The Free Hit was the most used chip among the top 10,000 Fantasy Premier League managers in Double Gameweek 32.
45.5% of those in that echelon of the world rankings pressed the button to get a ‘one week only’ squad for this expanded round of fixtures.
That large number of deployments for the Free Hit takes the total usage of the chip among the top 10k to 95.5%.
Therefore, just 4.5% of managers of that calibre have it left to play. When they will use it remains to be seen.
It could prove useful in Blank Gameweek 33 or perhaps in Double Gameweek 35, depending on what other chips they have left.
As you can see from the table above, the Free Hit wasn’t the only chip to receive widespread usage in Double Gameweek 32.
The Triple Captain was played by 27.8% of managers inside the top 10k – not as much attention as the Free Hit, but a sizeable amount nonetheless.
Overall, there 310,000+ managers who played it to triple-up Sergio Aguero‘s (£11.8m) score, which currently stands at 10 points in Double Gameweek 32.
If he starts against Cardiff in midweek, after Pep Guardiola claimed the Argentinian was not injured following a second-half substitution, then those who did opt for the Triple Captain could experience exceptional scores.
We now know that 56.39% among the top 10k have now used the chip, but also that 43.61% of the current high-level managers still have not found the right time for it.
The best looking upcoming opportunities seem to either be on a Brighton player for their two fixtures in Double Gameweek 34, on a selection of two-match options in Double Gameweek 35 or in a single Gameweek.
Chip deployment amongst all players was quite different from what we saw in the top 10k as we saw the Triple Captain received more total activations than any other chip this weekend.
As of Friday afternoon, 258,000+ managers had opted for boosting their skipper in Double Gameweek 32, while just 129,956 had played the Free Hit.
In the end it was used by 10.8% of all managers, while the Free Hit was turned to by just 3.9%.
That is probably not a surprise after the Free Hit received extensive attention among overall players in Blank Gameweek 31 instead – and probably why so many were able to play their Triple Captain in Double Gameweek 32.
Those managers in the top 10k who played the Free Hit do look to be slightly better set up for Double Gameweek 32 compared to everyone else.
However, the overall template actually still has a large number of players with two fixtures over the next few days anyway.
11 of the most popular 15 players in the top 10k are ones with two fixtures in Double Gameweek 32, while 10 are from the overall’s most fashionable assets.
The main difference between the two theoretical squads seems to be Liverpool players. Surprisingly, there are still two of them in the top 10k’s most popular selection although there are five in the overall group.
There are not too many differences between the Free Hit squads when rank is considered.
Both groups had a general preference for the same front three with Aguero, Marcus Rashford (£7.6m) and Raúl Jiménez (£6.8m) the most popular in each.
The Manchester City man was more fashionable among the top 10k, while Rashford was more popular overall compared to his standing in the upper echelon.
The same five midfielders were the favourites across the rankings although the order was different.
Raheem Sterling (£11.6m), Eden Hazard (£11.0m) and Paul Pogba (£8.9m) all had 92% ownership or more among top 10k Free Hitters, while they were all below 84% backing in Free Hit squads overall.
Oriol Romeu Vidal (£4.2m) was seen as a handy budget man in midfield.
The main difference comes in defence where the top 10k seemed a lot more confident of Chelsea clean sheets.
Kepa Arrizabalaga (£5.4m), Cesar Azpilicueta (£6.3m) and David Luiz (£6.0m) were all among the most popular options in the top 10k, while only the latter and the Blues’ goalkeeper made the cut overall, with lower backing too.
