Fantasy managers who have deployed the Bench Boost chip are already at an advantage to those who did not in Double Gameweek 35.
Now that each top-flight team has played one fixture in this round of matches, we can assess the average Gameweek scores by position and chip deployment.
Both overall and in the top 10k, Bench Boosters rank the highest.
As you can see, the average score of a Bench Boost team in the top 10k is 55 points.
That means that the average points of any side at that level of the game, chip deployment aside, will be close to that number.
The Bench Boost was by far the most used chip for Double Gameweek 35, with 67.51% of the top 10k opting for it.
A surprisingly high number of managers in that bracket used no chip at all. 21.04% fell into that category and are currently suffering for it.
Their average score is 44.34, over 11 points below the average for Bench Boosters.
Triple Captainers in the top 10k are in a similar position, as their Gameweek average stands at just 45.27 points, also roughly 11 points shy of Bench Boosters.
That’s because the only four players to be trusted with the Triple Captain chip at this level were Raheem Sterling (£11.6m), Sergio Aguero (£11.8m), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£10.9m) and Raúl Jiménez (£6.9m), none of whom has more than seven points so far.
Looking at the overall picture, Bench Boosters are still ahead of their fellow competitors, but not by as much.
Only 9.75% of managers in the whole game deployed that chip for Double Gameweek 35, and their average score so far is a little lower too, just 52.12.
Interestingly, the Triple Captainers worldwide currently boast a higher average Gameweek score than those in the top 10k: 46.22%.
Not surprisingly, over 80% of managers worldwide played no chip for Double Gameweek 35 as the number of inactive players continues to rise.
However, that huge number won’t be entirely made up of those who have lost interest.
18% of managers overall have used all but one of their chips for the campaign, while 17.6% have exhausted their supply, so it’s possible that some are still playing but unable to Bench Boost this week.
Again, it’s not a huge surprise that the top 10k are in a much stronger position to get more out of what remains of Double Gameweek 35, compared to everyone else.
Comparing the two tables above, we can see that a high proportion of the most popular players in top 10k squads are set to play again.
Of the 12 most fashionable assets at this level of the game, only three of them have completed their Double Gameweek 35 duties, Sadio Mané (£10.0m), Andrew Robertson (£6.8m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.6m).
Crucially for Bench Boosters, options such as Shane Duffy (£4.8m), Mat Ryan (£4.4m) and Matt Doherty (£5.3m) will play again.
Those three players are currently on 225,514, 203,111 and 258,347 benches respectively.
Meanwhile, the most popular players overall are largely ones who are already done and dusted in Double Gameweek 35.
Robertson, Mané, Mohamed Salah (£13.2m), Virgil van Dijk (£6.6m), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.5m) and Eden Hazard (£10.9m) are all among the top 12 most fashionable options.
Of that number, only six will play again in Double Gameweek 35.
4 years, 12 months agoany advice on who to Triple captain with 3 games to go
was thinking Mane against Huddersfield
also tempted by Son vs West Ham though