Gameweeks 2 and 3 of Virtual FPL were played out at the weekend, with Gameweek 4 set to take place on Tuesday evening.
In this article, we look back on the simulated action from Saturday and Sunday before previewing the next set of fixtures to take place.
For the uninitiated, Virtual FPL is a Fantasy game devised and developed by long-time friend of Fantasy Football Scout, Ragabolly (aka Live FPL).
Just over 2,000 teams were entered ahead of the Gameweek 1 deadline and a further 900-odd have been registered since then.
Anyone still wanting to get involved who hasn’t already registered a team can still sign up, with the full details of the game available via the link below.
READ MORE: How to sign up and play Virtual FPL
Gameweek 2/3 Notes
(The full results from Gameweeks 2 and 3 are available via the Virtual FPL fixtures page or the game’s Twitter account.)
City in ominous mood
Manchester City top the Virtual FPL table with a 100% record after three Gameweeks, having scored on 11 occasions (four more than any other side) in their opening trio of fixtures.
They’ve achieved this despite having a tricky-looking start to the campaign: their first three games were against Spurs, Wolves and Manchester United, while Chelsea are up next.
While they are conceding chances for fun (more than any other team, in fact, in this simulated 2019/20 campaign), the calibre of opposition has made little difference to their threat at the other end.
Pep Guardiola’s side are ranked fourth for team attacks (see section below) in Gameweeks 1 to 3, despite having had one of the most difficult starts to the campaign.
Anyone without City representation will surely be planning a move or two, then, with the league leaders’ fixtures from Gameweeks 5-13 perhaps as good as any other side’s over the same timeframe.
With two goals, three assists and four bonus points already to his name, Kevin De Bruyne (£10.6m) is Virtual FPL’s leading scorer in terms of overall points.
De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling (£11.7m), Riyad Mahrez (£8.4m) and Sergio Aguero (£11.9m) are all ever-present starters in the City attack so far, while Leroy Sane (£9.3m) racked up a 15-point haul in Gameweek 3 to further his chances of another run-out on Tuesday.
The return from suspension of Gabriel Jesus (£9.5m), however, adds to virtual Pep’s options.
Wolves at the Door
Rivalling City for the toughest start in this simulated Premier League, Wolves have faced Chelsea, Spurs and Manchester City in their opening three fixtures.
We wrote about their free-flowing attack in our Gameweek 1 review and, after a bit of a stutter against Spurs, they were back with a bang in Gameweek 3.
While Wolves succumbed to a 3-1 defeat to Guardiola’s side, they nevertheless recorded more ‘attacks’ (35) than any other team has registered in a competitive Virtual FPL match to date.
Raul Jimenez (£8.1m) and Diogo Jota (£6.4m) are joint-first and third among FPL forwards for attacking involvements so far this season, with both players recording two vFPL returns apiece.
Up next for Wolves is a double-header at Molineux against Crystal Palace and West Ham United.
After two goals in his first three appearances, Matt Doherty (£6.3m) would be high on our watchlist too – but the Irish wing-back picked up an injury against City and is now out of action until Gameweek 8.
Five at the Back Fix
While we’re on the subject of Wolves, we can report a ‘fix’ that Ragabolly has rolled out recently.
In Gameweek 1, all 20 Premier League clubs started with four at the back.
Virtual FPL’s creator has since deployed a change so that teams that usually operate in a wing-back system in real life, such as Wolves and Sheffield United, are now also doing so in this simulated game.
Pukki On the Radar
Like the league leaders, Norwich City enjoy a favourable fixture swing in Gameweek 5.
A budget forward to monitor for that crossroads, if not before, is Teemu Pukki (£6.5m).
No forward has scored more goals (three) or been involved in more attacks than the Finn (29) so far this campaign, despite Norwich having faced stiff opposition in the form of Manchester United, Everton and Chelsea.
Marcus Rashford (£8.8m) is the only Virtual FPL forward who sits on more points than Pukki as things stand.
Back Against Newcastle
Pointless and 19th in the table, Newcastle United’s prospects look grim in Virtual FPL.
Of particular interest to us Fantasy managers is their attack, which is proving as blunt in this simulated world as it is in real life.
The Magpies have mustered only 16 attacks in total in this virtual season – by far the worst in the division and actually fewer than Trent Alexander-Arnold (£7.8m) has been involved in individually.
Newcastle recorded only two attacks against West Ham in Gameweek 2, although did score from one of them.
Go Big in Midfield?
Seven of the ten highest point-scorers in Virtual FPL so far, and four of the top five, are midfielders.
Only one forward, Marcus Rashford, features in that list, with premium strikers like Sergio Aguero and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£11.1m) a little further back.
