How the top 10k FPL managers set up for Gameweek 6

The top 10,000 Fantasy Premier League managers ahead of Gameweek 6 have overwhelmingly given their backing to Sergio Aguero (£12.1m).

After a midweek rest from Champions League duties, the Manchester City forward has been captained by 42.7% of those currently occupying the top 10k slots in the overall rankings.

The Argentinian faces a Watford side that has averaged two goals conceded per game in 2019/20 and has seven goals in the first five matches of the campaign himself.

It was Raheem Sterling (£12.2m) who won the Fantasy Football Scout captain poll for Gameweek 6, earning the support of 26.5%.

However, it must be said that as the week wore on, his lead at the top of the vote shrunk at a rapid pace.

Before Sterling’s 90-minute outing in Ukraine, combined with Aguero’s rest, the Englishman enjoyed a 30% share of the poll.

Now that the Gameweek 6 deadline has passed, we can see that Sterling is still the second-most popular captain among the top 10k this weekend.

17.5% of these managers decided to hand him the armband for Watford’s visit to the Etihad Stadium.

Even though he was left way behind in Fantasy Football Scout’s captain poll, Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) is not far off Sterling’s support among the top 10k.

14.7% of these managers opted to captain the Egyptian with a trip to Chelsea his Gameweek 6 fixture.

Naturally, the top 10k’s captaincy decisions were in contrast to the data recorded worldwide.

Overall, Sterling was the most popular skipper, with 22.6% handing him the armband.

Aguero was on 18.6% and Salah 14.4%.

Five weeks into the campaign, we can start to get a better idea of what the template of players is among the best managers in FPL.

The most-owned assets among the top 10k indicate a number of interesting trends.

For example, it appears that managers are starting to siphon out money from their backlines in the wake of premium defensive options struggling to offer consistent clean sheets.

Therefore, David Button (£4.0m) is the most fashionable goalkeeper, sitting in 39.1% of teams despite being second-choice to Mat Ryan (£4.6m) at Brighton.

Nick Pope (£4.6m) is the most popular playing goalkeeper, owned by 22.9% of the top 10k managers.

Furthermore, the two most-fashionable defenders are the injured Martin Kelly (£4.1m) and Sheffield United man John Lundstram (£4.3m).

The two of them are owned by 49.3% and 46.2% of the top 10k respectively.

There are still a smattering of premium options in this position with Virgil van Dijk (£6.5m) is the most popular of these (36.7%).

Meanwhile, 34.9% have held on to Lucas Digne (£6.2m) for a home match against Sheffield United and 32.7% have kept the faith in Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.1m).

Meanwhile, Sterling has slipped down the pecking order somewhat, with only 48% of managers inside the top 10k in possession of him now.

Ahead of him in the template is Salah, in 64.6% of top 10k squads and Kevin de Bruyne (£9.8m), currently owned by 51.3% at this level.

Not surprisingly, 44.9% own Todd Cantwell (£4.9m) while 37.4% have elected to hold Mason Mount (£6.4m) through his injury doubt.

Teemu Pukki (£7.1m) is by far the most popular asset among the top 10k, sitting in 76.8% of teams, while Aguero’s 52.5% ownership at this level is higher than Sterling’s.

Not surprisingly, Tammy Abraham (£7.4m) is also a big player in the top 10k picture, sat in almost exactly half of all squads in the upper echelon.

Finally, we can see that chips were not used in great number among the top 10k for Gameweek 6.

After a flurry of Wildcards and Triple Captains last time out, no chip saw more than 3% usage in the top 10k.

41.4% of managers at this level have now used their Wildcards, while 32.6% have already deployed the Triple Captain.

14.3% have used the Free Hit while 10.8% have elected to use a Bench Boost for a single Gameweek.

DATA AND SCREENSHOTS TAKEN FROM LIVEFPL.NET