Our weekly Sky game article is back again after Gameweek 5’s action. We delve into the usual info, including 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 5 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).
| Fixture | MoTM |
| Arsenal vs Man City | Jack Wilshere |
| Chelsea vs Swansea | Diego Costa |
| Crystal Palace vs Burnley | Scott Arfield |
| Southampton vs Newcastle | Graziano Pelle |
| Stoke vs Leicester | Esteban Cambiasso |
| Sunderland vs Tottenham | Mousa Dembele |
| West Brom vs Everton | Kevin Mirallas |
| Liverpool vs Aston Villa | Nathan Baker |
| Man United vs QPR | Angel di Maria |
| Hull vs West Ham | Enner Valencia |
One defender, six midfielders and three forwards picked up the awards last weekend. Diego Costa’s hat-trick helped him to grab his second MoTM award in four appearances, putting him as the top point-scorer overall with 53 points. Angel di Maria and Kevin Mirallas look bang in form at the moment and would be my tips for the coming weeks if you can find a way to draft them into your midfield. Esteban Cambiasso’s arrival at Leicester brings an interesting budget option into consideration – the 4.4m Argentine looks a very good enabler to free up cash and is likely to rack up passing and tackling bonus over the season.
Gameweek 5 Bonus Points
Four goalkeepers achieved bonus points from collecting five or more saves. Robert Green, Ben Hamer, Wojciech Szczesny and Lukasz Fabianski were the men in question, with Fabianski claiming the most saves over the Gameweek with seven, luckily bringing his points for the week back to zero after conceding four at Chelsea. Green joins Kasper Schmeichel at the top of the pile with an extra four points from bonus so far.
In defence, 12 players grabbed bonus, five for tackles and eight for passes completed. Javier Manquillo was the man to gather both and Liverpool’s new right-back looks to be bit of a bonus magnet after racking up eight additional points in just three matches – if he can see off the challenge of Glen Johnson, at just 5.5m he could be a real steal.
In midfield there were 26 beneficiaries in total – 15 for tackling and 15 for passes. All-action midfielders Morgan Schneiderlin, Aaron Ramsey, Ander Herrera and Moussa Dembele all picked up both. Schneiderlin leads the way overall with 12 additional points.
Fantasy Football Scout members can access all information regarding bonus points in the Player Stats section by clicking the Sky Sports tab.
The Transfer Trends
Top Transfers Out
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Sturridge | Liverpool | 9.8 | 6.76% |
| Jovetic | Man City | 7.9 | 5.64% |
| Debuchy | Arsenal | 6.1 | 5.08% |
| Balotelli | Liverpool | 9.2 | 2.34% |
| Ramsey | Arsenal | 8.6 | 1.98% |
Daniel Sturridge, Stevan Jovetic and Mathieu Debuchy are all stuck on the physio’s table for this weekend, although Sturridge has taken to Twitter to reveal he is back in light training. Mario Balotelli’s lacklustre performance against Aston Villa was obviously enough to convince a few people to jump ship already and Aaron Ramsey somewhat surprisingly makes up the fifth spot – I can only assume he’s been shipped out for the identically priced Angel di Maria as listed below.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Costa | Chelsea | 9.5 | 7.79% |
| Falcao | Man United | 9.4 | 5.27% |
| Di Maria | Man United | 8.6 | 4.93% |
| Welbeck | Arsenal | 7.8 | 3.10% |
| Hutton | Aston Villa | 3.8 | 2.94% |
Diego Costa is, unsurprisingly, the top transfer target this week after a stunning performance last weekend – the Spain international has a tough fixture against Man City at the Etihad this week but it appears that hasn’t deterred the punters too much. United duo Radamel Falcao and Angel di Maria have also been drafted in by roughly 5% of managers ahead of a trip to Leicester and both are bound to rake in the points over the coming weeks. Danny Welbeck’s appeal is clear to see – he’s playing in a creative Arsenal team as the focal point and will set you back a meager 7.8m. On paper, it looks too good to be true and so far it seems to be proving just that but goals are surely just around the corner for the England forward. More Fantasy managers are cottoning on to budget option Alan Hutton, who, at 3.8m, is one of the cheapest players in the game – the Scot finds himself as the second highest scoring defender overall as Villa continue to defy the odds.
My Team
Fabianski
Moore, Hutton, Van Aanholt
Hazard, Toure, Ramsey, Sterling, Eriksen
Rooney, Jelavic©
ITB: 0.6m
Transfers remaining 34/40
Last week’s points: 55
Overall points: 273
Rank: 7,100
Notes
No Diego Costa or Cesc Fabregas contributed to a heavy slide in overall rank, dropping from 2k to 7k. Fellow Eden Hazard owners will likely be equally frustrated after he turned out an amazing performance yet left with just a two-pointer to his name. I backed Christian Eriksen to come good last week and thankfully he delivered a goal and passing bonus to justify my faith and can keep his place for now. A no-show for Yaya Toure and a one-point cameo from Raheem Sterling was a tad unlucky but hopefully they should both be back in their respective starting line-ups this week. Wayne Rooney grabbed 20 points as my skipper and then I switched the armband over to Nikica Jelavic who unfortunately drew a blank.
Captain Plan
My captain for Saturday is Nikica Jelavic as Hull head to Newcastle. Hopefully the Magpies defence will be as porous as it has been in recent matches and Jelavic can provide me with a differential – I doubt many Fantasy managers will have him in their team or even have a captain at all on Saturday due to the way the fixtures have fallen. For Sunday, I’ll switch the armband back to the reliable Rooney for United’s trip to Leicester and hope he plays a significant part in a big victory – choosing Rooney means I will also go into Gameweek 7 nicely set up for the Red Devils’ home clash with West Ham.
The Fantasy Football Scout League
Once again, we’re running our own Fantasy Football Scout League this season and we’re currently topping the Private League rankings as per usual. 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 you can catch Fenners and Merse at 18:30 on Sky Sports One HD on The Fantasy Football Club show, where they will be discussing the upcoming week’s Fantasy Football, quizzing former Bolton, Burnley and Wigan manager Owen Coyle and asking him for his #One2Eleven.
