Sky Sports Focus – Gameweek 31

There’s lots to catch up on in the Sky Sports game after a bumper double Gameweek 29 and a solitary Gameweek 30 provide us with more data to analyse. We bring you the usual info, including Man of the Match (MoTM) awards, bonus point beneficiaries, the transfer trends, the Watchlist and a look at the Scout team and our future plans.

Gameweek 29/30 Man of the Match Awards

These were the players that caught the eye of the Sky Sports reporters from last weekend’s fixtures achieving the Man of the Match award (worth an additional five points).

Three keepers, two defenders, ten midfielders and four forwards picked up the awards over the 19 matches. A few players with over 10% ownership will have had a significant impact on the overall leaderboards, with Lukasz Fabianski (10%), Harry Kane (17.9%) and Alexis Sanchez (23.2%) the popular players amongst the star men. Kane was certainly the most significant player to own as he was the clear standout captain choice in Gameweek 30’s single fixture as Spurs rolled up to QPR – those who went without missed out on 17 points (34 points captained) and will certainly be ruing that decision.

Gameweek 29/30 Bonus Points

Nine goalkeepers achieved bonus points from collecting five or more saves over the double Gameweek. Save machine Costel Pantilimon managed to earn bonus in both of his matches, picking up an extra four points bringing his total to 18. Robert Green is still streets ahead of Pantilimon, though, with 26 bonus points earned from saves over the season.

In defence, 15 players grabbed bonus, nine for tackles and six for passes completed. Man City full-back Pablo Zabaleta was one of the beneficiaries and further cements his place as the leading bonus point gatherer at the back with 20 additional points so far.

In midfield, there were 28 beneficiaries in total: 16 for tackling and 19 for passes. Five midfielders picked up bonus twice but it was a return to form for Morgan Schneiderlin, who chipped in with tackling twice and passing once to earn an additional six points. Nemanja Matic is still the game’s overall highest bonus point earner with 42 points credited.

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

The Transfer Trends

Top Transfers Out

This is basically a list of players who started the season very well and have tailed off significantly in recent months. Alan Hutton picked up his tenth booking of the season and is now suspended until next Gameweek, whilst Angel di Maria serves a one-match ban for United’s clash with Spurs.

Top Transfers In

The single fixture of QPR vs Tottenham in Gameweek 30 has had a big impact on transfers, with four of the five featuring for either side. Ki Sung-Yueng makes up the five and features for the third week running – he’s clearly a favorite for the budget midfield slot ahead of a kind run of fixtures for Swansea.

Top Five Captains Picked

These are the top five most picked captains going into the weekends fixtures. For me this serves to highlight the amount of “dead” teams left in the game – all the more so when you consider Harry Kane was the stand out captain choice for last week’s solitary fixture. You could perhaps make a case for the Sergio Aguero captainers who chose to ignore that fixture still being active but I would suggest the majority of the roughly 45% Fantasy managers here are no longer giving the game their undivided attention – good news to those who still have aspirations to climb the leaderboards.

Watchlist

Here I aim to highlight a few differential players with below 5% ownership that I think could be good options in the coming weeks to climb the rankings. These will be looking at three specific price brackets to cater for our available budget. These names evolve with fixtures and form and offer fantasy managers a nudge in hopefully the right direction.

My Team

Fabianski
Lescott Bertrand Dawson
Hazard Sigurdsson Fabregas Mane
Aguero© Kane Sanchez

ITB: 0.2m
Transfers remaining: 9/40
Last two week’s points: 142
Overall points: 1644
Rank: 221

Notes
A jump in rank by 262 places thanks in large to my skippers Sadio Mane and Harry Kane, who chipped in 32 and 38 points respectively. Also my three transfers of Joleon Lescott, Craig Dawson and Gylfi Sigurdsson all picked up points and helped to refresh my waning defence and the disappointing Angel di Maria (still can’t believe I transferred out David Silva for him a few weeks back).

I’m now happy with my team for the coming weeks and, injuries aside, I’ll probably stick for quite a while. The only players that I worry about not owning are Raheem Sterling due to his ownership and David Silva because of his relentless form. If either of those two continue to hurt me and Cesc Fabregas picks up a suspension it’s an easy switch penciled in for the future.

Captain plan

Due to preparing well in Gameweek 30, I still have my captain swap available and will give it to either Sergio Aguero for his trip against Burnley or Alexis Sanchez for his home tie against West Ham. Both look decent options but the weight of Champions League fixtures is playing on my mind. Aguero looks the likeliest to suffer reduced minutes and with Sanchez returning to form with a MoTM performance last time out, I’m currently siding with the Chilean.

A switch to Harry Kane for Sunday’s fixtures is on the cards – although Man United away isn’t the best fixture it serves to set me up nicely for Gameweek 32 when Spurs play host to Leicester on the first matchday.

Of course the option for three skippers is available this week with Monday night’s clash of Swansea and Liverpool if you wish to use a transfer.

The Fantasy Football Scout League

Once again, we’re running our own Fantasy Football Scout League this season and are currently topping the Private League rankings as per usual. With a £1000 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: 8009000.

The Fantasy Football Club

This Friday The Fantasy Football Club show, where you can catch Fenners and Merse at 18:30 SkySports One HD where they will be discussing the upcoming week’s Fantasy Football, quizzing former Liverpool midfielder Terry McDermott and asking him for his #One2Eleven.