It’s time for our Sky Sports Focus article now this Thursday afternoon. As always, we bring you the recent run of Man of the Match (MoTM) awards, bonus point beneficiaries, the transfer trends and our Watchlist before taking a look at the Scout team and our future plans.
Gameweek 35 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 Chelsea | Pedro |
| Arsenal vs Watford | Alex Iwobi |
| Bournemouth vs Man City | Kevin de Bruyne |
| Norwich vs Newcastle | Timm Klose |
| Stoke vs Swansea | Marko Arnautovic |
| Sunderland vs West Brom | Ben Foster |
| West Ham vs Crystal Palace | Yannick Bolasie |
| Liverpool vs Tottenham | Philippe Coutinho |
| Leicester vs Southampton | Wes Morgan |
| Man United vs Everton | Anthony Martial |
One goalkeeper a couple of defenders, six midfielders and one forward chalked up the awards this week. Kevin de Bruyne came back from injury with a bang and is still in 7.4% of teams as we head into some decent fixtures for the City midfielder – expect that to rise considerably. Alexi Iwobi (4m) has now picked up back-to-back MoTM awards and looks an enticing option in the weeks to come if he can keep his starting role. Philippe Coutinho has been in great form of late and looks another candidate to jump in ownership (8.1%), taken Liverpool’s remaining schedule into consideration.
Gameweek 35 Bonus Points
Three goalkeepers picked up bonus last week. Heurelho Gomes, Hugo Lloris and Ben Foster were the men in question, as the latter racked up an impressive 14 points. Leading the way for keepers are Petr Cech and Jack Butland, with 16 bonus points.
In defence, 13 players grabbed bonus; eight for tackles and five for completed passes. John Stones was the closest to earning both, missing out by just one completed tackle. Simon Francis currently leads the way for defenders with 24 bonus points.
In midfield, there were 12 beneficiaries in total: five for tackling and seven for passes. Tottenham’s Mousa Dembele was again the closest to picking up both after missing out on extra bonus by one tackle. Cesc Fabregas is dominating the bonus tables with 56 points overall from passing and tackling.
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 |
| Butland | Stoke | 4.9 | 15.65% |
| Hart | Man City | 5.8 | 7.79% |
| Firmino | Liverpool | 8.0 | 4.34% |
| Ighalo | Watford | 6.5 | 3.63% |
| Sterling | Man City | 8.5 | 2.95% |
Injuries to Jack Butland and Joe Hart persuaded many owners to part company, though the latter is now fit and available after returning against PSG last night. Similarly, those who sold Roberto Firmino may live to regret it after he returned to training ahead of this evening’s encounter with Dortmund. Odion Ighalo’s lack of form and Raheem Sterling’s stint on the sidelines have seen plenty look elsewhere.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Schmeichel | Leicester | 4.6 | 9.66% |
| Payet | West Ham | 6.2 | 5.26% |
| Lukaku | Everton | 8.8 | 4.53% |
| Lloris | Tottenham | 5.4 | 4.42% |
| De Bruyne | Man City | 7.8 | 4.03% |
The above-mentioned goalkeeper exodus has earned both Kasper Schmeichel and Hugo Lloris plenty of new owners, though neither has a double Gameweek on their remaining schedule. Dimitri Payet and the fit-again Kevin de Bruyne’s kind price tags are too good to overlook, whilst Lukaku’s new owners will have one eye on the upcoming doubles.
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 14.1% |
| Vardy | Leicester | 7.3 | 8.09% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 9.3 | 6.72% |
| Lukaku | Everton | 8.8 | 6.07% |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 5.29% |
The average amount of transfers remaining amongst the top 10 Sky managers currently is 4.7, whilst the top 100 average is 3.44, the top 1,000 is 4.45 and the top 5,000 is 4.69.
Watchlist
Here I aim to highlight a few differential players with low ownership that I think could be good options in the coming weeks to help you climb the rankings. These will be looked at in 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 | Craig Cathcart, 3.8m, 5.3% | Alberto Moreno, 6.2m, 1.2% | Laurent Koscielny, 7.8m, 5% |
| Midfielder | Manuel Lanzini, 5m, 0.9% | Aaron Lennon, 5.5m, 0.5% | Roberto Firmino, 8m, 5% |
| Forward | Troy Deeney, 7.1m, 4.2% | Danny Welbeck, 8.3m, 0.8% | Daniel Sturridge, 9.4m, 1.7% |
My Team
Hart
Cathcart Dawson Dier
Alli Fabregas Mahrez Payet
Aguero© Lukaku Vardy
ITB: 3.2m
Transfers remaining: 7/40
Last week’s points: 49
Overall points: 1,879
Rank: 733
Notes
An average week for my team with Harry Kane’s 14 as captain on Saturday my main source of points. Craig Dawson, Dimitri Payet and Sergio Aguero also chipped in with seven apiece but I was let down by Sunday’s fixtures with Romelu Lukaku (as skipper) and then Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy all failing to register.
Not having a Leicester defender over the second half of the season has really hurt me as they continue to churn out clean sheets at such a cheap price but I feel I’ve missed the boat now and have limited transfers left ahead of multiple double Gameweeks. As for moves this week, I’ll probably swap out Cesc Fabregas for Philippe Coutinho on Sunday, given his extra fixtures and form, although I’m fearful Fabregas may hurt me as he also has been playing well of late.
Captain Plan
Sergio Aguero is my captain for Saturday and probably looks the best option on this matchday assuming Man City are not too tired following their midweek action.
I’m forgoing a captain for Sunday’s round of matches in order to hand the armband to Romelu Lukaku on Wednesday evening when Everton travel to Selhurst Park. This sets me up nicely for the bumper Gameweek 37.
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 18:00 SkySports 1 HD where they will be discussing the upcoming week’s Fantasy Football and asking former Forest player John Robertson for his #One2Eleven.
