Harry Kane (£11.6m) is the key figure among the top 10,000 Fantasy Premier League managers for Gameweek 30.
Ahead of a Sunday afternoon trip to Newcastle, Spurs’ centre-forward has been trusted with a significant number of armbands.
71.3% of the top 10k captained him for Gameweek 30, a decision that has led him to boast effective ownership at this level of 164.6%.
As you can see, Kane’s majority in the captaincy conversation proved to be considerably wider than our latest poll indicated.
The premium forward accrued the support of 39.2% of voters in that ballot, with Bruno Fernandes (£11.5m) in second place on 17.7%.
However, there is a gap of 53.7 percentage points between Kane and the Manchester United midfielder as far as top 10k captaincy is concerned.
Leeds duo Raphinha (£5.7m) and Patrick Bamford (£6.7m) were the key differentials, backed by just 3.6% and 3.2% of top 10k managers for the Gameweek 30 armband.
Such managers were arguably unfortunate to see the two players register scores of five and two points respectively as Leeds failed to take their chances in a 2-1 win over Sheffield United.
Meanwhile, 1.4% of the top 10k are waiting for Son Heung-min‘s (£9.4m) involvement in Spurs’ trip to Newcastle.
The chips were largely held in reserve by the top 10k in Gameweek 30, the Wildcard and Bench Boost proving the most popular.
Even then, just 2.2% of the managers at this level opted to claim points for their substitutes this week and 2.6% pulled the trigger on a brand new squad.
Those numbers mean chip usage among the top 10k looks like this after Gameweek 30.
49.0% in the upper echelon have already deployed three from a possible four this season, while 30.0% have exhausted their supply.
Such figures will be encouraging for anyone with an eye on the top 10k with a selection of chips left to use.
While only a small number of top-10k managers, we can still learn a few things from studying the squad templates.
The most notable observation is, of course, the level of investment in Chelsea’s defence ahead of their 5-2 defeat to West Bromwich Albion.
Edouard Mendy (£5.2m) appears to have been the most fashionable, selected by 69.1% of these Wildcarding managers, presumably on the basis of his nailed-on status as Chelsea’s number one goalkeeper.
57.9% of this week’s top-10k Wildcarders chose Antonio Rüdiger (£4.7m) with 46.4% picking Cesar Azpilicueta (£5.9m).
While only the former was involved at Stamford Bridge, both players scored zero points.
A Gameweek 30 meeting with Sheffield United was appealing enough for the key Leeds triple-up to maintain a presence in these squads despite more challenging fixtures on the horizon.
Marcelo Bielsa’s men face Manchester City (away), Liverpool (home) and Manchester United (home) in the next three Gameweeks but 40.1% of these Wildcarding managers held onto Stuart Dallas (£5.1m), 52.5% Raphinha and 70.7% kept faith with Bamford.
Mohamed Salah (£12.4m) is absent from the top-five midfielders in this template although there is still Liverpool representation.
59.9% of Wildcarding managers in the top 10k selected Diogo Jota (£6.7m), making him the second-most-fashionable midfielder in such squads.
Top 10k Most Owned Players – Gameweek 29
Top 10k Most Owned Players – Gameweek 30
Midfield and defence appear to have been the hotbed for top-10k transfers between Gameweeks 29 and 30.
As you can see, very little changed in the way of ownership among forwards and goalkeepers between the two most recent deadlines.
Kane, Bamford and Ollie Watkins (£6.6m) remain the most popular front-men, in that order, while Emiliano Martínez (£5.4m) and Alphonse Areola (£4.6m) are still the most fashionable goalkeepers at this level.
Fernandes has clawed back his domination of the midfield department, his top-10k ownership rising from 69.3% in Blank Gameweek 29 to 86.9% after Saturday’s deadline.
Similarly, Son managed to increase his representation in squads at this level by 8.7 percentage points during the international break.
Luke Shaw (£5.3m) has broken into the template with 33.1% ownership for Gameweek 30 at the expense of Aaron Cresswell (£5.9m).
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