Games

Virtual FPL to ramp up deadlines as Premier League football return nears

The return of the Premier League may be on the horizon but the ‘virtual’ Fantasy action goes on in the meantime, so we’ll continue to keep tabs on Ragabolly’s game – if perhaps not quite at the same frequency as before.

We’ve got the usual weekend double-header preview to bring you below, however, along with news of some deadline changes from the creator himself.

READ MOREHow to sign up and play Virtual FPL

SCOUT NOTES

(The full results from Gameweek 25 are available via the Virtual FPL fixtures page or the game’s Twitter account.)

DAILY DEADLINES
→ Who was the unlikely highest scorer in Double Gameweek 37, recording 21 FPL points?

With the news that top-flight football is set to return on June 17, Ragabolly has decided to bring forward the end-date of Virtual FPL to avoid a clash with Fantasy Premier League’s resumption.

The deadlines will continue as planned (i.e. Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday) up until Gameweek 31, after which the remaining Gameweeks will take place on a daily basis.

That should mean everything is wrapped up by Sunday 14 June, three days before the actual football restarts.

MIDDLING RETURNS

There will be some key Virtual FPL midfielders returning on Sunday, the most noteworthy perhaps being Mohamed Salah (£12.7m) and Anthony Martial (£8.0m).

The Egyptian has had a relatively short spell on the simulated sidelines after picking up an injury in Gameweek 24 but saw his ownership halve ahead of Thursday night, with many making the sideways move to Sadio Mane (£12.4m).

Liverpool scraped a 2-1 win over in-form Brighton and Hove Albion in Salah’s absence, with Mane among the scorers.

Martial has been out for longer, having lasted just 20 minutes of the Gameweek 20 clash with Leicester City before succumbing to injury.

His return is certainly worthy of mention given that Manchester United enjoy appealing-looking games against West Ham United and Bournemouth in Gameweeks 29 and 30, although the trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday could be trickier.

The Frenchman has 17 attacking returns in 20 appearances (two of which were less than half an hour in length) this season and is ranked sixth among all vFPL assets for value based on the ‘Pts/£/90’ metric.

Riyad Mahrez (£8.4m) will also be back after an eight-week absence.

SIXY FOOTBALL
What's the best strategy for choosing forwards in FPL? 7

Mahrez’s return adds to the rotation risk at Manchester City but the players who own the shirts at present did themselves a huge favour on Thursday as Pep Guardiola’s mythical men hit West Ham United for six.

Sergio Aguero (£11.9m) held onto his place in the starting XI and delivered a 16-point haul, with Kevin De Bruyne (£10.6m) registering a hat-trick of assists and the in-form Leroy Sane (£9.3m) and Raheem Sterling (£11.7m) also getting on the scoresheet.

De Bruyne and Sane have now gone 17 and 16 matches respectively without dropping out of the starting XI, while Sterling has only been a substitute once this season.

Chelsea Swagger

Chelsea smashed the record for most attacks in a single Virtual FPL game on Thursday, racking up a remarkable 53 chances against Manchester United.

They scored just once, however, with Marcos Alonso (£6.1m) bagging a late goal to move level with second-place Andrew Robertson (£7.0m) in the vFPL defenders’ points-scorers list.

Alonso was involved in more attacks (15) than any other player in Gameweek 25, with Tammy Abraham (£7.5m) and Christian Pulisic (£6.9m) just one short of the Spaniard.

Even Cesar Azpilicueta (£5.8m) was involved in a dozen of Chelsea’s moves as the Blues laid siege to United’s goal and sent them bottom of the vFPL attacks conceded spreadsheet.

The goals may have dried up of late (just two in the last three Gameweeks) but that is something we have come to expect when the Virtual FPL match schedules get trickier, so the escalating attack count and imminent fixture swing could be a juicy combination.

KANE IS ABLE
Harry Kane - An FPL Must Own Over Christmas 1

Back from a ten-week lay-off and back amongst the goals, Harry Kane (£10.8m) returned to the Tottenham Hotspur starting XI on Thursday and hit a late brace in the Lilywhites’ 3-2 win over Crystal Palace.

The Spurs striker is scoring at a rate of more than a goal a game (17 in 15), which is better than any other premium, £10.0m+ asset – although he doesn’t have a single assist to his name this season.

Spurs’ schedule from Sunday is excellent, with just one ‘red’ fixture (no side has fewer) and six ‘greens’ (only Wolves have more) remaining from Gameweek 27 onwards.


