Why Sheffield United star is a big hit with fantasy football players – including Norwegian world chess champion Magnus Carlsen

Lundstram is already a firm favourite with the Bramall Lane faithful and has become a cult figure among players of the Premier League's official fantasy football game after he was wrongly listed as a defender rather than a midfielder.

Since then he has been picking up points at both ends of the pitch – a loophole exploited by many players, including Norwegian Carlsen – and is the top scoring defender in the game.

His exploits helped the 29-year-old chess player move to the top of the Fantasy Premier League leaderboard on Saturday - a game played by more than seven million people.

And to show his love for the midfielder, Carlsen posted a photo on Twitter ahead of a crucial chess match which featured a Blades mug carrying a print of Lundstram’s shirt.

He also tweeted: “Since a lot of people are asking about my #FPL strategy, mine is the not so groundbreaking one of part stats and part gut feeling. Part @Opta-mist and part optimist.”

Carlsen has since dropped to third place in the standings, but after moving to the top of leaderboard he updated his Twitter bio to read: "World Chess Champion. The highest ranked chess player in the world. Current (live) #1 Fantasy Premier League player".

On the pitch, Lundstram has so far scored three goals and provided two assists in United’s march up the Premier League table.