Favourable upcoming matches for City and Arsenal, of course, could change all that.
In terms of the ‘underlying stats’, a similar picture develops.
Six of the top ten players for attacking involvement are midfielders, including all of the top three: Bruno Fernandes (£8.5m), Sadio Mane (£12.4m) and Mohamed Salah (£12.7m).
Twenty players, including two defenders and nine midfielders, have been involved in more attacks than Aguero, meanwhile.
Bench Fodder Watch
For those Virtual FPL managers looking for playing budget options to pack the bench with or even start from time to time, there are some candidates emerging.
In attack, Andre Ayew (£5.1m) and Shane Long (£4.6m) have played all 270 minutes for their respective clubs so far.
John Lundstram (£4.8m) continues to rack up the attacking involvements (16 in all) as a Virtual FPL ‘midfielder’, as does Todd Cantwell (£4.8m), although the Norwich man was benched for one of the Canaries’ first three games.
For pure non-playing bench fodder to be used only in an emergency, Isaac Hayden (£4.3m) has started every Newcastle match so far.
At the back, Mason Holgate (£4.3m) is third among FPL defenders for attacking involvement – although did suffer a benching in Gameweek 1 and faces some tougher fixtures next.
Diego Rico (£4.2m) has started all three matches for Bournemouth and has already grabbed an assist but has been hauled off in two of those run-outs.
Charlie Taylor (£4.3m) is another cheap defender who has lined up in all three games for his club but no-one under Rico’s price has been an ever-present starter so far.
Tom Heaton (£4.3m) is the least-expensive goalkeeper who is currently getting a game between the posts but Angus Gunn (£4.2m) does return from suspension in Gameweek 4, so is one to monitor.
Tight at the Back
Liverpool are the success story of the simulated season at the back, having not conceded a single goal in their opening three matches.
Behind them on two clean sheets are Crystal Palace and Sheffield United.
The Eagles rode their luck in Gameweek 1, of course, with Neal Maupay (£5.7m) twice missing from the spot.
The Blades have been quietly impressive, much like in the real world.
Chris Wilder’s troops have conceded just once in this virtual campaign (against Liverpool on the opening weekend) and no side registered fewer ‘attacks against’ in Gameweeks 2 and 3 combined.
Three fairly favourable fixtures against Burnley, Norwich and Newcastle follow next, although all three are away from home.
Virtual FPL Premier League Table
Upcoming Fixtures
Arsenal and Liverpool’s fixtures look the most favourable over the next five Gameweeks, while Manchester City enjoy a fixture swing in Gameweek 5.
Everton’s next five matches are arguably the worst in the division, meanwhile.
Spurs now have three successive games on home soil, while Sheffield United are on the road in Gameweeks 4-6.
Team Attacks – For and Against
As hinted at earlier, we’ve put together a spreadsheet that details team attacks (both for and against) by Gameweek.
These are documented using the commentary in Virtual FPL.
The updated standings are below:
Injuries and Bans
Ashley Barnes (£6.1m) and Gabriel Jesus (£9.5m) will both serve the final games of their three-match bans this evening before returning in Gameweek 5.
Davy Propper (£4.8m) and Issa Diop (£4.3m) were dismissed in Gameweeks 2 and 3 respectively and are also serving three-game suspensions.
Christian Atsu (£5.3m) has joined the injury list since our last round-up, as has Watford’s highest-scoring vFPL defender Craig Cathcart (£4.3m) – both of these players will be unavailable until Gameweek 7.
As we discussed earlier, Wolves will be without Doherty for the next four matches.
There are some players returning in Gameweek 4, however: Harvey Barnes (£6.2m), Jan Vertonghen (£5.2m), Sam Byram (£4.3m) and Angus Gunn (£4.2m) will all be available on Tuesday night.
Gunn’s return puts Alex McCarthy‘s (£4.5m) start in some doubt, although form – according to Ragabolly – is apparently a factor regarding team selection in Virtual FPL and the Southampton shot-stopper did keep a clean sheet in Gameweek 3 in his positional rival’s absence.
Rankings
Andy King remains top of the overall rankings while DeltaFox, who heads the Fantasy Football Scout mini-league, sits just three points behind him.
In total, four of the top ten Virtual FPL managers in the world are signed up to our mini-league: DeltaFox, Eddie Campbell, Burgerboy and gapester.
You can join the Fantasy Football Scout mini-league by entering the code 9RV4A via the below link.
4 years, 2 days ago
Liverpool Attacks By Team please ?
As someone owning Mane / Salah double up and questioning it everytime I look at my team, that info is absolutely critical 🙂