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 Gameweek 25 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

Neal Maupay (£5.7m), Troy Parrott (£4.3m), Declan Rice (£4.7m) and Adam Smith (£4.3m) all return from injury on Saturday, with Richarlison (£8.3m), Isaac Hayden (£4.3m) and Valentino Lazaro (£5.4m) newly available after three-match bans.

A further 15 players (including Salah and Martial) will be back on Sunday, meanwhile, with their full details listed above.

Three of those are Romain Saiss (£4.6m), Kelechi Iheanacho (£5.7m) and Marco Stiepermann (£5.0m), who were all dismissed after picking up two bookings on Thursday.

Jeff Hendrick (£5.4m), Kiko Femenia (£4.2m), Olivier Giroud (£6.6m), Panagiotis Retsos (£4.5m), Ainsley Maitland-Niles (£4.5m) and Shane Duffy (£4.8m) are fresh additions to the injury list, meanwhile, although the latter is among that cluster of Virtual FPL assets who return on Sunday.

RANKINGS

Fábio Borges has extended his lead to 45 points in the overall standings and in our Fantasy Football Scout mini-league, with Joe Gunbie remaining in second in both.

Joelnewman shot into the top ten in the above table after a well-played Bench Boost in Gameweek 25 saw him smash the 100-point barrier.

FPL Hints is still the top of the Great and the Good league, meanwhile, with TopMarx remaining first in the Mods and Cons league.

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

Which FPL assets are on set-piece duties at their clubs? 1

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57 Comments Post a Comment
  1. ritzyd
    • 6 Years
    3 years, 10 months ago

    Fixtures are confirmed now then, are these the same order as before the suspension?

    https://talksport.com/football/557461/premier-league-fixtures-in-full-when-football-returns-dates-and-kick-off-times/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

    1. ritzyd
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 10 months ago

      Obviously exact times/dates will move but i mean the fixtures for the gameweek are the same?

    2. dunas_dog
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 10 months ago

      This was written this morning so I have think knowing the dates the journalist has assumed, possibly correctly that Fixtures will follow same order as intended but nothing confirmed as yet.

    3. bitm2007
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 9 Years
      3 years, 10 months ago

      That is the same order.

    4. SouthCoastSaint
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 10 months ago

      Not sure it will follow this given that some of the games may be at neutral venues that may not be able to stay within the original fixtures

  2. Feanor
    • 14 Years
    3 years, 10 months ago

    Can you bank star points in Bundesliga fantasy?

    Or can you only use each star once per gameweek?

    1. Goro Majima
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 4 Years
      3 years, 10 months ago

      I don't believe you can bank any points, if you transfer the star you lose the extra points for the player you remove it from as far as I can tell.

      1. Nice to Finally Michu
        • 10 Years
        3 years, 10 months ago

        Right

        1. Goro Majima
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 4 Years
          3 years, 10 months ago

          Evening. How did you do midweek? Bit of a horror show but got out with 72 in the end, could have been a lot worse!

  3. DeadStarComing
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 10 months ago

    Hello everyone! Back at work this week so haven't been posting. Just wanted to say hi and hope everyone is well! So football really is coming back!? Great to have something to look forward to in these tough times.

    1. SouthCoastSaint
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 10 months ago

      This. A light for a lot of people. We know it’s for money reasons mostly and I really fear for the EPL teams but certainly something to get excited about

  4. Fpl Richie
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 8 Years
    3 years, 10 months ago

    6th and I don't get a mention?
    Come on Neale lad give me a break 🙂

    1. tets mcgee (Bachmann an Rob…
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 10 months ago

      seems that genius joel newman fella in 5th stole ur spotlight 🙂

  5. Totti
    • 7 Years
    3 years, 10 months ago

    hey everyone
    wish u a prosperous fantasy premier league during the rest of this season full of green arrows 🙂

    i've a question guys, yesterday i entered the FPL game and i found unlimited transfers, any news what happened in the game or any new rules for the postponment done in the leagues?

    1. dunas_dog
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      3 years, 10 months ago

      I think no announcement expected on how game might restart until fixtures released. But you will find yourself unable to make any transfers with end of season see you next year message

      1. Totti
        • 7 Years
        3 years, 10 months ago

        LoL
        i didn't try to make transfers but i found my team like i'm on wildcard 🙂

    2. SouthCoastSaint
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 10 months ago

      No real news yet. Rumours of a wildcard all round but we don’t even know if the game will return at all yet

      1. Wild Rover
        • 13 Years
        3 years, 10 months ago

        There are not 'rumours' of a wildcard, just idle speculation on here.

