Fantasy Premier League managers in the top 10,000 flocked to players with two matches in Double Gameweek 30+.
However, there were still a significant number of assets present in their squads with only one match in this opening round of Project Restart action.
The matrix of the 15 most popular players among the top 10k features eight Double Gameweek options, while seven of them play just once this round.
Dean Henderson (£5.3m) and Bernd Leno (£5.0m) were the most fashionable goalkeepers at this level, selected by 52.1% and 33.3% respectively.
However, Double Gameweek fever swept the defensive ranks with considerably less vigour.
As you can see from the graphic above, John Lundstram (£4.9m) and John Egan (£4.6m) were the only Double Gameweekers among the top-five most-popular defenders in the top 10k.
The former remains the more fashionable, sat in 66.1% of squads, although he was outperformed by Egan, owned by 34.7% on Wednesday night after a yellow card dented his score.
Meanwhile, Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.8m) cannot be dethroned as the favourite defensive option. His lack of Double Gameweek meant nothing to his 70.9% ownership in the top 10k, who are all likely keen to preserve the value tied up in the Liverpool right-back.
Matt Doherty (£6.3m) and Jamaal Lascelles (£4.3m) complete the defensive selection with appealing matches in Double Gameweek 30+. The former, owned by 25% of the top 10k, looks capable of being a particularly exciting differential as no defender registered more shots in the box than him between Gameweeks 24 and 29.
There is a similar story in the midfield department where the popular picks feature just two Double Gameweekers, namely Kevin De Bruyne (£10.6m) and Jack Grealish (£6.4m).
38.6% of the top 10k have opted to hold onto Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) for Liverpool’s trip to Everton on Sunday afternoon, an ominously large chunk.
A similar percentage (38.2%) have opted to remain invested in Bruno Fernandes (£8.6m) ahead of Manchester United’s clash with Spurs on Friday night. That could prove to be a particularly shrewd decision considering that the Portuguese international has been involved in five of the eight goals scored by the Devils since his Gameweek 25 debut.
Meanwhile, budget midfielder Todd Cantwell (£4.7m) has clung to enough benches to still be in the top-five midfielders for popularity at this level, owned by 24.6% of managers in the top 10k.
The Double Gameweek had a bigger impact on the forwards with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£11.1m) and Sergio Aguero (£11.8m) both selected by more than half of those operating in the upper echelon.
* LiveFPL.net is displaying Gameweek 30+ as Gameweek 39
Despite the significant interest in single Gameweek options, the chip usage for this round is more in line with expectations, although there are some deviations.
Not surprisingly, the top 10k showed a particular preference for the Bench Boost chip in Double Gameweek 30+.
As this is the last bumper round planned this season, those at the top end of the rankings have chosen to make the most of 12 fixtures as opposed to the usual 10.
A whopping 41.1% of managers inside the top 10k deployed the Bench Boost ahead of Wednesday’s deadline, more than any other chip.
Interestingly, it means that only 66.5% of them have made use of it so far, and a third of top 10k managers are still holding it in reserve. It will certainly be interesting to see where they find the room to deploy the Bench Boost.
Meanwhile, only 10.6% of the top 10k were happy to play the Free Hit. It is possible some of these were happy enough with the squad they had assembled by the end of Gameweek 38, while others may have been keen to preserve team value for a Gameweek 31+ Wildcard.
Overall chip usage
Looking at the overall chip usage indicates how many FPL managers missed out on a chance to return to the game.
For all the Bench Boosting in the top 10k, just 5.5% worldwide played that chip for Double Gameweek 30+.
Furthermore, only 3.2% of overall managers played the Triple Captain and just 1% deployed the Free Hit to get their Gameweek 38 teams back.
You can also get an understanding for how many people are still playing FPL this far into the season by checking the overall most owned players.
As you can see, there is a heavy concentration of Liverpool assets, with just five of that group scheduled for two matches in Double Gameweek 30+.
De Bruyne has already been very helpful for his owners in Double Gameweek 30+, especially those who handed him the captaincy.
54.4% did so in the top 10k, rewarded with a 14-point haul in Manchester City’s win over Arsenal on Wednesday.
Such a haul, produced by a goal and an assist, will be particularly important in light of Aguero’s role as the second-most-captained player of the Gameweek. The striker was consigned to just a 12-minute cameo after being named on the bench.
Stats taken from LiveFPL.net
Nominated for ‘Best in Fantasy Football – Editorial’ at the Football Content Awards 2020
3 years, 10 months agoI do make fantasy life hard on myself...hoping for a Sane no show now to get KdB(C) and Targett autosub!
...get a niggle Leroy my son 😉