We’re coming up to the final quarter of the Virtual FPL season, which will conclude on June 14.

In case you missed the announcement last week, the Gameweek 27-30 deadlines for Ragabolly’s Fantasy game will remain as originally scheduled on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.

Thereafter, the Gameweek deadlines will occur on a daily basis until the simulated campaign finishes.

READ MORE: How to sign up and play Virtual FPL

We’ll look back on the weekend double-header in our article below and preview Tuesday’s games.

SCOUT NOTES

(The full results from Gameweek 26 and 27 are available via the Virtual FPL fixtures page or the game’s Twitter account.)

NOW THEN: VARDY (H)

Jamie Vardy (£9.6m) hit five goals over the weekend, extending his scoring sequence to seven straight matches.

Along with Kevin De Bruyne (£10.6m), Vardy is the form player in vFPL, returning 11.2 points per match over the last five Gameweeks.

Up next for Leicester City is a home match with Watford, who have conceded more goals on average (3.4) per ‘red’ fixture than any other team.

DE BRUYNE IS BACK IN TOWN

De Bruyne’s mid-season slump in form seems to be well and truly over, with the Belgian having registered three double-digit hauls (including two hat-tricks of assists) in as many Gameweeks.

De Bruyne has outscored Leroy Sane (£9.3m) by 41 points to 15 over that run, with the German winger having been benched for the first time since Gameweek 9 on Saturday.

Arsenal may pose a trickier test on Sunday but City did hammer the Gunners 4-1 in the reverse fixture, with De Bruyne on target in that match.

ALISSON, THE OPPOSITION’S AIM IS TRUE

It’s now just one clean sheet in seven matches for Liverpool, with Bournemouth, Sheffield United, Watford, Burnley and Southampton having all penetrated the Reds’ backline in that time.

The attacking returns haven’t particularly been flowing for Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.8m) or Andrew Robertson (£7.0m), either, with just one goal and two assists between them over that seven-game run.

Robertson at least ended a fruitless spell with a goal on Sunday in Liverpool’s 1-1 draw at Turf Moor.

The fixtures remain good for Jurgen Klopp’s simulated side until Gameweek 33, with Crystal Palace, a side scoring at a rate of less than a goal a game on their travels, up next at Anfield.

REDS VERSUS RED

The sight of a ‘red’ fixture on the season ticker is sometimes enough to put us Fantasy managers off.

Manchester United have one of those on Tuesday as they head to Goodison Park, but should a trip to Merseyside be feared – at least from an attacking perspective?

Only three teams have kept fewer clean sheets than Everton this season, with two of their five shut-outs coming against lowest scorers Newcastle United.

In not one of their nine ‘red’ matches so far have the Toffees been able to stop the opposition from scoring and, as TopMarx points out, they have conceded an average of three goals per match over their last five fixtures.

GOALONSO

Chelsea are the form attacking side in Virtual FPL from an underlying stats perspective, having racked up 350 attacks over the last ten Gameweeks – that’s more than any other side has managed in the same timeframe and indeed more than seven clubs have recorded all season.

Favourable fixtures tend to make a difference in terms of how many of those chances are actually converted, perfectly illustrated by the fact that the Blues thrashed West Ham United 6-1 on Sunday despite having created 20 fewer opportunities than they did in Thursday’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United.

Marcos Alonso (£6.1m) bagged a 20-point haul against the Hammers to move top of the value charts (based on points per million), with the left-back and his gung-ho side having every chance of racking up more returns when they face bottom-of-the-table Bournemouth on Tuesday.

MR MOTIVATOR

There was a post to note from Ragabolly on the site at the weekend, with the game’s creator saying that “motivation” may be a factor for some teams in the run-in.

Those clubs with something to play for at either end may be more “threatening”, then, so perhaps watch out for safe, mid-table sides like Crystal Palace and Watford when we get closer to the finishing line.

1 SIM, 2 CUPS

FPLWoolyback was the winner of the first Virtual FPL Cup of the season, which took place on Saturday.

He defeated Mark Goodwin 82-53 in the Gameweek 26 final.

The second cup competition was swiftly underway the following day and will culminate in a final in Gameweek 38.

Managers can find their results and fixtures by clicking on the ‘Cup 2’ tab on the Virtual FPL site.

VIRTUAL FPL PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE

UPCOMING FIXTURES

TOP SCORERS/ASSIST-MAKERS

STATS TABLES

TopMarx’s constantly evolving spreadsheet that details a broad range of team data has been updated after the weekend and can be viewed here.

The interactive player stats spreadsheet has also been refreshed after the latest round of 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

Six players will return from injury on Tuesday, although few will be of much interest to Virtual FPL managers: Charlie Taylor (£4.3m), Christoph Zimmermann (£4.4m), Kiko Femenia (£4.2m), Panagiotis Retsos (£4.5m), Lucas Torreira (£4.7m) and Matt Ritchie (£5.3m).

Other than the aforementioned Taylor, there were eight other new fitness problems to report from the weekend.

Ben Foster (£4.9m), Tyreke Johnson (£4.4m), Toby Alderweireld (£5.3m) and Christian Pulisic (£6.9m) were casualties of Sunday’s games, with Paulo Gazzaniga (£4.2m), Diogo Dalot (£4.9m), Henri Lansbury (£4.4m) and Christian Saydee (£4.5m) all injured in Gameweek 26.

The comeback dates for those players are listed above.

Harry Wilson (£5.8m) was shown a straight red card on Saturday and will be unavailable until Gameweek 30, while Bukayo Saka (£4.6m) and Andre Gomes (£5.2m) were both dismissed for collecting two bookings on Sunday and will miss tonight’s round of matches.

RANKINGS

Atticus Finch has done the unthinkable and knocked Fábio Borges off top spot in the overall standings and in our Fantasy Football Scout mini-league, making up 48 points on our erstwhile leader after hitting a triple-figure score on Sunday.

Just 27 points separate the top six after Gameweek 27.

FPL Hints narrowly leads from Francisco Lamarque and Greyhead at the top of the Great and the Good league, while TopMarx regained first place in the Mods and Cons league after Legomane toppled him in Gameweek 26.

You can join the Fantasy Football Scout mini-league by entering the code 9RV4A via the below link.

JOIN THE FANTASY FOOTBALL SCOUT VIRTUAL FPL LEAGUE HERE

Nominated for ‘Best in Fantasy Football – Editorial’ at the Football Content Awards 2020

VOTE FOR FANTASY FOOTBALL SCOUT BY
CLICKING HERE.

Premier League Restart

Best players by club

Arsenal | Aston Villa | Bournemouth | Brighton and Hove Albion | Burnley | Chelsea | Crystal Palace | Everton | Leicester City | Liverpool | Manchester City | Manchester United | Newcastle United | Norwich City | Sheffield United | Southampton | Tottenham Hotspur | Watford | West Ham United | Wolves

Best players by position and price

Budget GKs | Mid-Price and Premium GKs | Budget DEFs | Mid-Price and Premium DEFs | Budget MIDs | Mid-Price MIDs | Premium MIDs | Budget FWDs | Mid-Price FWDs | Premium FWDs