More than 426,000 Fantasy Premier League managers have used their Free Hit chip to capitalise on Blank Gameweek 32.
Manchester City, Manchester United, Brighton & Hove Albion and Chelsea all blank due to the FA Cup semi-finals this weekend, meaning popular picks such as Erling Haaland (£12.1m), Marcus Rashford (£7.1m) and Kaoru Mitoma (£5.6m) all have no Premier League fixture.
Playing the Free Hit chip has allowed managers to swap out those players for one Gameweek only before they return automatically for Gameweek 33.
BGW32 chips played
| Chips | Chips played (000's) |
|---|---|
| Free Hit | 426 |
| Wildcard | 138 |
| Triple Captain | 22 |
| Bench Boost | 9 |
It's not only the Free Hit chip that has been played in abundance this week.
A further 138,000+ opted to use their second Wildcard instead, readying their squads for the final seven Gameweeks.
Liverpool pair reward new owners
Liverpool duo Mohamed Salah (£12.9m) and Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.4m) garnered significant interest, with a combined 1.6million transfers in, and they rewarded their backers.
Alexander-Arnold delivered the free-kick from which Salah scored the winning goal in the Reds' 3-2 victory over Nottingham Forest.
BGW32 most transferred-in players
| Player | Transferred in by ('000s) | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Eze | 903 | 3 |
| Salah | 859 | 7 |
| Alexander-Arnold | 747 | 5 |
It was Alexander-Arnold's fourth assist in three matches in FPL, since his move into central midfield, while Salah's strike was his eighth in eight outings in Fantasy.
The most-bought player for Gameweek 32 was Eberechi Eze (£5.6m), who was brought in by more than 903,000 managers.
The Crystal Palace midfielder had scored or assisted in each of Roy Hodgson's first three matches in charge, but he blanked in Saturday's goalless draw with Everton, having a goal ruled out for offside.
Salah punishes Jesus' backers
Salah was the favourite captain pick among active players in Blank Gameweek 32, handed the armband by nearly 2m people.
The Egyptian's goal increased the agony for the 709,000+ Fantasy managers who instead backed Gabriel Jesus (£8.2m).
BGW32 most-captained active players
| Player | Captained by (000's) | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Salah | 1,978 | 7 |
| Jesus | 709 | 2 |
| Kane | 684 | 6 |
Despite taking a match-high six shots in the box and recording an expected goals tally of 1.36, Jesus failed to score in Arsenal's 3-3 draw with Southampton on Friday. It was his first blank in four outings.
Salah only requires another 13 points to become the only player in FPL history to register 200 points or more in six successive seasons.
Congratulations are in order to the 13 managers who captained and the ONE who Triple-Captained Carlos Alcaraz (£5.0m), the midfielder who scored and assisted at the league leaders.
2️⃣3️⃣7️⃣ transfers in
— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) April 21, 2023
Captained 1️⃣3️⃣ times
Triple-Captained 1️⃣ time
Owners of the crystal ball, reveal yourselves 🔮#FPL #ARSSOU pic.twitter.com/g3lePDq1V2
Harry Kane (£11.6m) completed the top three captains for Tottenham Hotspur's trip to Newcastle United.
Kane had recorded double-figure hauls in each of his previous three trips to Newcastle, and although he scored at St James' Park for a six-point return, there was to be no repeat as Spurs' suffered a 6-1 defeat.
BGW32 most transferred-out players
| Player | Transferred out by ('000s) | Pts |
| Haaland | 899 | 0 |
|---|---|---|
| Rashford | 861 | 0 |
| Mitoma | 633 | 0 |
The three most-sold players were all without a fixture in this round as many managers replaced them with one-week punts.
Understandably, Haaland and Rashford are already the two most transferred-in players for Gameweek 33.
See: Fantasy Premier League stats
Also in this series
Part 1: GW32 bonus points