        1. Ole.
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 14 Years
          3 years, 10 months ago

          I reckon they'll give one.

          1. Wild Rover
            • 13 Years
            3 years, 10 months ago

            So do others but that is just your guess, it doesn't constitute a rumour

  6. FPL price manipulators are …
    • 10 Years
    3 years, 10 months ago

    'Ramp up'.Skonto been watching too many Hancock press conferences of ramping up testing

    1. Skonto Rigga
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • Has Moderation Rights
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 10 months ago

      I've been ramping down the watching when he's on.

  7. goriuanx
    • 13 Years
    3 years, 10 months ago

    Owning talismen from clubs with something to play for is probably going to be key in navigating the remainder of the season. The 5 sub rule is surely going to affect the likes of Man City who have a lot of depth or teams that are comfortably safe like Crystal Palace.

    Grealish, Jimmy, Bruno are probably going to be in almost every team.

    Pogba, Rashford, Son, Kane make great differentials.

    1. SouthCoastSaint
      • 12 Years
      3 years, 10 months ago

      Centre backs will be huge I think. Liverpool the obvious issue once title is won. Foden surely a huge enabler

      1. goriuanx
        • 13 Years
        3 years, 10 months ago

        Egan, Maguire etc will be very reliable picks unless they become ill.

        I can see Klopp rotating and making use of the 5 subs once the title is won. It makes sense to protect and plan for next season than to chase egotistical records in an already disrupted season.

        1. SouthCoastSaint
          • 12 Years
          3 years, 10 months ago

          Yep could make the relegation candidates options. Grealish the obvious shout

    2. Klaren
      • 6 Years
      3 years, 10 months ago

      I'm not so sure about Bruno. Pogba can also play in his position so he might get rested in some fixtures. We also don't know how penalties and direct free kicks will be shared between him and Rashford (and even Pogba if Ole intends to keep him happy).

      1. goriuanx
        • 13 Years
        3 years, 10 months ago

        The thing with Pogba is that you can't ever trust him to play a few games consecutively. Bruno's impact has been quite impressive and while Pogba is the better player, I wouldn't be surprised if Ole has Bruno as his main man already. Pogba leaving United has been a ticking time bomb for ages now.

    3. Amey
      • 5 Years
      3 years, 10 months ago

      Agree with this BB

      My team atm is:

      Henderson .....
      Taa Taylor Saiss Stephens Lascells
      Salah KDB Bruno Son .....
      Vardy Rashford DCL

      I think i have followed same strategy of talismans. Got 0.7 spare so i will upgrade the 5tg midfielder in case of rotation.

    4. Maximus Bonimus Pointimus
      • 14 Years
      3 years, 10 months ago

      Credit to FPL Virg where it’s due

      He has been very publicly and very regularly banging this exact “talismen & centrebacks” drum for the last 2 months

      1. MYNAMEISBigtopmark.sman
        • 6 Years
        3 years, 10 months ago

        But there is no advantage for those who hold wildcards because we all had the same opportunities and the circumstances are exactly the same as they were before lockdown blahs blahs blah

        1. Maximus Bonimus Pointimus
          • 14 Years
          3 years, 10 months ago

          Take it to the WC hot topic thread buddy

          1. MYNAMEISBigtopmark.sman
            • 6 Years
            3 years, 10 months ago

            Oh I am there. Dont worry. It is full of this is fair for everybody crap

            1. Maximus Bonimus Pointimus
              • 14 Years
              3 years, 10 months ago

              The outrage is palpable in there for sure, things are getting emotional

      2. @persecuted_by_mods
          3 years, 10 months ago

          Credit where it's due? Nothing has even happened yet

          1. Maximus Bonimus Pointimus
            • 14 Years
            3 years, 10 months ago

            Other than the "centre backs & talismen" line of thought

            1. @persecuted_by_mods
                3 years, 10 months ago

                So credit for having a thought?

                1. Maximus Bonimus Pointimus
                  • 14 Years
                  3 years, 10 months ago

                  Don’t underestimate the power of a thought - a thought can change the world

                  Conceiving a thought, articulating that thought, communicating with others about that thought, and then having others come around to that way of thinking - isn’t that one of the things that separates us from animals

                  A thot on the otherhand...

