All refreshed after the international break, we cast our minds back to the previous week’s action and focus on our future options in the Sky Sports game. As always, we bring you the usual info – Man of the Match (MoTM) awards, bonus point beneficiaries and the current market trends before taking a look at the Scout team and our plans for the week ahead.

Gameweek 3 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).

Two defenders, six midfielders and two forwards picked up the awards before the international break. You can acquire the services of the vast majority of players listed here for pennies with only Sterling and Costa costing a significant slice of your budget. Sterling has now picked up the gong twice in three matches and looks to be in great form going into a kind fixture list – if, like me, you’re not on board this cash cow I think it’s time to suck it up and bite the bullet.

Gameweek 3 Bonus Points

Three goalkeepers achieved bonus points from collecting five or more saves. Robert Green, Hugo Lloris and Kasper Schmeichel were the men in question, with Green claiming the most saves (six) of the Gameweek, though Schmeichel leads the way overall with an extra four points from bonus so far.

In defence, 13 players grabbed bonus – five for tackles and eight for passes completed. Sunderland full-back Patrick Van Aanholt came closest to achieving both; he managed more than enough tackles for bonus but missed out by eight completed passes for the double award.

In midfield there were 20 beneficiaries in total: nine for tackling and 12 for passes. Morgan Schneiderlin again picked up both and leads the way alongside Mark Noble with eight additional points overall.

Hardworking forwards Diego Costa and Andreas Weimann also managed to grab tackling bonus this week to add to their impressive hauls.

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

Our Sky Fantasy frontlines have undergone significant changes since the last round of fixtures. Four of the top five most transferred out players ply their trade up top – injured duo Daniel Sturridge and Stevan Jovetic lead the way, while Diego Costa and Aaron Ramsey both head into the upcoming Gameweek with question marks hanging over their availability.

Top Transfers In

Radamel Falcao’s arrival at United has clearly had a major effect. Not only is the Colombian the most popular pick, Danny Welbeck is next in line after moving from Old Trafford to Arsenal, while Wayne Rooney is also amongst the most transferred out. Raheem Sterling’s exceptional form for Liverpool makes him an irresistible option, while Diego Costa is another to acquire numerous new owners – clearly, many expect him to recover in time to face the Swans tomorrow.

My Team

Fabianski
Moore Hutton Van Aanholt
Hazard Toure Ramsey Mutch Eriksen
Rooney Sturridge

ITB: 1.2m
Transfers remaining 36/40
Last week’s points: 58
Overall points: 218
Rank: 2,444

Notes

A fairly average week for the team with Diego Costa’s 18 points the most significant haul. A last minute change of heart to bring in Christian Eriksen instead of Sterling was evidently a big mistake and one that will haunt me. Sterling is looking like he’s essential at present, especially with some great fixtures coming up but I’m not ready to give up on Eriksen after only one match in my team, so my plan of action is to swap the misfiring Jordon Mutch to Sterling and then bring in a forward for the injured Sturridge on a temporary basis (I’ll want him back in as soon as fit, more than likely). Using so many transfers early on is a concern but I had probably used one or two more than this last time out and that didn’t work out too shabby – getting your team settled early on is a priority in my opinion so don’t worry too much if you’re in a similar situation.

Who to replace Sturridge with then? Looking at the fixtures I like the look of Graziano Pelle or a Hull forward for the temporary stint – Pelle offers good fixtures and is probably a safer choice but I’m leading towards Hernandez as detailed below as it assists me in my captain strategy.

Captain Plan

I have decided to roll the dice a little here; my plan is to stick the armband on Wayne Rooney for United’s home tie against QPR on Sunday, thus forgoing a captain on Saturday. I’ll then transfer out Sturridge for one of Jelavic/Hernandez depending on the team sheets and give them the armband which means I’ll be locked into them as skipper the following week, setting me up once again for two captains – with Hernandez still awaiting a work permit, though, I’m leaning towards the Croatian.

The Fantasy Football Scout League

Once again, we’re running our own Fantasy Football Scout League this season and were hoping to top the Private League rankings once again. 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: 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 Bolton man Fabrice Muamba and asking him for his #One2Eleven.