It’s time to 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, the Watchlist and also cast an eye over the Scout team and our future plans.
Gameweek 19 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 |
| Norwich vs Everton | Declan Rudd |
| Crystal Palace vs Southampton | Yannick Bolasie |
| Man City vs Swansea | Wilfried Bony |
| Sunderland vs Watford | Odion Ighalo |
| West Ham vs Stoke | Philipp Wollscheid |
| Bournemouth vs Man United | Junior Stanislas |
| Aston Villa vs Arsenal | Aaron Ramsey |
| Liverpool vs West Brom | Gareth McAuley |
| Tottenham vs Newcastle | Rob Elliot |
| Leicester vs Chelsea | Riyad Mahrez |
Two goalkeepers, two defenders, four midfielders and a couple of forwards picked up the awards last week. Yannick Bolasie was tipped for more awards a couple of weeks back and duly delivered again to earn his second of the season – expect more to come given his history and eye-catching play style.
Bournemouth wide man Junior Stanislas looks excellent value at just 4.7m along with team-mates Josh King (5.1m) and Dan Gosling (4.9m). Odion Ighalo continues to defy logic and price and now has six MoTM awards, which is equal to record breaker Jamie Vardy. Riyad Mahrez picked up his seventh MoTM award of the season and with 35.8% ownership and a price of just 6m, is the game’s most essential player.
Gameweek 19 Bonus Points
Five goalkeepers picked up bonus – Jack Butland was the star of the show yet again, with nine saves and a clean sheet earning him a tasty nine points, the Stoke number one is also the top keeper for both bonus (12 points) and overall points (80).
In defence, ten players grabbed bonus, six for tackles and four for passes completed. United’s makeshift right-back Paddy McNair was the closest to picking up both, missing out on passing bonus by just five completed passes. Cherries full-back Simon Francis is still top of the pile and sits on 16 overall.
In midfield, there were 13 beneficiaries in total: eight for tackling and six for passes. Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey was the man to pick up both to complement his goal and MoTM award and bring home 16 points. Cesc Fabregas is the game’s highest bonus earner overall with 26 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 |
| Smalling | Man United | 6.9 | 14.9% |
| Sturridge | Liverpool | 9.4 | 5.3% |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 4.8% |
| Lanzini | West Ham | 5 | 3.5% |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 2.6% |
Injuries forced the hand of many Fantasy managers last weekend, with all of our top five sidelined in the previous Gameweek. Of that quintet, only Daniel Sturridge will definitely miss the upcoming round of fixtures, though, with Sergio Aguero and Alexis Sanchez having until Monday evening to return to fitness ahead of Arsenal’s Emirates clash with City.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Ozil | Arsenal | 8.4 | 5.9% |
| Lukaku | Everton | 8.8 | 5.8% |
| Giroud | Arsenal | 9.2 | 5.1% |
| Vardy | Leicester | 9.3 | 4.6% |
| Monreal | Arsenal | 6.7 | 4.1% |
Arsenal’s trip to Villa on Sunday afternoon saw a trio of their main men transferred in by Fantasy managers. Unsurprisingly, Mesut Ozil was the most sought-after, with Olivier Giroud and Nacho Monreal also on our radars. Elsewhere, in-form Romelu Lukaku and Jamie Vardy continue to attract plenty of new suitors.
The average amount of transfers remaining amongst the top 100 Sky managers currently is 17, whilst the top 1,000 average is 20 and the top 5,000 is 23.
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 9.7% |
| Vardy | Leicester | 7.3 | 8.2% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 9.3 | 9.1% |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 6.5% |
| Hazard | Chelsea | 9 | 6.3% |
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 | Papa Souare, 4.6m, 1.9% | Craig Dawson, 5.5m, 3.6% | Kurt Zouma, 6.3m, 1.8% |
| Midfielder | Josh King, 5.1m, 0.2% | Gerard Deulofeu, 6.6m, 2.4% |
Aaron Ramsey, 8.2m, 3% |
| Forward | Mauro Zarate, 5.9m, 1.4% | Bojan Krkic 7.4m, 1% |
Olivier Giroud, 9.2m, 6.6% |
My Team
Gomes
Cathcart Dawson Nyom
Hazard Ramsey Mahrez Cabaye De Bruyne
Lukaku Kane©
ITB: 1.1m
Transfers remaining: 18/40
Last week’s points: 92
Overall points: 963
Rank: 1,913
Notes
A decent week overall for my team with only the departed Ross Barkley, Kevin de Bruyne, Eden Hazard and my captain Harry Kane not managing to score points. My triple Watford defence came through once again and new addition Craig Dawson chipped in with a goal – he looks a really good option over the festive period and should hopefully be rotation proof.
Swapping in Aaron Ramsey was a key decision and a 16-point haul shows just why he’s so good in the Sky game, given his penchant for bonus and MoTM when fielded centrally. I already regret buying Eden Hazard a couple of weeks ago, with the Belgian an early injury doubt for the weekend. In addition, I went against my original plan of ignoring Harry Kane and spent a transfer drafting him in instead of just captaining Riyad Mahrez on Monday, who went on to score 15 points. It’s not something I usually allow myself to get wrapped up in but Kane’s ownership and potential for points at home to Newcastle just seemed too big an opportunity to miss.
Moving forward, I have the money to swap out Hazard for Sergio Aguero and may make the move this week, fitness-dependent. After that, I’ll have to sit on transfers for a while, injury allowing, as I’m using them up at an alarming rate.
Captain Plan
I’m locked into my skipper Kane for Saturday as Spurs travel to St Mary’s – his form has dipped a lot but I’m hopeful he can nick a goal here, given Southampton’s recent decline in form. In all honesty, Mahrez or Romelu Lukaku look the better options on this matchday.
I’m then going to ignore Sunday’s fixtures and opt for either Aaron Ramsey or Aguero/Kevin de Bruyne on Monday. This could prove to be such a key decision as Gameweek 21 is a bumper double, with both Arsenal and Man City options looking the best bet for points and navigating the captain swaps.
The Fantasy Football Scout League
Once again, we’re running our own Fantasy Football Scout League this season and were sitting in first place 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 Leeds full-back Ian Harte and asking him and Burnley’s Joey Barton for their #One2Eleven.
