Next up this Thursday afternoon, we take a look at the Sky Sports Fantasy game. As always, 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 32 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 Man City | Gary O’Neil |
| Bournemouth vs Swansea | Joshua King |
| Stoke vs Southampton | Graziano Pelle |
| Aston Villa vs Tottenham | Dele Alli |
| Leicester vs Newcastle | Daniel Drinkwater |
Four midfielders and one forward made up the short list of awards this week. Dele Alli (16%) was the only highly owned player to make an impact after nabbing MoTM away to Villa despite Harry Kane’s brace. Bournemouth’s Joshua King made it back-to-back awards and 24 points in two appearance – as a 5.1m midfielder and with just 0.2% ownership, he makes a decent case for the budget midfield spot in our teams.
Gameweek 32 Bonus Points
A solitary goalkeeper picked up bonus last week. Villa’s Brad Guzan was the man in question after racking up six saves to earn two additional points. Petr Cech is level pegging with Jack Butland at the top of the pile with 16 bonus points.
In defence only three players grabbed bonus; Geoff Cameron, Jores Okore and Gael Clichy were the main men. The later ending up as the highest-scoring defender for the Gameweek with a shutout against Norwich adding to his tally. Stoke full-back Erik Pieters currently leads the way for defenders with 22 bonus points.
In midfield there were eight beneficiaries in total: four for tackling and six for passes. Southampton’s Jack Cork and City’s Fernandinho were the two to pick up both, thus ensuring six points apiece. Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas is dominating the bonus tables with 52 points overall from passing and tackling.
Norwich’s Patrick Bamford put in a shift in his first start for the club – the on-loan Chelsea forward bagged tackling bonus points with four completed challenges.
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 |
| Ighalo | Watford | 6.5 | 5.9% |
| Cech | Arsenal | 5.9 | 5.7% |
| Costa | Chelsea | 9.8 | 5.5% |
| Ramsey | Arsenal | 8.2 | 4% |
| Aguero | Man City | 10.0 | 3.5% |
Four of the most transferred out players were without a fixture last weekend. Arsenal duo Petr Cech and Aaron Ramsey are also both injured, whilst Diego Costa is now set to serve a two-match suspension. Sergio Aguero’s departure looks down to his blank at Norwich as Fantasy managers opted for other options later in the Gameweek.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Kane | Tottenham | 9.3 | 8.7% |
| Vardy | Leicester | 7.3 | 8.1% |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 5% |
| Payet | West Ham | 6.2 | 4.1% |
| Alderweireld | Tottenham | 6.5 | 3.9% |
Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy found themselves with plenty of new owners due to their fixtures against Villa and Newcastle taking place on Sunday and Monday respectively. Aguero also finds a place here as many clearly expected him to deliver against the Canaries, whilst, like Kane, Toby Alderweireld was drafted in for the trip to Villa Park. Dimitri Payet’s appearance is an odd one, though, given that West Ham didn’t play last time out.
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 14.43% |
| Vardy | Leicester | 7.3 | 7.8% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 9.3 | 6.99% |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 5.31% |
| Hazard | Chelsea | 9 | 5.27% |
The average amount of transfers remaining amongst the top 10 Sky managers currently is 5.3, whilst the top 100 average is 4.3, the top 1,000 is 5.3 and the top 5,000 is 5.6.
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 | Christian Fuchs, 5.3m, 3.2% | Dejan Lovren, 6.2m, 0% | Nicolas Otamendi, 7.1m, 2% |
| Midfielder | Joshua King, 5.1m, 0.2% | Jonjo Shelvey, 6.3m, 3.3% | Roberto Firmino, 8m, 5.2% |
| Forward | Salomon Rondon, 6.6m, 0.7% | Graziano Pelle, 8.1m, 5.8% | Daniel Sturridge, 9.4m, 1.5% |
My Team
Hart
Cathcart Dawson Dier
Alli Fabregas Mahrez© Payet
Aguero Kane Vardy
ITB: 2.7m
Transfers remaining: 8/40
Last week’s points: 62
Overall points: 1735
Rank: 924
Notes
Despite only having seven players playing in the Gameweek, I move into the top 1,000 thanks mainly to captain Harry Kane, who picked up 24 points away to Villa. The gains in ranking come easier at this stage due to good transfer management and it’s a real tortoise and hare situation – past seasons have taught me this.
Talking of transfers, I now have to plan how best to utilise my eight remaining trades in order to maximise captains due to the fixture re-arrangements. I’ll likely wait until after the international break to take into account possible injuries etc and then come up with a plan – early thoughts are that Roberto Firmino and Romelu Lukaku are key players I should be looking at. In order to go for broke I may even sacrifice some of the highly owned star performers of this season such as Riyad Mahrez and Kane. It will be a big risk but these players are likely to be permanently fixed in a lot of teams with no transfers left, so finding alternatives to outscore them looks like my only real hope of breaking into the top 100 and keeping my record alive.
Captain Plan
For Saturday’s round of fixtures, I’m locked into Mahrez as skipper as the Foxes travel to Selhurst Park. Leicester have struggled in the final third of late but the Algerian’s impressive away record gives me hope.
For Sunday, it’s a fairly obvious move to Kane as Spurs host Bournemouth at White Hart Lane. His stats and recent goal record speak for themselves and make him the stand out pick. Sergio Aguero, of course, is always an option, particularly at home, but a tough derby match against United looks tougher to call.
Bear in mind there is a blank Gameweek 34, meaning you could go for a wild punt on Sunday safe in the knowledge you can set yourself up again prior to the following round of fixtures.
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 and chatting to former Chelsea player Tony Cascarino.
