Top 10k managers set for chip extravaganza in Gameweek 38+

Just under a third of Fantasy Premier League managers inside the top 10k are preparing to use their Free Hit chip on the final day of the season.

With 2.6% of them deploying it for Gameweek 37+, that brings the total usage of that chip at this level to 68.9% with one round left to go.

That means 31.1% are saving the Free Hit for Gameweek 38+, a sizeable number and certainly enough for significant change to take place in the top 10k on the final day of the campaign.

Meanwhile, an additional 2.2% of managers at this level will be lining up with a completely brand new squad on Sunday, considering that’s how many of them are yet to play their second Wildcard.

As well as a large number of top 10k line-ups expected to fluctuate between the final two Gameweeks of the season, there will be a noteworthy number of Triple Captains in play.

2.5% of them used the enhanced armband for Gameweek 37+, bringing the total for the season to 91.7%. Therefore, 830 managers from the top 10k are likely to be heading into the final day of the campaign with their skipper armed with a Triple Captain chip.

What all of those numbers boil down to is that 54.3% of top 10k managers have no exhausted their chip supply for the 2019/20 season.

It means that 45.7% of them will have the ability to deploy one on the final day of the season.

As already mentioned, this is a significant portion of the top 10k managers, which could lead to plenty of rank changes in the upper echelon.

Bringing things back to Gameweek 37+, it is the Manchester United attack that will determine the narrative of this season’s penultimate round of action.

Bruno Fernandes (£9.1m) has amassed the highest level of support ahead of West Ham’s visit to Old Trafford, 35.8% of the top 10k managers handing him the armband.

The Portuguese international has now broken the 100-points mark after just 12 games in a Manchester United shirt, which is probably why the top 10k see him as the more reliable option.

However, those who have backed Anthony Martial (£8.5m) can feel relatively secure going into Gameweek 37+ too. The Frenchman has delivered in every home match since the Premier League restart, averaging 16 points per game in that time. The fact that just over 30% of the top 10k made the same decision to captain him, they are somewhat protected in that respect too.

Fernandes and Martial are the only two players to boast more than 100% effective ownership at this level for Gameweek 37+, on 131.9% and 100.8% respectively.

Despite proving unfortunate to blank in his last two outings, Mohamed Salah (£12.5m) has only convinced 7.6% of the top 10k to back him for the captaincy.

However, those who felt confident enough to do so will probably enjoy how few managers handed Salah the armband. Considering how poor Chelsea’s defence has looked on the eye recently, there does appear to be an opportunity for the Egyptian’s backers to make up real ground if he delivers the big haul he has been promising in recent weeks.

Martial’s increasing popularity in the top 10k can be spotted by his showing in the Free Hit squads at this level.

The Frenchman was chosen by 95.1% of such managers, more than Fernandes (91.3%) and more than any other player in any other position.

The Free Hitters were big fans of Manchester United, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£5.5m) and Marcus Rashford (£8.9m) both making it into this matrix of most popular assets chosen on them.

They were clearly put off by Manchester City’s awkward FA Cup schedule though. Despite a favourable trip to Watford, Kevin De Bruyne (£10.7m) is the only Citizen to be given serious consideration by the top 10k Free Hitters this week.

Gabriel Jesus (£9.8m) has suffered a similar fate in the overall ownership at this level.

He was the third-most-popular forward in the top 10k for Gameweek 36+ but has dropped out after the latest deadline.

Replacing him in the template is Raúl Jiménez (£8.1m). The Wolves forward netted against Burnley and faces a Crystal Palace defence that has conceded 15 goals since the Premier League returned.

Outside of that switch, there has not been a tremendous amount of fluctuation in the template between the two most recent Gameweeks, perhaps suggesting that some top 10k managers are holding a free transfer ahead of the final round of the season.

In midfield, Christian Pulisic (£7.4m) has dropped from 50.5% to 32.9% ownership at this level, leapfrogged by Salah, although the Egyptian only rose from 43.12% ownership to 43.2%.

The only other relatively major change is in defence, where Serge Aurier (£5.1m) has replaced Wan-Bissaka in the top-five, the right-back perhaps suffering as managers try to realign how they are tripled-up on Manchester United assets.

Stats taken from LiveFPL.net