Following on from Thursday’s announcement that no Premier League football will take place before April 30, Fantasy Premier League have issued an update of their own.
As was the case last weekend, the FPL deadlines for Gameweeks 31 to 35 will remain as they are currently scheduled, despite no matches being held in any of them.
If football gets the green light to proceed from the beginning of May, and that remains a big ‘if’, then FPL will recommence from Gameweek 36 onwards.
Where we go from there is another question, given that some teams – such as Sheffield United, below – now have up to seven fixtures to accommodate on top of their Gameweek 36-38 matches.
Will there be three bumper Gameweeks (including a massive Gameweek 38) at the end of the campaign, assuming that we can proceed from early May? Or will be there be additional Gameweeks (39, 40 etc) introduced in order to absorb some of the fixtures?
Only FPL know the answer to those questions and it is possible that they themselves have yet to make a decision, such is the day-to-day uncertainty regarding the coronavirus outbreak.
It may be that the hiatus drags on longer than anticipated and beyond even Gameweek 38, so further disruption could follow.
The fact that the Premier League no longer has to finish by June 1, added to the postponement of Euro 2020, does at least mean that there is plenty of elbow room in the summer to accommodate the backlog of games.
TRANSFERS, CHIPS AND HEAD TO HEADS
Fantasy managers will continue to be allocated one free transfer per Gameweek despite the lack of matches, with a maximum of two rolled over.
All players and thus Fantasy teams will earn zero points in Gameweeks 31-35. If a points hit is taken, an FPL manager’s Gameweek score will reflect this.
Most head-to-head league matches will be 0-0 draws but, if either/both managers involved have taken a points hit, the Gameweek scores will again factor this in (eg -4, -8 etc).
In the FPL Cup, ties will be decided by a virtual coin toss if the Gameweek scores are level, which they will be in most cases.
Any transfers made, or Wildcards or Free Hits played in a Gameweek where all the fixtures are postponed, will not be reinstated.
FPL managers can at least cancel a Triple Captain or Bench Boost chip up until the point of a Gameweek deadline.
DEADLINES
The deadlines for the upcoming Blank Gameweeks are as follows:
GW31 – Fri 20 Mar 19:00 GMT
GW32 – Sat 4 Apr 11:30 BST
GW33 – Fri 10 Apr 19:00 BST
GW34 – Sat 18 Apr 11:30 BST
GW35 – Sat 25 Apr 11:30 BST
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11 days, 21 hours agoIs anyone making transfers?
I probably ought to but hard to get motivated.