Sky Sports Focus – Gameweek 35

It’s Friday afternoon and time to reassess our Sky teams once more. With only five Gameweeks to go, the pressure is on at the top of our mini-leagues – it’s a good idea, then, to take a look at our stats including the Man of the Match (MoTM) awards, bonus point beneficiaries and current market trends. As always, we also scan ahead to the forthcoming fixtures, offering our preferred captain setup for Gameweek 35.

Gameweek 34 Man of the Match Awards

Listed below is a match-by-match breakdown of the players who won the plaudits from the Sky Sports reporters last time out, earning five additional points for the Man-of-the-Match award.

Midfielders dominate again this week, with only Steven Naismith, who is listed as a forward, and Hull defender Curtis Davies breaking the trend. A number of differential options are making a claim for our XI and could be useful for the run in if you’re chasing a mini-league rival. David Silva (5%), Juan Mata (7.4%), Willian (0.5%) and Christian Eriksen’s 2.6% ownership look the pick of the bunch and fit the mould for players most likely to receive MoTM – playmaking midfielders.

Gameweek 34 Bonus Points

Eight goalkeepers managed five saves or more this week with Adrian and Vito Mannone the top performers with six apiece. Mannone continues to rake in the bonus and is top of the pile with 28 additional points.

In defence, only six players gathered bonus, three for tackles and three for passes completed – full-back Cesar Azpilicueta came closest to achieving both, missing out by 13 completed passes. Swansea’s Angel Rangel leads the way for the defenders with 26 extra bonus points.

In midfield, 13 players earned bonus points – three for tackling and ten for passes. Stoke’s central midfielder Glenn Whelan was the closet to achieving both, missing out by just one completed pass. Cheik Tiote, Morgan Schneiderlin and Yaya Toure are the games top bonus earners with 40 extra points.

One forward managed bonus this week, as Emmanuel Adebayor, who featured in a slightly withdrawn role, racked up 62 completed passes to go with his two-goal haul, vindicating our choice for captain last week.

A reminder that Fantasy Football Scout members can access all the data regarding bonus points using player stats and clicking the Sky Sports tab.

The Transfer Trends

Top Transfers Out

A massive shake up considering the amount of active players that still have transfers remaining, with a host of big hitting options finding themselves shipped out. Jay Rodriguez is set to miss the rest of the season. Eden Hazard looks likely to miss a couple of games and, whilst Wayne Rooney has a blank Gameweek, Yaya Toure has recovered from a minor knock. Toure’s team-mate Alvaro Negredo continues to be shifted after a lack of first team opportunities.

Top Transfers In

Some tactical captain swaps seem to have shaped the market trends with Emmanuel Adebayor and Romelu Lukaku drafted in – probably due to these two being the most obvious routes to maximizing armband options over last/this week. As usual, Liverpool assets make up the rest of the top five due to their pre-season pricing and surprise title-challenge, with Jon Flanagan looking great value at just 4.2m.

Gameweek 35 Proposed Captain Strategy

Looking ahead to the captaincy choices for Gameweek 35 there is a multitude of options due to the additional fixtures.

Our Strategy:
Emmanuel Adebayor (West Brom Away) → Sergio Aguero (Liverpool Away) → Sergio Aguero (Sunderland at Home)

For Saturday April 12’s fixtures there are a few options to consider, with Romelu Lukaku and Adam Lallana making strong claims also as they play Sunderland and Cardiff respectively. However, with Emmanuel Adebayor coming up trumps last week, we’re sticking by our man as he travels to The Hawthorns.

For Sunday 13, a switch to a Man City player looks the best option as although they travel to Anfield for a tough game against Liverpool, they then play again on Wednesday 16 at home to Sunderland – a potential massacre.

Interestingly if you transfer out your Saturday captain for a Man City player you will have ‘banked’ your captain change and can use it after the Gameweek has finished in order to prepare for Gameweek 36.

The Fantasy Football Scout League

Our own Fantasy Football Scout League is on top of the Private League rankings. With a £1,000 prize to the winner, you’d be mad not to get involved. To join, visit Sky Sports Fantasy Football and key in League Name: FFScout, League Code: 8000112.

The Fantasy Football Club

This Friday The Fantasy Football Club show, where you can catch Fenners and Merse at 18:30 Skysports One HD. They’ll be discussing the previous week’s Fantasy Football events and quizzing Stoke City winger Matthew Etherington and asking him for his #One2Eleven.