Leicester City’s miracle Premier League winning campaign last season was remarkable and left football pundits scratching their heads.
Seven rounds into this season’s league however, The Foxes languish in 12th place with any sort of title defence seemingly impossible even at this stage.
But in the Fantasy Premier League world, a team that goes by the rather quirky name of ‘Victor Moses Lawn’, has turned heads with an extraordinary story of beating the odds of its own.
And while it was Leicester’s intensity, desire and energy that took them to the summit, this fantasy side benefits from their manager’s passive approach.
FPL manager Josh Lambourne sees his side sit eighth in the world (that’s out of nearly three million teams).
But, just wait – here’s the interesting bit – he’s not made a single transfer or changed his captain since the first matchday!
Tactical genius or just plain lucky? Either way, here’s how he pulled it off.
CAPTAIN FANTASY – KEVIN DE BRUYNE
The Belgian has been a hit in FPL ever since his arrival at Manchester City. He consistently scores points and even has Pep Guardiola’s respect who places him only a notch below Lionel Messi.
The City midfielder is currently the highest-scoring player in the game along with Alexis Sanchez with 49 points. Even with De Bruyne absent through injury, vice-captain Romelu Lukaku has deputised brilliantly.
However, even a team living a charmed life can suffer the odd blip and for Victor Moses Lawn, it came in the opening week when the Triple Captain chip was utilised on De Bruyne who only produced two points, amounting to six.
FLYING HIGH
— FPL (@OfficialFPL) October 3, 2016
Two players lead the way in #FPL as we head into the international break...
49 - @DeBruyneKev
49 - @Alexis_Sanchez pic.twitter.com/cs3rKBuiEm
A WELL-BALANCED SQUAD
What immediately strikes you when you look at the Lawn XI is the fact that it doesn’t consist of the mainstream big-hitters.
Yes, it does have the likes of serial point winners De Bruyne, Dimitri Payet and Sanchez within its ranks but hasn’t spent big on Sergio Aguero or Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Instead, Josh has opted for a modest but effective front line in Jermaine Defoe and Romelu Lukaku with Everton’s Enner Valencia on the bench – a budget buy no doubt.
SCOUT: Those 6 points, plus potential bonus, take Lukaku to the top of the forward rankings. New owners incoming. pic.twitter.com/4POxHKhqKb
— FPL (@OfficialFPL) September 30, 2016
A NORTH LONDON DEFENCE
Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal have seven clean sheets between them. That’s not too shabby, especially considering the nature of the Premier League this season with sides struggling in defence.
Petr Cech features between the sticks and with Hector Bellerin, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker and Laurent Koscielny making up the four-man defence, Victor Moses Lawn has defenders who will often chip in with a goal or assist as well.
With four assists and three goals between them so far, the defence has been churning out points nicely even if the men ahead of them have been doing most of the heavy lifting.
Here’s a pitch-view inspection of the team:
