Metrics

Salah and de Bruyne sold by chunk of top 10k managers this week

A chunk of high ranking Fantasy Premier League managers opted to sell Kevin de Bruyne (£10.0m) and Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) for Gameweek 8.

The Manchester City midfielder was ruled out of the meeting with Wolves this weekend after suffering a groin injury against Everton.

Manager Pep Guardiola described the issue as “not serious” this week and seemed optimistic that de Bruyne would be back after the upcoming international break.

However, that relatively positive update on the player was not enough for a sizeable portion of managers currently ranked inside the top 10,000 places worldwide.

Going into Gameweek 7, de Bruyne was sat in 85.8% of teams at this level, more than any other Fantasy asset.

However, his ownership in the top 10k dropped to just 59.9% for the Gameweek 8 deadline.

That represents an ownership drop of 25% at this level of the game.

Some of that might be influenced by a change of personnel inside the top 10k, but considering de Bruyne scored nine points against Everton, it seems unlikely that many teams without him earned green arrows into the upper echelons.

Considering the Belgian international was sold by 795,000+ managers worldwide for Gameweek 8, it seems likely that his drop in top 10k popularity was heavily influenced by these sales.

The Fantasy community will almost certainly be holding its collective breath over the international break as we await further information on de Bruyne’s recovery – so it will be interesting to see how much ground can be gained by this chunk of managers as they go without him for at least Gameweek 8.

All eyes will be on de Bruyne’s fitness situation after the international break

Another premium option moved on by this season’s highest-ranking Fantasy managers was Liverpool man Salah.

He was sat in just 54% of top 10k teams at the Gameweek 8 deadline, a drop of 16% from the 66.1% recorded ahead of Gameweek 7.

Those sold the Egyptian for Gameweek 8 breathed a sigh of relief on Saturday afternoon as Liverpool were largely restricted by Leicester City.

The Reds did win the match courtesy of a James Milner (£5.3m) penalty but it was scored after Salah had come off with a knock.

Whether he would have taken it had he still been on the pitch is hard to say given that Milner has historically taken spot-kicks even when sharing the field with Salah.

The injury did not look too serious at the time and he will have an international break without any match duties to recover.

However, Jurgen Klopp did seem angry about the challenge on him from Hamza Choudhury (£4.5m) and did not paint a positive picture.

“How can he be okay? He was limping from the pitch and you ask me if he’s okay! How can he be okay?! Did you watch it back? Watch me, what do you think?” – Jurgen Klopp

With De Bruyne and Salah both losing support among the top 10k, it is interesting to see which premium options increased in popularity for Gameweek 8.

It appears one of the most common recipients of those players’ funds was Raheem Sterling (£12.1m).

The England international’s popularity within the top 10k rose from 30.6% to 38.2% for Gameweek 8.

However, Sergio Aguero (£12.2m) also saw a dip in popularity for this weekend, dropping from 52% ownership in the top 10k for Gameweek 7 to just 40.5% for Gameweek 8.

To see where some of these funds have been moved to, a look at the Gameweek 8 Wildcard template among the top 10k gives us some clues.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang‘s (£11.0m) recent form has convinced 49.8% of managers at this level who Wildcarded this week to include him in their squad ahead of Bournemouth’s trip to the Emirates Stadium.

Also included among the most popular Wildcard targets was Riyad Mahrez (£8.6m) selected by 36.2% of top 10k Wildcarders for Gameweek 8.

The absence of de Bruyne from this selection shows that the Algerian has been pounced upon as a short-term opportunity while the Belgian is out.

Despite Aubameyang’s popularity on those Wildcards, and being signed by 210,000+ managers worldwide, for Gameweek 8, the top 10k were not particularly interested in him for the captaincy this week.

It was a close-run thing for the most popular captain in the upper echelons of the world rankings, Aguero and Sterling both backed by a similar amount.

It was the Argentinian who topped the charts for top 10k captains, 23.5% of them handing him the armband for that meeting with Wolves.

Meanwhile, 22.5% placed the armband on Sterling and 13.9% went for Salah.

