As always on a Thursday evening, we take a look at the Sky Sports game and 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 17 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 Watford | Troy Deeney |
| Bournemouth vs Everton | Junior Stanislas |
| Crystal Palace vs Newcastle | Yannick Bolasie |
| Man City vs Southampton | Kevin de Bruyne |
| Sunderland vs Stoke | Duncan Watmore |
| Leicester vs Man United | Jamie Vardy |
| Tottenham vs Chelsea | Asmir Begovic |
| West Ham vs West Brom | Darren Fletcher |
| Liverpool vs Swansea | James Milner |
| Norwich vs Arsenal | Robbie Brady |
One goalkeeper, two forwards and seven midfielders picked up the awards this week. Jamie Vardy now has six for the season, whilst Junior Stanislas (4.7) and Duncan Watmore (3.8) look great picks right now, given their advanced roles and cheap price – the latter could earn a start this weekend after Jermain Defoe was ruled out of the trip to Arsenal. Former MoTM machine Yannick Bolasie picked up his first award of the season after a shift of position into the number ten role and is one to watch out for.
Gameweek 17 Bonus Points
Four goalkeepers picked up bonus this week – Tim Howard was one of that quartet and now sits on eight bonus points for the season, just two behind leader Jack Butland (10).
In defence, 13 players grabbed bonus, eight for tackles and five for passes completed. Simon Francis picked up passing bonus and only narrowly missed out on tackles by just one challenge – the Cherries full-back has now extended his lead at the top of the pile and sits on 16 overall.
In midfield, there were 19 beneficiaries in total: 11 for tackling and ten for passes. Emre Can and Andrew Surman were the two to achieve both and bring home six points apiece. Cesc Fabregas is the game’s highest bonus earner overall with 24 points so far.
Mauro Zarate flew the flag for forwards after making five successful challenges to earn tackling bonus to go alongside his free-kick goal.
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 |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 11.7% |
| Hart | Man City | 5.8 | 10.1% |
| Pelle | Southampton | 8.1 | 5.1% |
| Payet | West Ham | 6.2 | 4% |
| Kompany | Man City | 7.5 | 3.5% |
Injuries play a part in four of the top five here, with Alexis Sanchez, Dimitri Payet and City duo Joe Hart and Vincent Kompany all earning plenty of transfers out over the last few days. Graziano Pelle has now served his one-match suspension, though, and is available for Southampton’s plum home clash with Villa.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Kane | Tottenham | 9.3 | 6.7% |
| Lukaku | Everton | 8.8 | 6.3% |
| Vardy | Leicester | 7.3 | 5.6% |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 4.4% |
| Barkley | Everton | 4 | 4.3% |
Forwards occupy all but one of the top five spots here as Fantasy managers freshen up their frontlines. Harry Kane, Romelu Lukaku and Jamie Vardy are all in fine form, whilst those who transferred in Sergio Aguero will be hoping he recovers from the heel injury that forced him off against Southampton. Ross Barkley’s recent rise to Fantasy prominence has looked too good to ignore, given his kind 6.7 price tag.
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 11.7% |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 9.9% |
| Hazard | Chelsea | 9 | 6.3% |
| Vardy | Leicester | 7.3 | 6.3% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 9.3 | 6% |
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 | Pape Souare, 4.6m, 2% | Craig Dawson, 5.5m, 3.6% | Martin Skrtel, 7.3m, 4.9% |
| Midfielder | Dele Alli, 4m, 4.6% | Gerard Deulofeu, 6.6m, 1.5% | Roberto Firmino, 8m, 2.1% |
| Forward | Arouna Kone, 6.7m, 4.4% | Troy Deeney, 7.1m, 3.1% | Olivier Giroud, 9.2m, 4.3% |
My Team
Gomes
Monreal Cathcart Nyom
Ayew Mahrez Cabaye De Bruyne
Aguero Lukaku Sanchez©
ITB: 0.2m
Transfers remaining: 23/40
Last week’s points: 47
Overall points: 783
Rank: 5,212
Notes
Another sub-par week for my team and a dip in ranking. A few weeks ago I was in the top 1,000 but with a Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy-less team, I have struggled to keep pace with the pack.
I’ll continue to be stubborn in that regard and try to find a different way to climb the ladder – I was hoping my differential captain of Yohan Cabaye would help me out but he managed a sickening two point return despite Crystal Palace bagging five goals! A few fires have arisen in the shape of Sergio Aguero, Heurelho Gomes and Alexis Sanchez, who are all currently flagged with injury. I’m hopeful the former two will be fit for the weekend, though I’m set to part company with Sanchez after he was ruled out by Arsene Wenger earlier today. You would think that gives me the perfect opportunity to jump on Kane or Vardy but, having looked at fixtures, I think I’ll dust off the old faithful Eden Hazard blanket as Chelsea’s schedule start to pick up.
Captain Plan
With Sanchez now out of the equation for Arsenal’s home clash with Sunderland, I’m considering drafting in Hazard and handing him the armband against Bournemouth at the Bridge.
I’ll ignore Sunday’s match as I have no Liverpool or Newcastle players and instead give Romelu Lukaku the armband for Monday night football at home to Crystal Palace. This sets me up nicely as the Belgian plays match day one in Gameweek 19 away to Norwich.
The Fantasy Football Scout League
Once again, we’re running our own Fantasy Football Scout League this season and aresitting top of 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 Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar and asking Robert Pires for his #One2Eleven.
