Top 10k FPL managers reap rewards as Triple Captain chip comes to the fore

As expected, Gameweek 36 proved the most popular for the Triple Captain chip in the end.

34.97% of managers ranked inside the top 10,000 worldwide opted to enhance their armbands with Liverpool hosting Huddersfield.

It was the Reds’ mismatch with the Premier League basement boys that inspired the swathe of Triple Captain activations, with three of the four different players chosen for it Anfield based.

21.31% of top 10k managers played their Triple Captain chip on Sadio Mané (£10.1m), who registered a healthy 13 point haul.

Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah (£13.2m) was trusted with the chip by 12.58% of managers at the highest level – an even more impressive outcome from his 19-points scored against Huddersfield.

Roberto Firmino (£9.3m), who missed out on Gameweek 36 with a muscular problem, and Raheem Sterling (£11.6m) were both backed with the Triple Captain chip by under 1% of the top 10,000.

As you can see from the table above, the Triple Captain chip still has the power to act as a differential in the closing Gameweeks of the season.

The second Wildcard and the Free Hit chips have all but outlived their usefulness as each of them has been used by over 99.6% of managers inside the top 10k.

The Bench Boost is currently on 95.54% usage by those at this level, but 12.4% are still yet to use their Triple Captain chips.

They will be considering some of the mismatches in Gameweeks 37 and 38, which include Chelsea facing Watford at Stamford, Manchester United travelling to Huddersfield and then hosting Cardiff.

Manchester City’s remaining fixtures could catch their attention with Leicester coming to the Etihad Stadium in Gameweek 37 before Pep Guardiola’s men travel to Brighton on the closing day of the campaign.

Looking at how many chips have used in the top 10,000 further highlights the opportunity for some managers within that.

82.8% of them have now exhausted their chip supply with two Gameweeks left of the season.

That means that 17.2% still have at least one joker up their sleeve between now and the end of the season, and it is possible that there are some ranked between 10,000 and 20,000 with the ability to break into the top tier with effective chip deployment.

With Wildcards and Free Hits very much things of the past now this season, the template of players inside the top 10k remains largely similar for Gameweek 36 as it was for Double Gameweek 35.

Managers at this level have kept faith in their Brighton defensive assets ahead of the visit of Newcastle to the Amex Stadium.

Mat Ryan (£4.4m) and Shane Duffy (£4.8m) both have over 56% effective ownership within the top 10k for Gameweek 36.

The power of Salah’s huge double-figure haul against Huddersfield on Friday is demonstrated by the fact that he is not among the top five most popular midfield assets for Gameweek 36.

He is in just 30% of squads in the top 10k, but his effective ownership, factoring in the captaincies and Triple Captain chips, was the sixth-best on 70.94%.

The only changes to this model came in defence and up front.

Off the back of Manchester City’s eight clean sheets in their last 10 matches, Aymeric Laporte (£6.2m) increases in popularity at the expense of Jan Valery (£4.1m).

Meanwhile, Andre Gray (£6.0m) is now the third most popular forward, although is in just 22% of squads in the top 10,000.