Sky Sports Focus – Gameweek 26

It’s now time for our weekly Sky Sports Focus article this Sunday evening. As always, we assess the recent run of Man of the Match (MoTM) awards, bonus point beneficiaries, the transfer trends and the Watchlist before taking a look at the Scout team and our future plans.

Gameweek 25 Man of the Match Awards

Listed below are 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).

Eight midfielders and two forwards picked up the awards last week. Our watchlist tip Roberto Firmino picked up an incredible 20-point haul and, with just 2.9% ownership, looks a great option as he continues to be fielded in an advanced role for Liverpool.

Lots of popular options also helped bumped the average score, with Riyad Mahrez (38.9%), Odion Ighalo (16.6%), Dele Alli (12.5%) and Dimitri Payet (11.3%) the main men. Cesc Fabregas (4.1%) is another interesting option – he was electric in the first half of 2014/15, outscoring every other midfielder by a considerable margin until colleague Eden Hazard kicked into gear. This season he’s mainly mirrored his club’s form with some poor showings, though has still has managed to rack up 99 points – this places his eighth for midfielders overall due to his regular bonus points. If he can keep up his recent upturn in output, he could rise as an option once again.

Gameweek 25 Bonus Points

Just one goalkeeper picked up bonus this week – the under-pressure Wayne Hennessey churned out eight saves, double that of any other keeper to bank an extra two points. Petr Cech is the game’s leading keeper in ownership (23%), overall points (105) and bonus (16).

In defence, seven players grabbed bonus, five for tackles and two for passes completed. Stoke’s Erik Pieters managed to rack up four challenges and now sits top for defenders on 16 bonus points.

In midfield. there were 16 beneficiaries in total: 13 for tackling and five for passes. Moussa Dembele and the afore-mentioned Fabregas were the two to pick up both. Fabregas’ 40 bonus points is ten clear of the second-placed Lucas Leiva.

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

Aleksandar Kolarov and Marko Arnautovic have been injury doubts in recent weeks, though both could still be back in contention over the next few days. Kevin de Bruyne is set for a period on the sidelines after being ruled out for eight-to-ten weeks with the knee injury picked up in the Capital One Cup semi-final. Romelu Lukaku’s form has dipped in recent weeks, with the Everton frontman failing to score in all but one of his last six league outings.

Top Transfers In

It’s no surprise to see Sergio Aguero dominating Fantasy managers’ thoughts after a brace last week. Dele Alli continues to make a mockery of his 4.0m valuation and helps act as a make weight for the aforementioned Aguero. Lukaku also features here, which backs up the captain transfer theory, as he played on the second day of the Gameweek. Popular playmakers Mesut Ozil and Dimitri Payet make up the two final options in our top five.

Top Five Captains Picked

Watchlist

Here I aim to highlight a few differential players with low ownership that I think could be good options for the next six fixtures. 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

Gomes
Cathcart Dawson Nyom
Ramsey Mahrez Payet De Bruyne
Aguero© Lukaku Kane

ITB: 1.1m
Transfers remaining: 16/40
Last week’s points: 70
Overall points: 1329
Rank: 2,382

Notes
It was a decent week for my team despite only one captain – luckily for me that man was Sergio Aguero, who brought home 24 points alone. Craig Cathcart nicked a goal, Craig Dawson served up a clean sheet and Riyad Mahrez and Dimitri Payet both grabbed the MoTM to aid my cause.

In terms of transfers remaining I’m now back in a relatively healthy position, having held off from tinkering for a while. My first port of call is the injury to Kevin de Bruyne. With a likely ten-week absence, it’s clear he has to go and I have several option to consider – this is made all the much harder at this stage due to the uncertainty hanging over the likely dates of double Gameweeks for City, Liverpool, Everton and Newcastle.

As it stands, my favourite options are David Silva (an obvious replacement and MoTM/bonus magnet), Dele Alli (so cheap and well owned, great fixtures), Mesut Ozil (high ownership/consistent points), Roberto Firmino (differential, playing up front, good fixtures) and Cesc Fabregas (bonus potential, differential). It’s a real puzzler and I’ll likely wait right up until deadline in the hope we have more information in regards to fixtures.

Captain Plan
Sergio Aguero will be my skipper as City travel to the Stadium of Light on Tuesday evening and, given his current form, I’m hopeful of yet another big haul. Hopefully De Bruyne’s absence won’t adversely effect him.

For Wednesday, it’s an obvious swap to Romelu Lukaku – despite going off the boil in recent weeks, the Everton striker has a plum home tie against Newcastle. He also plays on Matchday one in Gameweek 27, though a trip to the Britannia isn’t the most straightforward of fixtures.

The Fantasy Football Scout League

Once again, we’re running our own Fantasy Football Scout League this season and are sitting in first place in the rankings at present. 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 new host Max Rushden and Paul Merson at 18:00 SkySports 1 HD where they will be discussing the upcoming week’s Fantasy Football as per usual.