More than one million Fantasy Premier League managers were rewarded for buying Son Heung-min (£10.4m) in a Gameweek where Free-Hitting was a popular tactic.
A total of 704,625 FPL bosses used the chip in Gameweek 19, the most this season, surpassing the 387,457 who used it in the previous round of matches.
Playing the Free Hit chip proved a winning tactic as those who did so returned an average of over 51 points, compared to the 36 points earned by those who did not.
Son was the top signing and he maintained his record of never blanking at home to Crystal Palace by scoring in Tottenham Hotspur's 3-0 win, securing an eight-point return.
The Spurs star is ending an impressive 2021 in style, having mustered 205 points in 37 appearances over the calendar year, behind only Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£8.3m).
GW19 most transferred-in players
| Player | Transferred in by ('000s) | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Son | 1,085 | 8 |
| Martinelli | 987 | 3 |
| Ronaldo | 846 | 1 |
Gabriel Martinelli (£5.4m) was the second most-bought player, gaining over 987,000 new owners.
However, Arsenal's cut-price midfielder was unable to continue his fine form as he blanked for just the second time in seven appearances.
It was a similar story for Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.5m), the third most-bought player in the Gameweek ahead of a seemingly attractive fixture for Manchester United against struggling Newcastle United.
The Portuguese blanked and picked up a booking to muster a solitary point in his side's disappointing 1-1 draw at St James' Park.
GW19 most transferred-out players
| Player | Transferred out by ('000s) | Pts |
| Salah | 1,488 | 0 |
|---|---|---|
| Dennis | 719 | 0 |
| Alexander-Arnold | 698 | 0 |
All three of the most-sold players were without a fixture in Gameweek 19.
Liverpool's match against Leeds United and Watford's trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers were both postponed. Salah, Alexander-Arnold and Emmanuel Dennis (£6.0m) are next set to feature in midweek.
GW19 most-captained players
| Player | Captained by (000's) | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Salah | 2,461 | 0 |
| Ronaldo | 1,720 | 1 |
| Son | 657 | 8 |
There were 1.7m Fantasy bosses who backed Ronaldo with the captaincy, but they will now be reassessing their options ahead of Man Utd's next apparently appealing fixture, at home to Burnley on Thursday.
Most-captained by top 100
| Player | Captained by | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Ronaldo | 44 | 1 |
| Son | 31 | 8 |
| Cancelo | 6 | 4 |
Ronaldo and Son were the overwhelming favourites among the leading 100 FPL managers, with Joao Cancelo (£6.8m) replacing Salah among the top three.
The defender produced his seventh assist of the campaign in Manchester City's 6-3 victory over Leicester City, but the lack of a clean sheet meant he got only half of Son's score.
Cancelo has produced a return in 11 of his 18 appearances this term.
Also in this series
Part 2: GW19 Bonus points: Maximum for Saint-Maximin
Part 3: Who is suspended or close to a ban?