FPL Title In the Balance

After a dramatic final day for all the wrong reasons, the Fantasy Premier League season has been extended following the disturbing abandonment of the Manchester United and Bournemouth encounter.

It means that the situation at the top remains undecided, although from our calculations of the scheduled autosubs, Dimitri Nicolaou has preserved his lead by just a single point.

A member of the Fantasy Football Scout league, Dimitri went into the final day 18 points ahead of Jamie Fitzpatrick and 24 in front of Jack Manners.

While Jamie has fallen away with a disappointing tally of 26, Jack has dramatically closed the gap via his captaincy of Sadio Mane and has collected 57 points after autosubs, with Charlie Daniels yet to play.

It could have been even better: had both Ross Barkley or Aaron Lennon remained on the Everton bench, Jack would have collected an additional seven points from his third benched player, Michail Antonio.

Dimitri has mustered 34 points after autosubs having taken a 4-point hit; he elected instead to play his All-Out-Attack chip which was duly nullified by Philippe Coutinho’s no-show.

It appears that Dimitri remains a point ahead of Jack but with both Chris Smalling and Marcus Rashford left to play in the re-arranged fixture, now confirmed for Tuesday May 17.

Ed Masters, a regular poster under the guise of “Mo Mane Mo Problems” and a full Fantasy Football Scout member, has climbed to third spot at this point.

Ed also captained Mane and produced a superb final day tally of 57 points following a hit; we make it that he’s eight points behind Dimitri with David de Gea still to play.

With the United and Bournemouth fixture to follow, there are still multiple scenarios that could see the top spots shuffle once again.

Louis van Gaal will surely consider playing a weakened lineup against the Cherries given that Manchester City have now sealed fourth spot and with the weekend FA Cup Final in mind.

David de Gea could be the only assured starter as he looks to claim the clean sheet which would see him contest the Golden Glove award with Arsenal’s Petr Cech.

Dimitri, Jack and Ed are currently left waiting on the outcome of Tuesday evening to see how it will fall. Until then, the FPL title remains in limbo.