As always on a Thursday evening, it’s time to take our regular look at the Sky Sports Fantasy Football game. We assess the recent run of Man of the Match (MoTM) awards, bonus point beneficiaries, the transfer trends and also cast an eye over the Scout team and our future plans.
Gameweek 12 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 |
| Aston Villa vs Swansea | Andre Ayew |
| Leicester vs Crystal Palace | Jamie Vardy |
| Norwich vs West Brom | James McClean |
| Stoke vs Watford | Odion Ighalo |
| West Ham vs Chelsea | Cheikhou Kouyate |
| Arsenal vs Everton | Olivier Giroud |
| Sunderland vs Newcastle | Yann M’Vila |
| Bournemouth vs Tottenham | Harry Kane |
| Man United vs Man City | Nicolas Otamendi |
| Liverpool vs Southampton | Christian Benteke |
One defender, four midfielders and five forwards picked up the awards last week. Jamie Vardy made it three on the spin and continues to make a mockery of his 7.3 price tag – the 20%-owned forward is the game’s highest scoring player and I would imagine is in nearly every team flying high in the rankings.
Odion Ighalo is another cheap forward who continues to defy the odds and sits fourth in the overall rankings, yet only has 5.6% ownership. Three premium forwards also announced themselves last week, with Harry Kane, Christian Benteke and Olivier Giroud looking like good options once again. With Theo Walcott now ruled out with the injury sustained in midweek against Sheffield Wednesday, Giroud, in particular, may be a shrewd purchase here, given his 3.1% ownership.
Gameweek 12 Bonus Points
Only one goalkeeper picked up bonus this week. Old favourite Costel Pantilimon was the man in question, with eight saves and a first clean sheet of the season under new manager Sam Allardyce suggesting he may become a good option once again. Alex McCarthy, Jack Butland and Petr Cech are the current leaders in the bonus stakes, with eight additional points apiece.
In defence, 14 players grabbed bonus, 12 for tackles and two for passes completed. Eric Pieters came closest to achieving both after missing out on passing bonus by just six completed passes. Full-backs in general are dominating right now with three on ten bonus points.
In midfield, there were 15 beneficiaries in total: 11 for tackling and five for passes. Lucas Leiva (5.2) was the man to grab both and could be a cheap enabler in our teams under Jurgen Klopp if he can nail down a spot. Cesc Fabregas is the game’s highest bonus earner overall with 20 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 | 5.1% |
| Gomis | Swansea | 7.7 | 4.2% |
| Hazard | Chelsea | 9 | 4.1% |
| Gomez | Liverpool | 4.7 | 3.2% |
| Sturridge | Liverpool | 9.4 | 3.1% |
Poor form for Bafetimbi Gomis and Eden Hazard sees them shipped by roughly 4% of Fantasy managers, whilst injuries to Sergio Aguero, Joe Gomez and Daniel Sturridge means continued sales.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Vardy | Leicester | 7.3 | 8.6% |
| De Bruyne | Man City | 7.8 | 5.4% |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 4.6% |
| Sterling | Man City | 8.5 | 4.1% |
| Wijnaldum | Newcastle | 7 | 2.9% |
Unsurprisingly the Premiership League’s leading scorer is the top target this week ahead of a trio of decent fixtures. Man City duo Kevin de Bruyne and Raheem Sterling (providing he recovers from a minor hamstring problem) look smart choices ahead of a home time against Norwich, Alexis Sanchez’ form means he continues to attract suitors, whilst Newcastle’s recent four goal hero Georgino Wijnaldum is fancied in the weeks to come.
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 13.1% |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 10.6% |
| Hazard | Chelsea | 9 | 7% |
| Rooney | Man United | 9.6 | 5.4% |
| Vardy | Leicester | 7.3 | 3.7% |
Watchlist
Here I aim to highlight a few differential players with low ownership that I think could be good options for the next six fixtures. These will be looking at 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 | Allan Nyom, 4.0m, 6.3% | Virgil van Dijk, 6.1m, 3.5% | Hector Bellerin, 6.8m, 6.9% |
| Midfielder | Marko Arnautovic, 5.5m, 1.5% | Willian, 7.5m, 1.4% | Mesut Ozil, 8.4m, 3.9% |
| Forward | Odion Ighalo, 6.5m, 5.6% | Bojan Krkic, 7.4m, 0.8% | Olivier Giroud, 9.2m, 3.1% |
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: 65
Overall points: 577
Rank: 2,117
Notes
A respectable week for my side after a great Saturday followed by a poor Sunday. My team will undoubtedly have a lot of highs and lows, given the triple up on Watford’s defence – in the weeks where this works and I manage to nail a captain or two, I should see a big jump in rank but, of course get it wrong and I’ll drop significantly. I earned 23 points from the Hornets backline and 24 from Andre Ayew as captain, highlighting the potential of my strategy.
Moving on to future plans, I’m now in a bit of a pickle as Russell Martin will have to go due to Norwich’s form and fixtures. I was contemplating going the whole hog and bringing Sebastian Prodl in his place but he was dropped at the weekend and so the safest option is to look elsewhere. I’m currently toying with a cheap option in Craig Dawson (5.5) for the long term as his immediate fixtures are poor. Alternatively, I could spend a little more and get Virgil van Dijk (6.1), who has good fixtures, goal threat and MoTM appeal, or I may dip into the premium market and snapping up one of the Arsenal full-backs. Of course, the more expensive I go, the less flexibility I have, particularly if one of the cheaper midfielders in my team gets injured. I’ll leave this decision until the deadline and can’t help but think it will have a significant influence on my final rank either way. Theo Walcott’s injury also means I have another decision to make and, with Arsene Wenger ruling him out until after the next international break, I may look at Romelu Lukaku for Everton’s kind run of matches.
Captain Plan
Kevin de Bruyne is my captain for City’s home clash with Norwich, and given the Belgian’s form and the Canaries recent defensive displays, it looks a smart move.
For Sunday, I will give the armband to one of Southampton duo Graziano Pelle or Sadio Mane – points look likely here, given Bournemouth’s recent troubles in defence.
Monday night football sees Spurs entertain Aston Villa and offers another captain option in the shape of Harry Kane – however, I won’t be jumping on board due to a lack of transfers and the way the fixtures fall in Gameweek 14.
The Fantasy Football Scout League
Once again, we’re running our own Fantasy Football Scout League this season and are 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, chatting to former QPR midfielder Shaun Derry and asking Crystal Palace keeper Wayne Hennessey for his #One2Eleven.
