Season-highs for Free Hit and Bench Boost chips on final chance to use them

For the third successive Gameweek, more than 1.7million chips have been played in Fantasy Premier League, with season-highs recorded for both the Bench Boost and Free Hit chips.

Top five Free Hit and Bench Boost chips played this season

Gameweek 19 was the final chance for managers to use their first set of chips, with everyone now having all their chips refreshed for the second half of the campaign. 

It was a tremendously disappointing round for those using their Free Hit chip, however.

Only Rayan Cherki (£6.7m) produced any kind of return among the 10 most-popular players on Free Hit, the rest all blanked.

Cherki picked up two defensive contribution points and a clean sheet point for a Gameweek 19 total of five.

Team-mate Erling Haaland (£15.1m) produced a two-point return for the second successive match and Phil Foden (£9.0m) extended his poor run to three blanks in a row.

Much was expected of Hugo Ektitke (£9.1m), the most-bought player of the last four Gameweeks, snapped up by 3,776,060 managers, and despite registering his best Expected Goal Involvement (xGI) total in a match this season, with 1.33, he also blanked.

Hopes were also high that Matheus Cunha (£8.1m) could he deliver another return against his former club, bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers, having supplied an assist and taken eight shots in the reverse fixture in Gameweek 15.

But Cunha, also the No 1 transfer target for managers ahead of Gameweek 19, fell victim to the "curse" of the most-bought player, returning just two points after having just a single shot inside the penalty area.

He was one of three Manchester United players in the Free-Hit top 10, joined by defenders Patrick Dorgu (£4.2m) and Diogo Dalot (£4.5m).

Disappointingly, there was no repeat of Dorgu's 17-point return in Gameweek 18, when he featured on the right-wing against Newcastle United. The Danish international returned to his more customary left wing-back role as the Red Devils drew 1-1 at Old Trafford.

A fixture versus Burnley boosted Nick Woltemade's (£7.4m) appeal, only for the Newcastle forward to be benched in the Premier League for the first time since joining the club. He emerged as a second-half substitute, but was unable to make an impact as Eddie Howe's side won 3-1.

GW19 most-popular players using Free Hit chip

Bench Boosters fared slightly better with three of the top 10 most-selected bench players producing returns.

Jurrien Timber (£6.4m), a fitness concern before Arsenal's contest against title rivals Aston Villa, having missed Gameweek 18 through injury, supplied an assist and kept a clean sheet as the Gunners won 4-1. Timber had been substituted before Aston Villa scored and therefore kept his clean sheet.

Micky van de Ven (£4.5m) recorded back-to-back clean sheets for the first time since the opening two Gameweeks, giving those Bench Boosting a six-point return.

And seven points from Robin Roefs (£4.8m) saw him move back to the top of the Fantasy goalkeeper standings thanks to a clean sheet and a save point. Four saves in Sunderland's 0-0 draw with Manchester City  improved his save percentage from shots on target faced to a league-high 80.7.

GW19 most-popular players using Bench Boost chip

Elsewhere, Martin Dubravka (£4.0m) was unable to reproduce his Gameweek 18 heroics, when he produced an 11-point haul at home to Everton, as Burnley conceded three goals to Newcastle. And team-mate Maxime Esteve (£3.9m), making his first start in three matches, lasted just 14 minutes of his return before injury struck again. Having let in two goals during his short appearance, he finished on zero points.

Michael Keane (£4.8m), another player to reach double-digits last time out, failed to make the Everton squad for their 2-0 win at Nottingham Forest.