With the international break behind us, it’s time to reacquaint ourselves with the Sky Sports game, assessing the recent run of Man of the Match (MoTM) awards, the bonus point magnets and the current market trends. As always, we also look ahead to the forthcoming Gameweek, offering our preferred captain setup.
Gameweek 3 Man of the Match Awards
Here’s a match-by-match breakdown of the players that won the plaudits from the Sky Sports reporters last time out, earning five additional points for the Man-of-the-Match award.
| Fixture | MoTM |
| Man City vs Hull | Sone Aluko |
| Cardiff vs Everton | Leighton Baines |
| Newcastle vs Fulham | Hatem Ben Arfa |
| Norwich vs Southampton | Nathan Redmond |
| West Ham vs Stoke | Jermaine Pennant |
| Crystal Palace vs Sunderland | Danny Gabbidon |
| Liverpool vs Man Utd | Glen Johnson |
| West Brom vs Swansea | Pablo Hernandez |
| Arsenal vs Tottenham | Laurent Koscielny |
With a measly 13 goals scored over the Gameweek, it’s perhaps not surprising to find just one forward amongst the list above. Hull’s Sone Aluko was the only striker to claim the MoTM accolade. There are few surprises elsewhere, with midfielders and defenders sharing four awards each. Notably, Stoke winger Jermaine Pennant only needed 12 minutes of pitch time to impress the Sky reporter courtesy of his decisive dead-ball strike in Stoke’s win at Upton Park.
Gameweek 3 Bonus Points
Fulham’s David Stockdale was the only goalkeeper to achieve bonus points, with 8 saves made in the 1-0 defeat at Newcastle; the shot stopper comes in at a budget friendly 3.8 million and is set to continue between the sticks until the return of the stricken Maarten Stekelenburg.
In defence, a total of ten players fetched bonus, eight for tackles and three for passes completed – Swansea’s raiding right-back, Angel Rangel, was the only defender to gain bonus for both and, in addition to his clean sheet and yellow card, the Spaniard earned a respectable 10 points form the 2-0 victory at the Hawthorns.
In midfield, only ten players picked up bonus – eight for tackling and four for passes, quite a significant drop from last week’s total 16. United’s new signing, Marouane Fellani and Stoke’s Steven N’Zonzi were the pair of midfielders to pick up bonus in both categories. Indeed, the fact that a member of the Potters midfield managed 61 completed passes hints at the change in style instilled by Mark Hughes at the Britannia.
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
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Wilshere | Arsenal | 6.2 | 4.42% |
| Cole | West Ham | 4.7 | 2.62% |
| Toure | Liverpool | 6.6 | 2.55% |
| Mata | Chelsea | 9 | 1.98% |
| Hazard | Chelsea | 8.8 | 1.92% |
All five players in our table above have suffered somewhat indifferent starts to the season with either injury, the threat of rotation or a combination of both effecting their starts. Chelsea duo Juan Mata and Eden Hazard were in the top five scoring midfielders last season, so it’s perhaps surprising to see so many give up on their potential so early.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Ozil | Arsenal | 8.8 | 8.80% |
| Giroud | Arsenal | 8.5 | 3.83 % |
| Rose | Tottenham | 4.7 | 3.63% |
| Ramsey | Arsenal | 5.8 | 3.31% |
| Redmond | Norwich | 4.6 | 3.29% |
Arsenal’s signing of Mesut Ozil has seen a massive 8.8% of managers jump on board without him kicking a ball – given Santi Cazorla’s 262 point domination of the game last season, it seems Fantasy managers are eyeing Ozil’s potential to do the same this time around, with Cazorla’s influence perhaps set to be reduced as a result.
Indeed, Ozil’s arrival, plus Arsenal’s form and fixtures looks to have had an influence on the acquisition of their assets with Olivier Giroud (3.83%) and Aaron Ramsey (3.31%) both picking up a batch of new owners.
Tottenham’s Danny Rose (3.63%) has featured in the top purchases for three weeks running; seemingly nailed on at left back in a tight defence, with a price tag of just £4.7 million, he looks almost essential given Spurs’ forthcoming run of opponents at the Lane.
Nathan Redmond (3.29%), somewhat surprisingly, finds himself also in the top five transferred in of the back of his goal and man of the match performance in the win over Southampton last week – with a value of £4.6 million, it could be that Redmond was the favoured route to help fund a swoop for Ozil.
Gameweek 4 Proposed Captain Strategy
Looking ahead to the armband options for Gameweek 4, we can again highlight two options and, with a Monday night kick-off, there’s the potential for a three captain Gameweek, should you look to use transfers to switch the skipper.
Captain Option 1
You have a captain playing in Saturday’s fixtures and use a transfer to switch to a candidate taking part in Sunday’s encounter between Southampton and West Ham; you then use your captain change to select a player from the Monday night clash between Swansea and Liverpool. If you prepared well last time out, you may be coming into this Gameweek with the armband already on Robin Van Persie, who faces a potentially profitable fixture with new boys Crystal Palace. For example:
Our Strategy:
Robin Van Persie → Rickie Lambert → Daniel Sturridge
Using the above strategy you would go into Gameweek 5 with the armband on Daniel Sturridge (if fit) who plays on Saturday September 21 at home to Southampton.
Captain Option 2
You have a captain playing Saturday and use a captain change to a player featuring in either Sunday or Monday’s matches. Missing out on three captains but keeping hold of a valuable transfer. For example:
Our Strategy:
Robin Van Persie → Daniel Sturridge
Using this method you would again go into Gameweek 5 with Sturridge as your captain for the Southampton clash.
The Fantasy Football Scout League
Our own Fantasy Football Scout League is currently riding high on top of the Private League rankings. 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: 8000112.
The Fantasy Football Club
If you missed Thursday’s show, you can still catch Fenners and Merse this evening at 23:30 Skysports One HD, where they will be discussing the previous week’s Fantasy Football events, chatting to Carlton Palmer and quizzing Barcelona’s Gerard Pique for his #One2Eleven.
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