A season-high 717,000+ Fantasy Premier League managers were pleased to see the Triple Captain chip they had used on Erling Haaland (£12.4m) earn a quick return on Sunday.
The season-high number for the chip on a player came as Manchester City are one of six teams to play twice in Double Gameweek 34.
Haaland duly delivered with a penalty and two bonus points to earn eight overall in the 2-1 win at Fulham on Sunday.
Only once before has a player been Triple-Captained in greater numbers, when 1,013,162 people used the chip on Mohamed Salah (£13.0m) in Double Gameweek 26 last season.
On that occasion managers were richly rewarded as Salah returned 28 points thanks to three goals, an assist and five bonus points.
Whether Haaland can equal that total will depend on how he fares at home to West Ham United on Wednesday.
DGW34 most Triple-Captained players
| Player | Triple Captained by | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Haaland | 717,593 | 8 |
| Salah | 48,991 | 7 |
| De Bruyne | 8,338 | - |
Salah took second spot, with nearly 49,000 making him their Triple Captain and he also scored from the spot for Liverpool in their 4-3 win at home to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday to earn seven points.
FPL managers will be hoping the Egyptian can add to his seven goals and two assists in six Anfield appearances when Fulham visit on Wednesday.
It was a disaster for the 8,338 managers who deployed the chip for Kevin De Bruyne (£12.2m) as the Belgian was not in the squad at Fulham. Pep Guardiola did not give details as to the injury for De Bruyne, with the City website stating him "not fully fit".
DGW34 chips used
| Chip | Total used |
|---|---|
| Triple Captain | 790,328 |
| Bench Boost | 315,240 |
| Wildcard | 182,268 |
| Free Hit | 168,347 |
In total there have been 1.45million chips played in DGW34, the second-highest tally this season after DGW29.
Over 315,000 have used their Bench Boost, aiming to take advantage of the extra matches.
There are five budget-friendly players from Brighton & Hove Albion among the top 20 transfers in.
The Seagulls also have two fixtures and they enjoyed an excellent start with a 6-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.
There were mixed fortunes for Fantasy managers with returns from Pervis Estupinan (£4.8m), Jason Steele (£3.9m) and Lewis Dunk (£4.8m) but blanks for Kaoru Mitoma (£5.6m), Solly March (£5.3m) and Alexis Mac Allister (£5.5m).
The real winners from their opening match were the combined 55,948 bosses who recruited either Danny Welbeck (£6.5m) or Pascal Gross (£5.4m), who produced 15 points and 14 points, respectively.
Brighton players have a second opportunity to reward their Fantasy owners when they host Manchester United on Thursday.
DGW34 most transferred-in players
| Player | Transferred in by ('000s) | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Rashford | 966 | 6 |
| Stones | 549 | 4 |
| Alexander-Arnold | 433 | 2 |
Marcus Rashford (£7.2m) was the No 1 transfer target ahead of the deadline, transferred in by 966,000+.
The Man Utd star had amassed 124 points since GW17, the most of any player in Fantasy ahead of Man Utd entertaining Aston Villa on Sunday before their trip to the Amex Stadium in midweek. Rashford got an assist to deliver six points.
Goals in back-to-back matches saw John Stones (£5.6m) snapped up by just under 549,000 people, but he earned only two points at Fulham.
Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.6m) was also in demand, gaining more than 433,000 new owners, who saw him claim his sixth assists across five matches.
DGW34 most-captained players
| Player | Captained by (000's) | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Haaland | 6,146 | 8 |
| Salah | 923 | 7 |
| Jesus | 507 | 7 |
Joining Haaland and Salah among the most-captained players overall is Gabriel Jesus (£8.1m).
He scored in Arsenal's 3-1 win over Chelsea to make it five goals in his six starts since returning from injury.
DGW34 most transferred-out players
| Player | Transferred out by ('000s) | Pts |
| Saka | 809 | 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Kane | 542 | 8 |
| Martinelli | 536 | 1 |
Two Arsenal players, Bukayo Saka (£8.3m) and Gabriel Martinelli (£6.8m), were shipped out in large numbers as managers invested in Double Gameweek assets.
Their sellers will have been relieved to see the pair blank against Chelsea, with Martinelli only appearing as a second-half substitute.
Harry Kane (£11.4m) joined them in the top three, his price rather than his form being a driver for his sales. Kane scored against Liverpool to blank just once in eight outings, scoring seven goals and providing two assists, but paid the price for Spurs' single fixture this Gameweek.
See: Fantasy Premier League stats
Also in this series
Part 1: DGW34 Bonus points
Part 3: Be wary of future Brighton rotation in FPL