GW21 FPL stats: Ronaldo blanks in Man Utd defeat

Second-most popular captain in GW21 blanks as Man Utd lose 1-0 against Wolves

The nearly one million Fantasy Premier League managers who trusted Cristiano Ronaldo (£12.5m) with the captain's armband in Gameweek 21 were left disappointed after the Portuguese failed to get attacking returns on Monday night.

Ronaldo was the second most-popular captain but blanked for the second time in three Gameweeks as Manchester United suffered a 1-0 home defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Those who backed Mohamed Salah (£12.9m), on the other hand, had every reason to be cheerful as the top captain pick in the game rewarded FPL managers once again.

Salah scored his 16th goal of the season in Sunday's 2-2 draw at Chelsea in his final match before leaving for the Africa Cup of Nations.

The Liverpool star was captained by 2.79million managers for Gameweek 21, the second-lowest number in the last 14 Gameweeks, after he delivered back-to-back blanks.

Salah is already the most-sold player this Gameweek, with more than 370,000 parting company with the Egyptian.

GW21 most-captained players

Over two million Fantasy managers transferred in Jarrod Bowen (£6.6m) and Michail Antonio (£7.8m) and were rewarded with attacking returns for the West Ham United duo in the first match of their Double Gameweek 21. 

The game's top 100 managers heavily backed the pair as captain over Salah and they were also the top Triple-Captain choices.

That choice is already paying off as Bowen earned an FPL assist and Antonio scored in a 3-2 win at Crystal Palace, before they face Norwich City at home.

West Ham, along with Everton and Brentford, are among the three teams to benefit from the first Double Gameweek of the season.

Over 1.2m managers snapped up Bowen following his 14-point haul at Watford in Gameweek 20, while almost 800,000 swooped for Antonio, possibly influenced by memories of the forward's career-best 26 points and four goals the last time he faced Norwich in 2019/20.

Demarai Gray (£5.5m) was the third most-bought player for Everton's two home matches, against Brighton & Hove Albion and his former club, Leicester City.

But the winger blanked in the first of those contests as the Seagulls won 3-2 at Goodison Park.

GW21 most transferred-in players

The two top transfer targets also emerged as leading captaincy contenders, particularly among the very top Fantasy managers worldwide, as the game's top scorer Salah did not feature among their top three choices for only the fourth time in 2021/22.

Bowen has been given the armband by 66 of the top 100.

Son Heung-min (£10.6m) was chosen by four of the elite bosses ahead of Tottenham Hotspur's visit to Watford, and they were relieved to see him assist a goal scored by Davinson Sanchez (£4.5m) in second-half stoppage time to secure a 1-0 victory.

Most-captained by top 100

More than 32,000 managers overall have taken their faith in West Ham's attacking pair a step further by using the Triple Captain chip on them.

Antonio will earn triple points for 17,870 managers, while 15,169 are hoping to cash in on big returns from Bowen.

GW21 most Triple-captained players

Conor Gallagher (£6.2m) and Bernardo Silva (£7.5m) were the two most-sold midfielders as managers made room for Double Gameweek players.

Gallagher missed Palace's match against West Ham, while Bernardo ended a run of four successive blanks with an assist in Manchester City's 2-1 win at Arsenal, after being fouled for a penalty.

And more than 1.1m parted company with Chelsea's Reece James (£6.2m), who was been ruled out with a hamstring injury.

GW21 most transferred-out players

See: Fantasy Premier League stats

Also in this series 

Part 2: GW21 Bonus points: Moutinho's memorable maximum
Part 3: Who is suspended or close to a ban?