bruyne (£10.0m) is in second place with 27.1 percent ownership with the much cheaper Henrikh Mkhitaryan (£7.0m) is the third most popular (21.4).
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s (£11.0m) strong start to pre-season, scoring five goals in the first three matches, has him climbing up the forwards charts. He is now in fourth place with 24.2 percent of managers backing him for Gameweek 1, dislodging Marko Arnautovic (£7.0m).
Top two Roberto Firmino (£9.5m) and Harry Kane (£12.5m) seem to have been the most fashionable sacrifice for managers getting the Arsenal man. Both of them were on roughly 39 percent ownership two weeks ago, they now have 37.8 and 33.6 respectively.
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