Aubameyang did not appear in the top three and made up the 40.1% chunk representing ‘Other’ captains.

Aubameyang was captained by just 13% of managers in the top 10k in Gameweek 8, while 6.8% went for Teemu Pukki (£7.2m) and 4.5% backed Harry Kane (£11.0m).

Finally, another look at general chip usage among the top 10k shows that they are becoming more and more a reliable test of high performance.

40% of the managers at this level are yet to use a chip this season, while 37.1% of them have played just one.

According to the breakdown, it is the Wildcard that remains the most popular, used by 39.5% so far.

2,266 Comments Post a Comment
  1. Eat my goal!
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 5 Years
    4 years, 5 months ago

    Big performances from city and Chelsea today please

    1. The Overthinker
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      Sterling abraham in particular

    2. jia you
      • 7 Years
      4 years, 5 months ago

      It's my birthday today so triple City with Mount can't let me down 🙂

      1. Eat my goal!
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 5 Years
        4 years, 5 months ago

        Surely not - hope it’s great day (football included)

        1. jia you
          • 7 Years
          4 years, 5 months ago

          3.25pm here and I'm still hungover after a massive night... so will stay in and watch the football tonight, cheers mate!

          1. Eat my goal!
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 5 Years
            4 years, 5 months ago

            Lol that was me yesterday! Fortunately today I’m all good coz I’ve got to take a ton load of 8yrs to an inflatable fun park!

            1. jia you
              • 7 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Wow, fair play, luckily I'm off the hook in that regard, would be in no fit shape anyway after stumbling home at 4.30am!

            2. badgerboy
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 8 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Vomming on a bouncy castle!

              1. jia you
                • 7 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                haha, hats off to the man as I know well the energy that requires... my idea of hell today!

      2. Ze_Austin
        • 5 Years
        4 years, 5 months ago

        Happy birthday! x

        1. jia you
          • 7 Years
          4 years, 5 months ago

          Cheers mate!

      3. Eleven Hag
        • 6 Years
        4 years, 5 months ago

        Happy birthday

        1. jia you
          • 7 Years
          4 years, 5 months ago

          Cheers mates!

          1. jia you
            • 7 Years
            4 years, 5 months ago

            don't know why I pluralized that... I blame Jonnie Walker Black!

            1. Amey
              • 5 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Nice choice too.
              😉

            2. Party time
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Happy Birthday digga 😉 Don't think I know anyone else who drinks more than you do lol, thought I was doing better at that 🙂

                1. jia you
                  • 7 Years
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  Haha, thanks mate! And actually I want to apologize for bringing up that thing up on here yesterday.. here is no place to do it no matter our differing views!

                  1. Party time
                      4 years, 5 months ago

                      Nahh... we're good man, I did not feel in any way offended. It is ok to have different views

                      1. jia you
                        • 7 Years
                        4 years, 5 months ago

                        Cheers pal, enjoy your Sunday!

                  2. Amey
                    • 5 Years
                    4 years, 5 months ago

                    I'm not far off bro.
                    Just don't mention here. Had a cool party yesterday. Didn't know that it was partly for Jia's birthday too 😀

                    1. jia you
                      • 7 Years
                      4 years, 5 months ago

                      lol

                    2. Party time
                        4 years, 5 months ago

                        Lol

            3. Amey
              • 5 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Happy birthday brother 😀

              1. jia you
                • 7 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Thanks pal 🙂

            4. The Overthinker
              • 7 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Happy Birthday Jia.

              Hope you are having a great day

              1. jia you
                • 7 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Cheers mate, hangover is brutal but off til Tuesday so happy enough!

            5. Arteta
              • 8 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Happy birthday!!

              1. jia you
                • 7 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Cheers mate

            6. Ógie
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 11 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Happy birthday mate

              1. jia you
                • 7 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Cheers man

          2. Arteta
            • 8 Years
            4 years, 5 months ago

            And Arsenal. Win takes us to 3rd place.

        2. Party time
            4 years, 5 months ago

            I can feel that Auba haul already. Wish I could give him the armband 🙁

            1. Eat my goal!
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 5 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Unfortunately so I can, somewhat like a splinter under the finger nail

              1. Party time
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  Yeah

              2. Eleven Hag
                • 6 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Pepe still needs some confidence boost though

            2. RyanMK
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 5 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Thinking of swapping Salah & Pukki for:

              A. Maddison + Auba
              B. Maddison + Vardy
              C. Mane + Wilson
              D. Hold

              Opinions?

              1. Lazaretti
                • 6 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                C, but all sound good options.

              2. Offs!de
                • 11 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                D
                But C may work well

            3. Lazaretti
              • 6 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Would you WC this. Which players to bring in and from which team?

              Pope -Button
              Lowton - TAA - VVD - Digne - Rico
              Lanzini - Yarmolenko - KdB - Sterling - Mount
              Aguero - Pukki - Greenwood.

              1ft.

              Not been able to use much time for FPL lately?

              1. Offs!de
                • 11 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Two pool, KDB, Lanzini, Greenwood and Pukki too. Time to time, it's Aguero too. I see a lot of issues

                1. Lazaretti
                  • 6 Years
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  Thanks Hope Aguero isnot a prblm C'd him tjis week, byt yeah Lanzini, Greenwood, VVD might be ready to go

            4. FOO FIGHTER
              • 4 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Pending results and waiting to see if anyone gets injured lol I am doing

              Aurier Son Firmino to Robertson KDB King for a -8.

              Will leave me with

              Pope
              TAA Robertson Dunk Lund Rico
              Salah KDB Mount McGinn Cantwell
              Kun King Pukki

              Did not take any hits for GW8. Thank goodness as my score would have been almost level with the average. 25 points with Rico Mount and Kun to go. No red arrows so far. Fingers crossed Rico is benched in order to get Dunk's points. Ha ha. Then again, Rico assist and cleanie I will be happy 🙂 Not much to ask for I suppose.

              1. Ze_Austin
                • 5 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                A Rico clean sheet would define this GW perfectly, tbh

                1. FOO FIGHTER
                  • 4 Years
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  Most definitely with all the Auba transfers in.

                  Bournemouth would actually be a really good team if it was not for their defence being inept.

                  1. Ze_Austin
                    • 5 Years
                    4 years, 5 months ago

                    *Arsenal

            5. S.Kuqi
              • 11 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Not much strikers I really want. Maybe it is time revert back to 352

              1. Ze_Austin
                • 5 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Aguero, Auba, Vardy, Wilson, Abraham, King?

                1. S.Kuqi
                  • 11 Years
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  Aguero and Auba not worth the money imo.

                  Maddison better option than Vardy

                  Agree with Wilson and Abraham

                  1. Ze_Austin
                    • 5 Years
                    4 years, 5 months ago

                    Madders isn't a better option than Vardy, but I see why you think so. Maybe points per million

                    Are you going 3-5-2 with or without KDB?

                  2. Amey
                    • 5 Years
                    4 years, 5 months ago

                    Agree with everything but Maddison better than Vardy as option. You'd be surprised

              2. Offs!de
                • 11 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                I see plethora of options here

                1. S.Kuqi
                  • 11 Years
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  I really don't but mainly because don't want to sell any of Mane,Kdb,Sterling or Mount

                  1. Ze_Austin
                    • 5 Years
                    4 years, 5 months ago

                    Okay, so with KDB. I understand

                  2. Offs!de
                    • 11 Years
                    4 years, 5 months ago

                    That's no problem. You can build a team with Mane, Sterling, KDB, Mount, Wilson/King, Tammy, Auba

              3. Mr. O'Connell
                • 11 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                I'm thinking the opposite and moving to a 3-4-3. At least 5 very good strikers about with great fixtures

            6. drughi
              • 14 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              So raged pushed the wc button after my heaton and double pool defence cs got whiped out in the last minutes. This is what I got right now, can I get some input would be very welcomed 🙂

              Roberto
              Soyuncu Otamendi TAA
              Sterling Mane Mcginn Maddison
              Vardy Abraham Wilson

              Button Jorginho Rico Lundstram

              1. Ze_Austin
                • 5 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                NOT Roberto

                Button to McGovern. Jorg is overkill - take the slot down to 4.4 or 4.3 and keep as 3rd bench

                What's your KDB route if announced fully fit?

