Once again it’s time for us to cast an eye over the Sky Sports game. As always, we assess the recent run of 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 34 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).
| Fixture | MoTM |
| Arsenal vs Liverpool | Mesut Ozil |
| Everton vs Southampton | Phil Jagielka |
| Leicester vs West Ham | Jamie Vardy |
| Man United vs Aston Villa | Ander Herrera |
| Swansea vs Hull | Gylfi Sigurdsson |
| West Brom vs QPR | Bobby Zamora |
| Chelsea vs Stoke | Eden Hazard |
| Burnley vs Tottenham | Michael Duff |
| Sunderland vs Newcastle | Jermain Defoe |
| Crystal Palace vs Man City | Glenn Murray |
| Aston Villa vs QPR | Christian Benteke |
Two defenders, four midfielders and five forwards picked up the awards this week. Only Eden Hazard, with 26.2% ownership. and Gylfi Sigurdsson (16.4%) were popular picks for Sky Fantasy managers. Hazard now has 11 MoTM awards and further cements his position as the top scoring player in the game.
Gameweek 34 Bonus Points
Only four goalkeepers achieved bonus points from collecting five or more saves. Robert Green popped up again with his customary bonus and remains the busiest keeper in the league, having racked up 28 bonus points over the season.
In defence, eight players grabbed bonus, four for tackles and five for passes completed. Daley Blind was the man to earn both to earn an additional four points alongside his assist – Pablo Zabaleta is still leading the way for defenders with 22 bonus points.
In midfield there were 23 beneficiaries in total: 13 for tackling and 11 for passes. Brazilian enforcer Lucas was the man to grab both, completing exactly 60 passes and four tackles. Chelsea duo Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic are the game’s overall highest bonus point earners with 44.
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
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Costa | Chelsea | 9.5 | 19.9% |
| Forster | Southampton | 4.9 | 10.4% |
| Lloris | Tottenham | 5.4 | 3.1% |
| Hutton | Aston Villa | 3.8 | 2.8% |
| Sturridge | Liverpool | 9.8 | 2.8% |
With injury plaguing the top four listed here, only Daniel Sturridge looks likely to feature at the weekend – his mediocre form appears to have made 2.8% of managers look elsewhere.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Aguero | Man City | 9.8 | 7.9% |
| Giroud | Arsenal | 8.9 | 6.2% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 6.7 | 5.9% |
| Fabianski | Swansea | 3.8 | 5.3% |
| Rooney | Man United | 9.4 | 4.2% |
Diego Costa’s mass exodus means four forwards make it into the top five transferred in. The majority of Fraser Forster and Hugo Lloris owners also seem to have jumped on board the highest owned keeper in the game – Swansea’s Lukasz Fabianski.
The average amount of transfers remaining amongst the top 1,000 currently is 4.358.
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Costa | Chelsea | 9.5 | 14.8% |
| Rooney | Man United | 9.4 | 9.5% |
| Aguero | Man City | 9.8 | 7.2% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 6.7 | 6.8% |
| Fabregas | Chelsea | 8.6 | 6.4% |
With only Kane set to feature on Saturday from this quintet, there could be significant movement on that day for the 6.8% heading into that day with the Spurs striker sporting the armband.
Watchlist
Here I aim to highlight a few differential players with sub-6% ownership that I think could be good options in the coming weeks to help you climb the rankings. These will be looked at in 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.
| Budget | Mid-Price | Premium | |
| Defender | Jeffrey Schlupp, 5.0m, 0.6% | Toby Alderweireld, 5.m, 0.8% | Seamus Coleman, 7.1m, 4.3% |
| Midfielder | Ki Sung-Yeung 5.0m, 4.1% | Sadio Mane, 5.8m, 3.3% | Mesut Ozil, 8.6m, 1.3% |
| Forward | Diafra Sakho, 6.9m, 1.1% | Bafetimbi Gomis, 7.0m, 0.7% | Loic Remy, 8.0m, 1.9% |
My Team
Fabianski
Lescott Bertrand Dawson
Hazard Silva Sigurdsson Fabregas Mane
Aguero Kane©
ITB: 1.0m
Transfers remaining: 7/40
Last week’s points: 62
Overall points: 1857
Rank: 155
Notes
I moved up a whole four places overall after earning 62 points last time out. However, I can’t help but think about the missed opportunity of drafting in Christian Benteke as skipper – he would have picked up 58 points over the two matches and, with an ownership of 0.72%, would have all but guaranteed a high ranking finish. Moving forward, I’m looking at addressing my double West Brom defence in the coming weeks – both Kieran Trippier and Aaron Creswell look good options, with strong fixtures and attacking intent. Jordan Henderson is another I’m eyeing up but, with his impending blank Gameweek, I’ll wait on that move for now.
Captain Plan
On Saturday, I’m locked into Harry Kane for his home encounter with Villa. The Spurs forward suffered a rare blank last week but hopefully Villa’s all-out attacking approach will allow Kane to pick holes in their defence.
For Sunday, it’s a familiar choice with Eden Hazard the standout option once again. Those chasing may want to punt at this stage but in all honesty I think there will be better Gameweeks to go down this route- Hazard’s on fire and I can’t see beyond the Belgian.
There is also a Monday night match this week, which presents the option for three captains if you choose to use a transfer. Liverpool at home to Newcastle is very tempting to use one but with the hosts now having a blank next week it’s likely to mean two transfers unless you’re happy to accept going into next Gameweek with no captain setup.
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. 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 Spurs manager Harry Redknapp and asking current Leicester man Nigel Pearson for his #One2Eleven.