      3. SouthCoastSaint
        • 12 Years
        3 years, 10 months ago

        Great to see FPL has continued with the virtual version - haven’t been on these pages for a while but massive shout out to Ragabolly for giving people something to have an interest in these last few months - looking forward to some epic FPL months ahead - beyond words how terrible this has all been ( personally lost a family member to covid) but a football return is a light to a lot of people. Can’t wait. Great community

        1. goriuanx
          • 13 Years
          3 years, 10 months ago

          I'm very sorry for your loss. Stay strong mate and good to see you post on here.

        2. UnitedFan
          • 8 Years
          3 years, 10 months ago

          Sorry to hear that.

        3. The Polymath
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 8 Years
          3 years, 10 months ago

          Sincere condolences for your loss.

        4. Skonto Rigga
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • Has Moderation Rights
          • 6 Years
          3 years, 10 months ago

          Really sorry to hear that, my condolences. Can only second what you've said there, particularly the praise for Ragabolly.

          1. SouthCoastSaint
            • 12 Years
            3 years, 10 months ago

            This. Haven’t played myself but I’ve followed the pages (couldn’t resist) and seen it’s given many some joy.

            All about finding positives in bad situations. Cheers all

        5. Rhinos
          • 10 Years
          3 years, 10 months ago

          Condolences, trivial things can be a great relief from life's hardships which is why fpl both doesn't and does matter

        6. Amey
          • 5 Years
          3 years, 10 months ago

          Stay strong.
          Difficult times mate. Very sorry to hear that.

          And yes, this is the best social community in the World !!

        7. shirtless
          • Fantasy Football Scout Member
          • 12 Years
          3 years, 10 months ago

          I know how you feel best wishes and condolences to you and your family. My dad went in for a cancer op March 15th, came out April 1st, then three weeks ago had to go back in after feeling unwell and picking up an infection diagnosed as sepsis. Last Wednesday he returned a positive Covid test. He’s had cancer for coming up 11 years and is the last person you’d wish to have to fight this. No idea how he got it and we can’t visit. Doctors don’t seem overly worried but he’s seems to be struggling to beat this infection. I’m hardly sleeping, keeping our business going, daughter bored off school trying to keep her spirits up too. It’s been rough times. Worst thing is our family dog was put down in Jan so mum’s home alone and obviously our visits have to be distanced.

          1. St Pauli Walnuts
            • Fantasy Football Scout Member
            • 5 Years
            3 years, 10 months ago

            Chin-up mate, hopefully better times around the corner. I hope your Dad makes a swift recovery.

          2. SouthCoastSaint
            • 12 Years
            3 years, 10 months ago

            Sounds incredibly tough - keep fighting. I found reading helps with the lack of sleep. I’m sure your Mum is appreciative of the socially distanced visits and it’s important to talk things out with close ones. I hope your Dad overcomes this latest setback, keep strong

      4. Rhinos
        • 10 Years
        3 years, 10 months ago

        Personally I don't think we should get an extra wildcard as we've had 8 or 9 free transfers already, lets give those who used them an advantage. Can see why some disagree though so whatever, will just be glad to get fpl back.
        The worst option would be unlimited transfers for all, this would mean could effectively wildcard and bench boost in the same gameweek, that would go against the spirit of the rules

      5. BNMC
        • 4 Years
        3 years, 10 months ago

        Hi Rag, if you're around, vFPL question.

        Will we see teams facing relegation and competing for European places have more "fight" towards the end of the season? And will comfortable midtable teams have less of that since they have nothing to play for?

        1. Ragabolly
          • 14 Years
          3 years, 10 months ago

          Yes, there is a bit of "motive" stats implemented in the game, but hasn't been fully tested yet. Hope it works like I envisioned it. If it does, teams with something to play for will be more threatening.

      6. JBG
        • 5 Years
        3 years, 10 months ago

        Hi everyone! Hope everyone's doing well during these times!

        A question regarding FPL, do we have unlimited transfers? Kinda seems like it on the FPL website, so I'm confused :/. Regretting not doing my 2 free transfers before last gw.

        1. Netley Lucas
          • 8 Years
          3 years, 10 months ago

          Nope. I haven't made a tranny since gw28, just wait for news bud.

        2. JBG
          • 5 Years
          3 years, 10 months ago

          Nevermind.. Got my answer trying to make transfers now.