                1. drughi
                  • 14 Years
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  Jorginho is stepping in for mcginn gw 10 and 11. Budget is tight thats why I had to go for roberto. If KDB is fit I will monitor against crystal palace and maybe bring him in for gw 10 or I mighht go for aguero instead. I have decided to go back to my trusted 3-4-3 that I have always played except the start of this season and the rank is 1.3 mil so obviously 4-4-2 and 3-5-2 doesnt work for me.

                  1. Ze_Austin
                    • 5 Years
                    4 years, 5 months ago

                    McGinn is fixture proof. You don't need a penalty merchant to step in for him for just two GWs. Just start him and accept the blank if it happens

                    What I mean by fixture-proof is that McGinn's stats don't drop off against bigger opponents, and he isn't afraid of them either: he's scored the two big 6 opponents he's had

                    1. Ze_Austin
                      • 5 Years
                      4 years, 5 months ago

                      And Rico/Lund can step in if you're so bothered

                      1. drughi
                        • 14 Years
                        4 years, 5 months ago

                        cheers

                    2. Mr. O'Connell
                      • 11 Years
                      4 years, 5 months ago

                      Haven't seen the game yesterday, but 5 goals and no McGinn involvement is hard to take. He play well?

                      1. FPL Forward Thinker
                        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                        • 5 Years
                        4 years, 5 months ago

                        Selling Wesley for Pukki as part of a wildcard for GW6 is hard to take
                        Bilva to Son in that wildcard hurt too

              2. Amey
                • 5 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Pope definitely in for Roberto.
                Otherwise excellent team imo.

                1. Amey
                  • 5 Years
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  No Kdb is a huge risk though

                2. drughi
                  • 14 Years
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  need to find 0.3 then cant see where

                  1. Amey
                    • 5 Years
                    4 years, 5 months ago

                    Jorginho is the easiest cash cow.

                    1. drughi
                      • 14 Years
                      4 years, 5 months ago

                      yeah jorginho>dendoncker is an option

                  2. Ze_Austin
                    • 5 Years
                    4 years, 5 months ago

                    Jorg 🙂

              3. S.Kuqi
                • 11 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Kdb will punish you

                1. drughi
                  • 14 Years
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  yeah probably but needed to change things up as my rank is terrible

            7. Eat my goal!
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 5 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              I’m thinking of taking a -8 to change up my team

              Would give me:

              Pope
              Soyunco taa ota lunds dunk
              Yarma sterling Kdb mount cantwell
              Auba vardy Tammy

              1. Amey
                • 5 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Like it.
                It's basically Mane in my team (after tonight's games) to Auba in yours. Almost same otherwise

                1. Eat my goal!
                  • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                  • 5 Years
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  Yeah if I went mane I’d lose cantwell but get stuck with greenwood

                  I don’t feel salah is worth the cash over either anymore

                  So once you decide that and take him off the pedestal it makes decisions much easier

                  1. Amey
                    • 5 Years
                    4 years, 5 months ago

                    Yep

              2. Arteta
                • 8 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Very nice team.

            8. Mr. O'Connell
              • 11 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Looking at 2 options:

              Auba, Vardy and Donker (or other 4.4) IN
              Salah, Pukki, Greenwood OUT (-4, exact cash, change to 3-4-3)

              Or

              Auba, Madison IN
              Salah, Pukki OUT (keeps 1.8 ITB for a rainy day, stay 3-5-2)

              Basically a Madison Vs Vardy post. With those fixtures, should be long term picks so need to weigh up who scores more. Quite fancy Vardy as a captain option so that's swinging it that way for me.

              WC still in back pocket to get Salah/Mane back when fixtures turn. Holding TAA and Robbo for now.

            9. The FPL Units
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 14 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              I am thinking a -8 this week.

              Kun to Auba
              Salah to Mane
              Matip to Rico
              Cantwell to Mahrez

              Assuming KdB is fit.

