Man Utd star benched for first time this season as managers now look to Lukaku, Salah and Antonio
For a second successive Gameweek, there was huge disappointment for the millions of Fantasy Premier League managers who made Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.7m) the most-popular captain.
Some 2.1million gave their armband to Ronaldo in Gameweek 7 but were immediately stunned to see him rested to the bench against Everton.
The Manchester United forward did come on after 57 minutes but failed to score for the second match in a row, returning only one point in the Gameweek.
Romelu Lukaku (£11.7m) was the second most-captained player, handed the armband by more than 1.6m for the visit of Southampton.
In his last seven starts against Saints the Chelsea forward has scored seven goals, supplied one assist and picked up 13 bonus points.
Completing the top three captain picks was Mohamed Salah (£12.6m), the game’s highest-scoring player.
The Egyptian has made his best start to an FPL campaign, averaging 9.5 points per match, enough to convince 1.2m managers to back the Liverpool midfielder despite him facing Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday.
World’s top managers favour Lukaku
Lukaku replaced Ronaldo as the No 1 pick among the leading 100 managers, while Michail Antonio (£8.0m) was preferred to Salah in third.
Antonio has more attacking returns this season than any other player, with five goals and four assists. West Ham United face Brentford at home on Sunday.
Most-captained by top 100
| Player | Captained by | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Lukaku | 42 | – |
| Ronaldo | 30 | 1 |
| Antonio | 12 | – |
Two Chelsea defenders were the most-popular acquisitions ahead of the deadline, with Marcos Alonso (£6.0m) and Antonio Rudiger (£5.7m) being brought in by a combined 1.4m.
Chelsea start an excellent run with their five matches from Gameweek 7 onwards all rated at two in the Fixture Difficulty Ratings.
But Alonso’s new owners were ruing their decision as the Spaniard was left out of the starting XI for the first time this term for the visit of Southampton.
Ismaila Sarr (£6.3m) featured in the top three for a second successive Gameweek, having returned 24 points over his last two outings. More than 538,000 brought in the Senegalese for Watford‘s trip to Leeds United.
GW7 most transferred-in players
| Player | Transferred in by (‘000s) | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Rudiger | 755 | |
| Alonso | 730 | |
| Sarr | 538 |
Doubts over the fitness of Luke Shaw (£5.4m) and an injury to Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.5m) meant they made way for the Chelsea duo.
Shaw did start for Man Utd in their 1-1 draw with Everton but only managed a two-point return.
Meanwhile, back-to-back Gameweeks without an appearance led to more than 413,000 managers parting company with Man City midfielder Ferran Torres (£7.0m).
GW7 most transferred-out players
| Player | Transferred out by (‘000s) | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Shaw | 990 | 2 |
| Alexander-Arnold | 908 | – |
| Torres | 413 | – |
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