Last weekend saw the launch of Virtual FPL, a Fantasy game devised and developed by long-time friend of Fantasy Football Scout and all-round genius, Ragabolly (aka Live FPL).

To say the opening Gameweek was a success is an understatement: over 2,000 teams were entered ahead of the deadline, despite there being relatively little promotion of the game until the back-end of last week.

Anyone still wanting to get involved who hasn’t already registered a team can still sign up (there are 37 Gameweeks to go, after all), with the full details of the game available via the link below.

READ MORE: How to sign up and play Virtual FPL

You now can create your own mini-leagues, too.

We’ve set one up already (imaginatively titled ‘Fantasy Football Scout’) and you can join by entering the code 9RV4A via the below link.

JOIN THE FANTASY FOOTBALL SCOUT VIRTUAL FPL LEAGUE HERE

Gameweek 2-5 Fixtures

While there is a week-long gap between Gameweeks 1 and 2 to allow Ragabolly to iron out a few creases in the game, the plan is to step up the frequency of fixtures thereafter.

Four Gameweeks will be staged every week, with matches taking place on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.

The deadline for each Gameweek will be at 19:00 BST, with the fixtures starting at 20:00 BST and being simulated, one by one, every ten minutes.

Gameweeks 2 to 5 of Virtual FPL are next up, then, with the Season Ticker looking as follows for those games:

Aston Villa have a trio of home games to come, while three of Chelsea, Watford and Tottenham Hotspur‘s next four fixtures are also on their own turf.

Southampton have three fixtures on the road to come before they are back at St Mary’s, meanwhile.

Manchester City‘s next three games are among the least appealing but, as they demonstrated in Gameweek 1, the calibre of opposition isn’t necessarily the be-all and end-all.

Gameweek 1 Notes

Bruno Fernandes

Continuing where he left off in ‘real-life’ FPL, Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m) hit the ground running in Ragabolly’s game.

The Manchester United midfielder was not only the highest-scoring asset of Gameweek 1 but was also involved in more of his side’s attacks (14) than any other player in this virtual division.

While Manchester City await the Red Devils on Saturday, Fernandes did bag an assist and three bonus points (again being involved in a dozen of his team’s attacks) in a pre-season friendly between the two local rivals.

Captain Obvious

The ten most popular captains of Gameweek 1 all scored at least six points.

Continuing with this trend, only one of the 16 most-owned midfielders and forwards blanked on the opening weekend.

The odd one out was Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£6.4m), who had scored in the original sim of Newcastle v Everton before Ragabolly was forced to re-run the match.

Given that there were only three clean sheets in the ten Virtual FPL fixtures in Gameweek 1, the early indications suggest that attackers are going to be on top in Ragabolly’s Fantasy game – although it’s still early days and we await to see if any clearer patterns develop in Gameweek 2 and beyond.

On the Spot

Five penalties were awarded on the opening weekend and we were given further clues as to who would be on spot-kick duties for their respective teams.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£11.m), Raul Jimenez (£8.1m) and, interestingly, Patrick van Aanholt (£5.6m) all stepped up for their respective clubs and scored from 12 yards.

Neal Maupay (£5.7m) was twice handed the responsibility from the penalty spot for Brighton but, incredibly, missed on both occasions.

Van Aanholt, Maupay and Jimenez, indeed, had taken penalties in pre-season, too.

Wolves and Liverpool

While Manchester City produced the most eye-catching scoreline of Gameweek 1, they scored on six occasions from just 18 attacks: seven teams had more efforts on goal last weekend than the Citizens.

The two teams who registered the most attacks (27 each) of Gameweek 1 were Liverpool and Wolves.

The two sides had tricky games on paper, with the Reds away at Sheffield United and Nuno Espirito Santo’s troops hosting Chelsea, but were well on top in both their games, registering around twice as many attacks as their respective opponents.

Liverpool’s next fixture is against Arsenal, a side they beat 3-1 in pre-season – a match they also registered 27 goal attempts in.

Matt Doherty (£6.3m) was involved in eight of Wolves’ attacks against Chelsea, which was the most any defender recorded in Gameweek 1.

Conor Coady‘s (£5.0m) total of five attacking involvements was the next best among FPL defenders, although Ragabolly has hinted that he may look to address the simulation’s handling of a player who is not known for his goalscoring exploits in real life.

Back Fours

All 20 of the teams involved in Gameweek 1 played with four FPL defenders in their initial line-ups, so clubs we usually see adopting a wing-back system – such as Sheffield United and Wolves – were missing a defender who would usually play.

Chris Basham (£4.6m) and Jonny (£5.4m) were the unlucky men from these two clubs last weekend, although the pre-season games saw other regular first-teamers omitted from the starting XIs (namely George Baldock (£5.1m) and Doherty).

Gameweek 1 Summary: Match by Match

Gameweek 1: Highest Points Scorers

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfielders

Forwards

Gameweek 1: Most Involved in Attacks

Defenders

Midfielders

Forwards

Injuries and Suspensions

Three players saw red in Gameweek 1, with two of them, Gabriel Jesus (£9.5m) and Ashley Barnes (£6.1m), now sidelined for three matches.

Every single Virtual FPL player started this simulated season fit and available but six Fantasy assets picked up injuries in Gameweek 1.

Alex Iwobi‘s (£5.6m) was the most serious, with the Everton winger set to be missing until Gameweek 10.

Angus Gunn‘s (£4.2m) enforced two-match absence seems set to give Alex McCarthy (£4.5m) the chance to regain his place in the short term at least.

Head to the Virtual FPL site for more Gameweek 1 stats and to sign up, if you haven’t already and still wish to do so.