              Current team is:
              Pope / (Button)
              Matip* / TAA / Lundstram / Pieters / (Kelly)
              Salah / KDB* / Mount / (Guendouzi) / (Cantwell)
              Kun / Pukki / Tammy

              Thoughts?

              1. Mr. O'Connell
                • 11 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Not a huge fan tbh. I'd be looking at cashing in on Pukki and using the bank of Salah.

                1. The FPL Units
                  • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                  • 14 Years
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  What transfers are you thinking?

            10. All de Gea no iDier
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 5 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              As I have said before; The top 10K managers at the moment still include all those who have used all their chips to improve their scores and will surely fall down the ratings to mediocrity in the forthcoming weeks.

            11. Eleven Hag
              • 6 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Today's game predictions?

              Arsenal 3-2 Bournemouth
              City 2-0 Wolves
              Southampton 2-1 Chelsea
              Newcastle 0-0 Man united

              1. Amey
                • 5 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                2-2
                1-4
                1-2

                1. Amey
                  • 5 Years
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  Lol
                  Missed City Wolves one.
                  3-0 for that

                2. Eleven Hag
                  • 6 Years
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  We haven't one away after the psg CL game

              2. Gandalf
                • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                • 13 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                2-1
                3-0
                1-2
                0-1

            12. DaisyDaisyDaisyDaisy
              • 10 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Probably aimed at Adrian owners but is Gazzinga an option? Spurs surely will sort things out and fixtures decent

              1. Eleven Hag
                • 6 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                I did Adrian to wolves last night

                1. DaisyDaisyDaisyDaisy
                  • 10 Years
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  Patricio will be gutted lol

                  1. Eleven Hag
                    • 6 Years
                    4 years, 5 months ago

                    Haha

              2. Arteta
                • 8 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                I also think that Spurs will bounce back after international break. How long is Lloris out for?

                1. DaisyDaisyDaisyDaisy
                  • 10 Years
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  Waiting for news but thats a horror injury

              3. FPL Forward Thinker
                • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                • 5 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Adrian owners should think very carefully and sensibly about there next move and Gazzaniga right now - it far from sensible.

                22 points from 7 matches for Adrian. Woeful.

                Pope got me 22 alone is his four matches and Heaton got me 16 in his four.
                38 goalkeeper points is where it should be!

                Allison on the other hard (if affordable) is more sensible than Gazzaniga

                Otherwise plentiful for GK around 4.5 to 5m

                1. DaisyDaisyDaisyDaisy
                  • 10 Years
                  4 years, 5 months ago

                  He was still a cheap route into what was the best defence in the league so not unhappy i went with it. Also had Pieters to cover Pope, and yesterday with him sums up my luck of late. Dont underestimate luck

            13. Arteta
              • 8 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Who do you back to get more points today - Aubameyang or Sterling?

              1. Annie
                • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                • 11 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Aub

              2. Eleven Hag
                • 6 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Aubaàaaaaaa - Sterling is blanking

              3. FPL Forward Thinker
                • Fantasy Football Scout Member
                • 5 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                I’d like to see Auba win 2-1

              4. bench boost for every gamew…
                • 7 Years
                4 years, 5 months ago

                Hopefully first one as my captain and being so far behind i´m praying for one of those matches where Auba gets a hattrick and City goes plummeting into a stubborn Wolves defends and ends in 1-1, with Gundogan assisted by Walker or something..not going to happen though.

            14. Aimar
              • 4 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              RMWCT

              Ryan

              OTA. Robbo Tierny

              Maddison KDB Mane Yarmo

              Auba. Vardy. Abraham

              Mcgovern. Denda Kelly Lunds

              Thinking of Mane —-> sterling for gws 9,10,11

              Or hold mane

              Robbo good or TAA better ??

              No sterling may harm alot or may KDB & Auba cover him

            15. Moulinsman
              • Fantasy Football Scout Member
              • 8 Years
              4 years, 5 months ago

              Hoping I can get some advice here.
              If I make 3 or 4 transfers and say yes to the points hit. Can I change my mind on say Friday and then activate the Wildcard chip?