Next up, it’s time for our weekly Sky Sports Focus article this Thursday afternoon. As always, we check in on the recent run of Man of the Match (MoTM) awards, bonus point beneficiaries and transfer trends before rolling out our Watchlist and assessing the Scout team and our future plans.
Gameweek 27 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 |
| Man City vs Leicester | Robert Huth |
| Aston Villa vs Norwich | Joleon Lescott |
| Liverpool vs Sunderland | Roberto Firmino |
| Newcastle vs West Brom | Aleksandar Mitrovic |
| Stoke vs Everton | Ross Barkley |
| Swansea vs Crystal Palace | Gylfi Sigurdsson |
| Tottenham vs Watford | Heurelho Gomes |
| Southampton vs West Ham | Virgil van Dijk |
| Bournemouth vs Arsenal | Aaron Ramsey |
| Chelsea vs Man United | Juan Mata |
One goalkeeper, three defenders, five midfielders and one forward earned the awards this week. Ross Barkley, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Heurelho Gomes made it back-to-back awards, highlighting their impressive recent form. Robert Huth at 5.2m and Virgil van Dijk at 6.1m both look great options at present, churning out clean sheets on a regular basis and offering a goal threat – in addition both options offer some guaranteed matches amongst the upcoming blanks.
Gameweek 27 Bonus Points
Three goalkeepers picked up bonus this week with Thibaut Courtois, Ben Foster and Heurelho Gomes the men in question. Despite conceding at Spurs, Gomes managed to earn the week’s highest score after making eight saves and earning the MoTM award to net eight points. Petr Cech is the game’s leading keeper in ownership (23%), overall points (112) and bonus (16).
In defence, 11 players grabbed bonus – eight for tackles and three for passes completed. Kieran Trippier was the closest to earning both, missing out on two extra bonus by just 11 completed passes – with a goal and clean sheet to his name already its was hardly an issue though. Cesar Azpilicueta, Erik Pieters and Simon Francis are at the bonus summit with 18 points all around.
In midfield, there were 14 beneficiaries in total: nine for tackling and seven for passes. Competitive duo Emre Can and Alex Song were the two to pick up both, with the former making an impressive 102 passes. Cesc Fabregas is the bonus darling with 44 points overall – ten more than the second-placed Lucas.
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 |
| Lukaku | Everton | 8.8 | 9.8% |
| de Bruyne | Man City | 7.8 | 9.8% |
| Ighalo | Watford | 6.5 | 3.8% |
| Butland | Stoke | 4.9 | 2.6% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 9.3 | 2.5% |
Romelu Lukaku’s poor form up until this Gameweek, coupled with a slight injury doubt, made him the joint top target out – his former owners will be nervous ahead of a plum home fixture against West Brom this week. Kevin de Bruyne continues to see sales due a lengthy injury whilst Odion Ighalo and Jack Butland seem to have suffered from a lack of form in recent weeks and see a combined 6.4% jump ship. Harry Kane is a strange one but it’s likely he’s a victim of transfer captain strategies and will be drafted back in in the near future.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 5.2% |
| Alli | Tottenham | 4 | 4.6% |
| Vardy | Leicester | 7.3 | 4.6% |
| Barkley | Everton | 6.7 | 4.5% |
| Ozil | Arsenal | 8.4 | 4.5% |
All five players here scored points last week and it’s hard to argue against the acquisition of any of them. Jamie Vardy, in particular, looks a great shout once again ahead of a stunning set of fixtures from Gameweek 30 onwards.
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 13.6% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 9.3 | 6.3% |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 5.9% |
| Lukaku | Everton | 8.8 | 5.9% |
| Hazard | Chelsea | 9 | 5.5% |
The average amount of transfers remaining amongst the top 100 Sky managers currently is 6.97, whilst the top 1,000 average is 7.90 and the top 5,000 is 8.29.
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 | Robert Huth, 5.2m, 2% | Virgil van Dijk, 6.1m, 5.8% | Cesar Azpilicueta, 7.5m, 3% |
| Midfielder | Marko Arnautovic, 5.5m, 6.5% | Christian Eriksen, 7.7m, 6.2% | Cesc Fabregas, 8.7m, 4.6% |
| Forward | Charlie Austin, 7.1m, 0.4% | Enner Valencia, 7.7m, 0.3% | Diego Costa, 9.8m, 6.7% |
My Team
Cech
Cathcart Dawson Dier
Alli Fabregas© Mahrez Payet
Aguero Kane Sanchez
ITB: 0.2m
Transfers remaining: 11/40
Last week’s points: 69
Overall points: 1466
Rank: 2,232
Notes
A big overhaul of my team this week and the triple Watford defence experiment is finally over with Heurelho Gomes, Allan Nyom, Aaron Ramsey and Romelu Lukaku all shipped in place of Petr Cech, Eric Dier, Dele Alli and Alexis Sanchez. Thankfully I still collected the points from Gomes and Lukaku before they departed but missed out on Ramsey’s – the desire to get the in-form Alli made me make that switch early. I was in a healthy position transfer-wise and wanted to make sure I had some Spurs and Arsenal defence for the run in.
My decision to go with Alexis Sanchez is my only real worry when perhaps I should have either stuck with Ramsey or gone for Mesut Ozil. I haven’t owned the German all season and it’s really hurting me – my only saving grace is that perhaps Sanchez can start to shine and, as an expensive differential that others will struggle to fit in their teams, will end up being the catalyst for a top-100 push. There’s just a glimmer of hope.
Captain Plan
For Saturday I actually have a free choice as I still have my captain swap banked up until midnight. The standout options for me are either Dimitri Payet away to the free-falling Norwich or Cesc Fabregas at home to the travelsick Magpies. At this point I’m favoring the Spaniard due to the high chance of bonus as a minimum return.
For Sunday I’m spoilt for choice with Riyad Mahrez, Alexis Sanchez, Sergio Aguero, Harry Kane and Dele Alli all viable options. I’ll likely fall into the same trap I have all season and back the “big hitter” in Sergio Aguero – a home match, penalties and the best goal per minutes ratio over the last few seasons surely still make him the sensible options despite Tottenham’s resolute defence.
With a blank Gameweek 29 for the FA Cup Fifth Round, remember you can use your captain swap to prepare for Gameweek 30.
The Fantasy Football Scout League
Once again, we’re running our own Fantasy Football Scout League this season and are 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 18:30 SkySports 1 HD where they will be discussing the upcoming week’s Fantasy Football, chatting to former Newcastle defender Steve Howey and asking Liverpool midfielder Lazar Markovic for his #One2Eleven.
