With just three Gameweeks remaining for Fantasy Premier League managers to use their first set of chips, more than one million have been played in Gameweek 16.
The Bench Boost chip is the most-popular, deployed by more than 477,000 managers, the highest total this season.
Ultimately, many managers were left disappointed by the chip. The most Bench-Boosted player, Martin Dubravka (£4.0m) of Burnley, could muster just a single point in the Clarets' 3-2 home defeat to Fulham.
Robin Roefs (£4.7m) and Antoine Semenyo (£7.5m) were the only players in the top 10 most-popular Bench-Boosted players NOT to blank.
The Sunderland goalkeeper notched his fifth clean sheet of the season against Newcastle and claimed maximum bonus points. While Semenyo ended a run of six consecutive blanks with a goal and six points in AFC Bournemouth's pulsating 4-4 draw with Manchester United.
Semenyo's team-mate Marcos Senesi (£4.9m) ended on just a single point, however, despite claiming defensive contribution points for the 12th time this season. A yellow card and the concession of four goals cost him three points.
GW16 Most-popular players using Bench Boost chip
| Player | Bench-Boosted by | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Dubravka | 194,399 | 1 |
| Guehi | 69,046 | 1 |
| Esteve | 57,215 | 1 |
| Van de Ven | 53,446 | 1 |
| Cash | 46,815 | 0 |
| Senesi | 43,196 | 1 |
| Dewsbury-Hall | 39,084 | 1 |
| Roefs | 34,689 | 9 |
| Kelleher | 31,619 | 3 |
| Semenyo | 28,241 | 6 |
In addition to the Bench Boost chip, the Free Hit chip has also been played by many, with over 246,000 using it to navigate Gameweek 16.
It allows managers to tailor their squad to the fixtures in a particular Gameweek, and means highly-owned players from Crystal Palace, like Marc Guehi (£5.3m), could be removed for their match against Manchester City before returning to their squads for the Gameweek 17 trip to Leeds United.
Chips used in Gameweek 16
| Chip | Total |
|---|---|
| Bench Boost | 477,343 |
| Free Hit | 246,031 |
| Triple Captain | 206,393 |
| Wildcard | 97,647 |
Gameweek 16 has also seen a large number of transfers made, thanks to managers having their available transfers topped up to the maximum of five to help deal with players departing to the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
More than 24m transfers have been made in total, the most since the September international break back in Gameweek 4.
Most transfers made in a Gameweek this season
| Gameweek | Transfers Made |
|---|---|
| GW3 | 27,802,596 |
| GW4 | 27,408,255 |
| GW16 | 24,497,356 |
| GW6 | 22,147,208 |
| GW2 | 18,178,809 |