GW24 FPL stats: Rashford delivers to punish Haaland backers

Marcus Rashford (£7.3m) scored his 13th and 14th goals of the season to reward the 781,000+ brave Fantasy Premier League managers who captained him in Gameweek 24 and punish the nearly 7million who instead handed Erling Haaland (£12.2m) the armband.

Manchester United midfielder Rashford took a distant second spot in the captaincy stakes behind the 6.9m who handed Manchester City's Erling Haaland (£12.2m) the armband.

Rashford went into the match with 10 attacking returns in seven Gameweeks and continued his fine form to outgun Manchester rival Haaland, netting twice in Man Utd's 3-0 win over Leicester City to earn 15 points.

Haaland, the leading goalscorer in 2022/23 and most-captained player for the 21st time this season, registered a rare blank in his side's 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest.

It was the Norwegian's sixth blank of the campaign, with four of those having arrived since the season restarted.

GW24 most-captained players*

Mohamed Salah (£12.6m), by contrast, is beginning to rediscover his best form.

Handed the armband by more than 589,000 managers, the Egyptian delivered back-to-back returns as he followed up his goal in Gameweek 23 with an assist in Liverpool's 2-0 win at Newcastle United.

Encouragingly for his 22 per cent ownership, Liverpool also play twice in Double Gameweek 25, travelling to Crystal Palace before entertaining Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Saka returns

More than 326,000 Fantasy Premier League managers were rewarded for their decision to transfer in Bukayo Saka (£8.4m) as he notched his 18th attacking return of the season.

The most-bought midfielder for Gameweek 24, Saka opened the scoring in Arsenal's 4-2 win at Aston Villa to deliver a six-point score.

Saka will be a strong contender for the armband in Double Gameweek 25, when the Gunners visit Leicester City before hosting Everton.

So far, a further 45,000+ have added him to their squads after the deadline, making him the No 1 target.

GW24 most transferred-in players*

As the No 1 transfer target for Gameweek 24, hopes were high that Joao Felix (£7.6m) could deliver upon his promising underlying stats since joining Chelsea, having mustered nine shots across his first two Premier League appearances.

But the Portuguese star failed to repay his 365,000 new owners as he blanked in the Blues' 1-0 home defeat to Southampton. 

Ivan Toney (£7.7m) also left his buyers frustrated. 

The forward sits third in the race for the Castrol Golden Boot, but was unable to add to his 14-goal tally as Brentford drew 1-1 with Crystal Palace.

GW24 most transferred-out players*

Among the most-sold players for the third successive Gameweek, Gabriel Martinelli (£6.5m) frustrated his sellers by scoring his first goal in seven appearances.

Nonetheless, many will feel they made the right decision after Leandro Trossard (£6.6m) was chosen ahead of the Brazilian in Arsenal's first XI. Martinelli is no longer a guaranteed starter.

Despite notching a double-figure haul last time out, his first since Gameweek 14, Miguel Almiron (£5.6m) was jettisoned by over 303,000 managers. 

That proved to be a shrewd move as the Paraguayan registered only one point in Newcastle's defeat.

Almiron has returned just 32 points across his eight appearances since the season resumed, compared with 72 over his eight matches ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2022.

Aleksandar Mitrovic (£6.9m) justified the decision of more than 372,000 managers to sell him ahead of Saturday's deadline as he missed Fulham's 1-0 win at Brighton & Hove Albion through injury.

See: Fantasy Premier League stats

Also in this series

Part 2: GW24 bonus points
Part 3: Saturday review: Managers quick to react to Liverpool