Into Gameweek 12 of the Sky Sports game we go and, as always on a Thursday afternoon, we assess the recent run of Man of the Match (MoTM) awards, bonus point beneficiaries and transfer trends. We also update our watchlist and take a look at the Scout team and our future plans.
Gameweek 11 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 |
| Tottenham vs Liverpool | Mamadou Sakho |
| Chelsea vs Aston Villa | Diego Costa |
| Crystal Palace vs West Ham | Manuel Lanzini |
| Everton vs Man United | Ander Herrera |
| Man City vs Bournemouth | Raheem Sterling |
| Southampton vs Leicester | Jamie Vardy |
| West Brom vs Sunderland | Stephane Sessegnon |
| Watford vs Arsenal | Alexis Sanchez |
| Newcastle vs Norwich | Georginio Wijnaldum |
| Swansea vs Stoke | Bojan Krkic |
Jamie Vardy and Alexis Sanchez earned back-to-back awards as their stunning form continues and sees them climb into the top five scoring players overall. Georginio Wijnaldum (7.0m) is also in the top five thanks largely to his four-goal haul last weekend and looks a smart acquisition ahead of a kind run of fixtures.
Manuel Lanzini is currently looking the best budget midfield option, coming in at just 5.0m and playing in the front three of an attack-minded West Ham unit. Bojan Krkic (7.4m) also deserves a mention – the little Spaniard is a firm favourite of the Sky reporters and often mops up the MoTM award to supplement his scores.
Gameweek 11 Bonus Points
Only two goalkeepers picked up bonus this week – stand-in stoppers Adam Federici and Kelvin Davis were the men in question, with six and five saves respectively. Alex McCarthy, Jack Butland and Petr Cech are the current leaders in the bonus stakes, with eight additional points apiece.
In defence, 12 players grabbed bonus, seven for tackles and five for passes completed. Nicolas Otamendi came closest to achieving both, although ended up with nothing after falling seven passes and one completed challenge short of the required amount. Full-backs in general are dominating right now, with five all on eight bonus points.
In midfield, there were 21 beneficiaries in total: 16 for tackling and six for passes. Budget midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate (5.5) was the man to pick up both and is currently averaging bonus every 124.5 minutes played. Cesc Fabregas is the game’s highest bonus earner overall with 18 points so far.
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 |
| Aguero | Man City | 10.0 | 15.3% |
| Gomez | Liverpool | 4.7 | 8.1% |
| Kolarov | Man City | 7.2 | 7.1% |
| Silva | Man City | 8.9 | 3.8% |
| Sturridge | Liverpool | 9.4 | 2.9% |
Sergio Aguero’s hamstring injury sparked a major exodus, with the Argentine involved in over 15% of the transfers out last weekend. Many have also parted company with City team-mates Aleksandar Kolarov and David Silva, though the former has since recovered from injury and appeared off the bench against Sevilla last night. Liverpool’s Joe Gomez is out for the season with a knee injury, whilst Daniel Sturridge could be set to return from the knock that forced him out of Saturday’s trip to Tottenham.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 9.6% |
| Vardy | Leicester | 7.3 | 6.4% |
| Kompany | Man City | 7.5 | 4.2% |
| De Bruyne | Man City | 7.8 | 3.3% |
| Lukaku | Everton | 8.8 | 2.7% |
Alexis Sanchez has been the most popular replacement in light of Aguero’s stint on the sidelines. Leicester’s Jamie Vardy continues to make a mockery of his 7.3 price tag, whilst Romelu Lukaku has also acquired plenty of new owners. City pair Vincent Kompnay and Kevin de Bruyne were also high on managers’ agendas ahead of the 5-1 win over Bournemouth.
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 12.8% |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 11.7% |
| Hazard | Chelsea | 9 | 7.4% |
| Rooney | Man United | 9.6 | 5.2% |
| Kompany | Man City | 7.5 | 3.1% |
Watchlist
Here I aim to highlight a few differential players with low 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 | Pape Souare, 4.6m, 2.7% | Virgil van Dijk, 6.1m, 3.1% | Hector Bellerin, 6.8m, 6.2% |
| Midfielder | Marko Arnautovic, 5.5m, 1.4% | Georginio Wijnaldum, 7.0m, 4.2% | Mesut Ozil, 8.4m, 3.0% |
| Forward | Odion Ighalo, 6.5m, 5.4% | Aleks Mitrovic, 7.3m, 1.3% | Diego Costa, 9.8m, 7.4% |
My Team
Gomes
Martin Cathcart Nyom
Walcott Ayew© Mahrez Mane De Bruyne
Sanchez Pelle
ITB: 4.9m
Transfers remaining: 27/40
Last week’s points: 25
Overall points: 512
Rank: 3,829
Notes
A poor week for my side to follow up from the monster haul in the previous round of fixtures, with just 25 points. Captain fails from Graziano Pelle then Andre Ayew didn’t help the cause and only Alexis Sanchez and Kevin De Bruyne managed any points of significance. The lack of Dimitri Payet continues to hurt me but with 19.2% ownership (the sixth highest amount in the game) and poor fixtures I’m not sure he’s the answer at this stage, although his form may supersede that logic. In terms of my team, Russell Martin and Andre Ayew are my biggest concerns and I’ll be making yet more subs in the near future with Everton assets on the radar for their kind run of matches
Captain Plan
Unfortunately I’m locked in for Saturday’s match with Andre Ayew as skipper away to Aston Villa, so I’ll have to hope Swansea find some form from somewhere – to be fair, though, Villa are probably one of the better teams to face at the moment.
For Sunday, I’ll give the armband to Kevin De Bruyne for his match away to Man United – obviously not the best fixture but it’s more in order to set up for next weekend, where City host Norwich at the Etihad.
The Fantasy Football Scout League
Once again, we’re running our own Fantasy Football Scout League this season and were sitting fifth 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 and asking former England left-back Stuart Pearce for his #One2Eleven.
