Another two rounds of Virtual FPL action will take place this weekend, with Gameweeks 6 and 7 set to be played out on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
The deadline for Fantasy managers remains at 19:00 BST on each of those days.
We look ahead to the weekend double-header in this article and reflect on Thursday’s action in our regular round-up.
READ MORE: How to sign up and play Virtual FPL
GAMEWEEK 5 NOTES
(The full results from Gameweek 5 are available via the Virtual FPL fixtures page or the game’s Twitter account.)
Liverpool set new attack record
There was nearly a repeat of the recent real-life clash between Watford and Liverpool in Gameweek 5 of Virtual FPL.
The Reds went 2-0 down at virtual Vicarage Road on Thursday night, fighting back late on to salvage a draw.
It was generally a disappointing evening for owners of Liverpool assets, with all bar Sadio Mane (£12.4m) and Roberto Firmino (£9.5m) of the most popular options from Jurgen Klopp’s side blanking – and even those two players had to make do with a solitary assist apiece.
There was encouragement ahead of this weekend, though: Liverpool set a new season record for most team attacks in a single Gameweek, registering 41 such offensive movements and forcing Ben Foster (£4.9m) into 11 saves.
Mane’s total of 20 individual attacking involvements was the highest in Gameweek 5, while Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.8m) was involved in nine of Liverpool’s chances – the same number that Sergio Aguero (£11.9m) managed in Manchester City’s plum home fixture with Bournemouth.
Top marks to TopMarx
Fantasy Football Scout contributor TopMarx (he of the excellent player spreadsheet further down the page) hit the motherlode with his Goals Imminent table ahead of Gameweek 5.
The table in the Tweet below sorted players by ‘attacking involvement per 90 minutes’ and filtered out those with a conversion rate of more than 5%, to pinpoint which Virtual FPL assets were due a goal or assist.
Top of the pile was Raul Jimenez (£8.1m), who duly hit a hat-trick in Wolves’ 4-0 win over West Ham United.
Of the eight players below who took to the field, only Adama Traore (£5.7m) failed to deliver an attacking return for his owners.
Keep an eye out for his next Goals Imminent table appearing, then, in the coming days.
Chelsea win – but still yet to convince
Chelsea moved up to eighth in the Virtual FPL table after a 2-0 win over Everton, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.4m), the most-owned forward in the game, blanking again.
Tammy Abraham (£7.5m) scored both goals as the Blues saw off the Toffees but Frank Lampard’s simulated side have yet to fully kick into gear.
Nine teams have scored more goals than the west London club, who are ranked a lowly joint-13th for team attacks in 2019/20.
Only Spurs have allowed opposition teams more chances, meanwhile, and rotation has been rife in midfield and attack.
With Manchester United, Sheffield United and both north London clubs to come in the next five Gameweeks, Chelsea assets may continue to be overlooked (not one is owned by more than 10% of Virtual FPL managers) for the medium term at least.
Fortress Selhurst
No team has kept more Virtual FPL clean sheets than Crystal Palace this season.
All three of the Eagles’ shut-outs have arrived at home, with Brighton, Southampton and Burnley all prevented from scoring at Selhurst Park.
Palace’s next two home matches, against Watford and Aston Villa, also offer the prospect of further defensive returns.
The problem is how to tap into that backline, given that away fixtures against Spurs, Manchester United and Everton surround their next two matches on their own turf.
Patrick van Aanholt (£5.6m) – who recorded five attacking involvements in Gameweek 5 – and Vicente Guaita (£5.1m) are the only two ever-present starters at the back, with rotation having been a regular occurrence.
Cheaper options Joel Ward (£4.3m) and Scott Dann (£4.3m) have started four out of their side’s five games but were benched in Gameweeks 4 and 1 respectively.
Sarr Attacks-a-Lot
Ismaila Sarr (£6.3m) may have blanked against Liverpool but he was the most involved player in his team’s chances.
