Another double-header of Virtual FPL action is upon us, with two Gameweek deadlines to negotiate in the space of 24 hours this weekend.
After Sunday’s matches are complete, we will have reached the halfway point of this simulated 2019/20 season.
Our regular round-up below previews the forthcoming action and looks back on what happened in Thursday’s games.
READ MORE: How to sign up and play Virtual FPL
SCOUT NOTES
(The full results from Gameweek 17 are available via the Virtual FPL fixtures page or the game’s Twitter account.)
TAA VERY MUCH
Last Friday we wrote about Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s (£7.8m) excellent underlying stats and his strangely poor conversion rate, pondering whether a huge haul was on the cards just as the fixtures were getting tougher for Liverpool.
A points explosion has duly happened not once but twice since then, with the right-back having delivered a total of 33 points in two away matches at Manchester City and Everton (on top of a clean sheet and assist against Norwich City in Gameweek 15).
There were many Virtual FPL managers who deemed him fixture-proof and retained his services despite the sea of red on the ticker, with his ownership still just above the 50% mark.
With attacking returns a possibility in any given game and clean sheets perhaps even more plentiful after the fixture swing in Gameweek 20, that ownership figure will surely climb further.
PEP TALK
Sergio Aguero (£11.9m) was benched for the third time this season and the second occasion in four Gameweeks as Manchester City put five goals past Crystal Palace on Thursday.
Discounting enforced absences, Aguero has played fewer minutes and started fewer games than any of the premium options priced at £9.5m and above.
That’s the risk we take with City assets in Virtual FPL and ‘real-life’ FPL, of course, knowing the rewards could compensate for any no-shows.
Many of us will still be considering acquiring the Argentine striker this weekend, with Pep Guardiola’s simulated side enjoying a juicy-looking home fixture against Norwich City on Saturday.
On the two previous occasions Aguero has been benched this season, he has started the very next game and lasted 90 minutes.
All three of his non-appearances have come in away fixtures, too, should that be relevant.
There is some consolation to be taken from his omissions so far: the striker has failed to show as a substitute on all three occasions that he has missed out, meaning that the dreaded one-pointer was avoided and, in the case of captaincy, the armband could be passed to a vice-captain.
Sané DELIGHT
On the subject of City, their most in-form player at present is Leroy Sane (£9.3m).
While the early-season Riyad Mahrez (£8.4m) bandwagon has long since been derailed, Sane had been steadily ticking by with regular attacking returns before delivering two double-digit hauls in the last three Gameweeks.
The German has not blanked in any of City’s most-recent eight matches and has started 11 of his side’s last 12 games.
Form counts for a great deal in Ragabolly’s game and, while no-one is guaranteed a place in Guardiola’s line-up even in this virtual world, Sane – a differential route into this potent City attack – would seem to have an edge right now.
FORWARD-THINKING
Are forwards, as gratuitous antagoniser Adrian Durham would say, “all that”?
Not one of the top 12 players for Virtual FPL form (average points over the last five Gameweeks) is a forward, with Danny Ings (£7.1m) – someone we looked at on Thursday – leading the way for that statistic among simulated strikers.
The top six players for vFPL points per 90 minutes are all midfielders, too, which begs the question over whether it’s prudent to go big up top.
Jumping on and off the heavy hitters, Lateriser-style, of course means we can rotate the pricy premium options in attack depending on the fixture – hence why we highlighted Aguero above ahead of Gameweek 18.
But those who prefer the hands-off approach are unquestionably getting more bang for their buck at present by channelling their funds into midfield.
PUKKI PRICE: DO COMPROMISE?
For those who prefer the cheaper forwards, Teemu Pukki (£6.5m) has returned to the fold over the last week.
The Finn had a six-match lay-off through injury but reappeared in Gameweek 15 and has delivered four attacking returns in his last two matches.
In only two of his 11 starts has he blanked and one of those was an away match at Liverpool.
The fixtures couldn’t be much worse for Norwich at present, so investment in Pukki may be on hold for now.
The Canaries have four away matches in their next five games, three of which are at Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United.
That said, fixture difficulty is something that has had minimal impact on our offensive assets, with the average number of team attacks per game barely changing (see TopMarx’s spreadsheet below).
Pukki had already scored against United, Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal before putting two goals past Wolves on Thursday, so has pedigree in that department.
WASTING YOUR WILDCARD
For the 70.19% of Virtual FPL managers who have yet to use their first Wildcard, this weekend represents the final chance to deploy it.
This chip has to be used by the Gameweek 19 deadline, after which the second Wildcard becomes available.
A decent number of those who have yet to cash it in will be inactive managers, of course, but on the flip side, 29% of the top 100 still have this chip intact.
VIRTUAL FPL PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
UPCOMING FIXTURES
TOP SCORERS/ASSIST-MAKERS
STATS TABLES
TopMarx’s spreadsheet that details team attacks (for and against, home and away) has been updated after Gameweek 17 and can be viewed here.
The fixture difficulty rating colour (according to Ragabolly’s ticker) is reflected in the relevant Gameweek.
The interactive player stats spreadsheet has also been refreshed 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”.
As mentioned earlier in the week, we will no longer be embedding these tables into our articles as several users have reported that they were causing pages to jump upon loading.
INJURIES AND BANS
Kasper Schmeichel (£5.4m) returns from a three-match ban in Gameweek 18, while Brighton pair Alireza Jahanbakhsh (£5.8m) and Dale Stephens (£4.4m) and Newcastle’s Allan Saint-Maximin (£5.4m) will be available following injury on Saturday.
David Martin (£4.0m) will be back a day later, although the reserve West Ham goalkeeper hasn’t featured anyway in this simulated season.
Hamza Choudhury (£4.3m) and Gerard Deulofeu (£6.1m), who were injured and sent off respectively in Gameweek 17, will also return on Sunday after one-match absences.
Elsewhere on the fitness front, there were three new “midweek” injuries to report: Hugo Lloris (£5.3m), Cuco Martina (£4.0m) and Michael Verrips (£4.4m) will be out of action for four, six and seven weeks respectively.
RANKINGS
Basil1977 retains top spot in both the overall Virtual FPL standings and in our Fantasy Football Scout mini-league, with the Hall of Fame‘s very own Fabio Borges moving up to second.
Five of the ten managers above are signed up to our mini-league.
Greyhead has risen to tenth overall and stays at the summit of his own Great and the Good league.
elfozzie has overtaken Legomane to move to first place in the Mods and Cons mini-league, meanwhile.
You can join the Fantasy Football Scout mini-league by entering the code 9RV4A via the below link.