His eight attacking involvements against the Reds took him up to 48 for the season, which is the joint-fourth-highest total among FPL midfielders.
One of just five midfielders to have played all 450 minutes of their side’s games this season, Sarr next faces five teams who are all ranked ninth or below – although four of those fixtures are away from home.
Pep Keeps a Settled Attack
We are yet to see much in the way of rotation up top for Manchester City, with five midfielders/forwards starting every match in which they have been available this season.
Kevin De Bruyne (£10.6m), Raheem Sterling (£11.7m), Riyad Mahrez (£8.4m) and Sergio Aguero (£11.9m) are all ever-present starters, while Gabriel Jesus (£9.5m) made the line-up alongside Aguero in Gameweeks 1 and 5, sitting out the three matches in between due to suspension.
It’s too early to count our chickens yet but, given that form is said to be a big factor in team selection, there may not be wholesale changes in Gameweek 6 given that Mahrez, De Bruyne, Jesus and Aguero all scored eight or more points on Thursday night.
De Bruyne is the only City outfielder to play all 450 minutes this season.
Kick-off time changes
While the deadlines for each Gameweek remain at 19:00 BST, game creator Ragabolly has brought forward the first kick-off time in each set of fixtures.
Instead of Fantasy managers waiting for an hour after the transfer deadline has passed, they will now only have to kill time for ten minutes, with the opening match of a Gameweek kicking off at 19:10 BST.
VIRTUAL FPL PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
UPCOMING FIXTURES
TOP SCORERS/ASSIST-MAKERS
STATS TABLES
Our spreadsheet that details team attacks (both for and against) by Gameweek and overall has been updated after Gameweek 5.
The updated standings are below:
TopMarx has also updated his interactive player stats spreadsheet after Thursday’s matches, meanwhile.
The stand-alone spreadsheet can be accessed via this link, with Fantasy managers able to make their own copy by selecting “File>Make a copy”.
INJURIES AND BANS
Jack Grealish (£6.5m), Andre Ayew (£5.1m) and Davy Propper (£4.8m) will all return from suspension in Gameweek 6, while Issa Diop (£4.3m) and Willian (£6.9m) will be available for selection on Sunday.
Danny Ings (£7.1m) begins a three-match ban, however, having been sent off on Thursday evening.
John Lundstram (£4.8m) is now free of injury, while Craig Cathcart (£4.3m) and Newcastle trio Paul Dummett (£4.3m), Christian Atsu (£5.3m) and Allan Saint-Maximin (£5.4m) will be back for Gameweek 7.
Two more Virtual FPL assets have been added to the injury list following Thursday’s matches.
Dele Alli (£8.3m) will miss Spurs’ next three matches after picking up a problem in the 2-2 draw with Manchester United, while Josh King (£6.1m) now faces an eight-week lay-off for Bournemouth.
RANKINGS
Fantasy Football Scout mini-league leader DeltaFox is now top of the overall standings, with former number one Thomas Micallef dropping down to fifth.
Aside from DeltaFox, three other Virtual FPL managers in the top ten above are signed up to our mini-league: The Balance, Dinesh Neelan and Aritravo.
World number eight Franciso Lemarque heads Greyhead’s Great and the Good league, while FPL Partridge, who hasn’t made a free transfer yet, is top of the Mods and Cons mini-league and sits third in the world.
You can join the Fantasy Football Scout mini-league by entering the code 9RV4A via the below link.
4 years, 1 month agoI'm playing too many fpl games, so here's to a bit of delegation 🙂 - only answer with whatever you have interest in.
Real fpl
A. Maguire B. Wan Bissaka
Virtual fpl
1. Ings to Deeney
2. Ings to Rashford, Barnes to Cantwell (-4)
3. Bench Ings for now. Play Lascelles.
Champ manager. Grabbi to..
W. Pablo
X. Ricketts
Y. Wallace
Z. Sturridge