Next up this Thursday evening, it’s time for our regular Sky Sports Focus article. 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 36 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 |
| West Ham vs Arsenal | Andy Carroll |
| Aston Villa vs Bournemouth | Steve Cook |
| Crystal Palace vs Norwich | Jason Puncheon |
| Southampton vs Newcastle | Shane Long |
| Swansea vs Chelsea | Ashley Williams |
| Watford vs Everton | Heurelho Gomes |
| Man City vs West Brom | Samir Nasri |
| Sunderland vs Leicester | N’Golo Kante |
| Liverpool vs Stoke | Alberto Moreno |
| Tottenham vs Man United | Erik Lamela |
| Crystal Palace vs Everton | Jason Puncheon |
Some unpopular picks made up the awards this week, with only Ashley Williams (9.9%) significantly owned. Watchlist target Alberto Moreno finally came good for us and could prove a canny acquisition in light of Liverpool’s upcoming pair of doubles. Samir Nasri is owned by just 0.4% and, given he is excluded from Manchester City’s Champions League squad, could be one to consider in the coming weeks. A special mention for Jason Puncheon who picked up both MoTM awards in a long overdue return to form.
Gameweek 36 Bonus Points
Six goalkeepers picked up bonus this week. Wayne Hennessey was the star of the show with two clean sheets and nine saves helping him to 16 points. Leading the way for keepers are Petr Cech, Jack Butland and Heurelho Gomes with 16 bonus points each.
In defence, nine players grabbed bonus; eight for tackles and one for completed passes. Chelsea’s Baba Rahman was the closest to picking up both and could be one to look out for next season if given a more regular role under incoming manager Antonio Conte. The full-back averages bonus every 84 minutes, which is far quicker than the leading bonus defender Simon Francis, who has earned a bonus point every 129.4 minutes.
In midfield, there were 17 beneficiaries in total: ten for tackling and eight for passes. Jason Puncheon was the man to grab both over the two matches to add to his impressive tally of 23 points. Cesc Fabregas is dominating the bonus tables with 58 points overall from passing and tackling.
Lewis Grabban also completed four tackles to bag bonus in a rare outing for Bournemouth this week – he was the only forward to do so.
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 |
| Barkley | Everton | 6.7 | 9.48% |
| Arnautovic | Stoke | 5.5 | 5.58% |
| Butland | Stoke | 4.9 | 5.04% |
| Silva | Man City | 8.9 | 4.48% |
| Lukaku | Everton | 8.8 | 4.45% |
Stoke duo Jack Butland and Marko Arnautovic were subject to plenty of sales, though the latter is expected to return in time for Monday’s match with Spurs. City’s David Silva recovered from injury for the midweek Champions League win over PSG, whilst plenty of Fantasy managers have had enough of Everton’s under-par par Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| De Bruyne | Man City | 7.8 | 7.84% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 9.3 | 8.84% |
| Lukaku | Everton | 8.8 | 5.58% |
| Payet | West Ham | 6.2 | 5.13% |
| Schmeichel | Leicester | 4.6 | 4.34% |
Kevin de Bruyne and Dimitri Payet remain highly sought-after options ahead of their respective double Gameweeks. Harry Kane and Lukaku were likely to have been drafted in for their clashes on Sunday and Wednesday respectively, whilst Leicester’s run of five clean sheets makes Kasper Schmeichel the go-to option for those getting rid of Butland between the posts.
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 14.29% |
| Vardy | Leicester | 7.3 | 7.43% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 9.3 | 7.35% |
| Lukaku | Everton | 8.8 | 6.52% |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 5.27% |
The average amount of transfers remaining amongst the top 10 Sky managers currently is 3.5, whilst the top 100 average is 2.91, the top 1,000 is 3.89 and the top 5,000 is 4.13.
Sky have also handed us some useful info on player ownership levels amongst the top 1,000. For details, have a look at the spreadsheet in this recent hot topic.
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, 5.1% |
| Midfielder | Manuel Lanzini, 5m, 0.9% | Andros Townsend, 6.0m, 0% | Roberto Firmino, 8m, 4.4% |
| Forward | Troy Deeney, 7.1m, 4.2% | Danny Welbeck, 8.3m, 0.8% | Daniel Sturridge, 9.4m, 1.8% |
My Team
Hart
Cathcart Dawson Dier
Coutinho Alli Mahrez Payet
Aguero Lukaku© Vardy
ITB: 3.5m
Transfers remaining: 6/40
Last week’s points: 52
Overall points: 1,931
Rank: 820
Notes
My team suffered an unwelcome dip in rank this week, though hopefully this will be the last slip of the season as the fixtures come thick and fast.
With six transfers left, I am optimistic of recovering – injury-dependent, my current plan should get 12 captains out of the 17 Matchdays remaining. As mentioned previously, though, it also involves shipping some highly-owned stars of the season, with Harry Kane already gone and Riyad Mahrez to follow this week in order to acquire Mesut Ozil for the first time this season. I would prefer Alexis Sanchez but unfortunately my budget wont stretch without major surgery.
Alex Iwobi is someone I’m strongly considering but with limited transfers, I would struggle to rectify the situation if he’s suddenly ousted from the Arsenal starting XI. I have mentioned rotation a lot, and its hard not to given last week’s shenanigans, but, as detailed below, I’m going to have to hope I get lucky to make a final push for the top 100.
Captain Plan
Where to start? Six captains, anyone?
For those with a surplus of transfers at their disposal, this week looks the perfect scenario to make up ground on mini-league rivals if you get your armband tactics correct.
I’ll be playing conservatively, with just three captains and zero transfers used in the shape of Romelu Lukaku, on matchday one at home to Southampton, followed by a switch to Philippe Coutinho on matchday two for Liverpool’s trip to Bournemouth. This way, I also have the Brazilian as skipper on matchday five at home to Everton, which crucially sets me up for Gameweek 38, where Liverpool host Newcastle on matchday one again.
Should Liverpool progress past Dortmund tonight, the chances of Coutinho playing all these matches are slim but I just don’t have the budget or transfers remaining to acquire Alexis Sanchez. He or Mesut Ozil would probably be my tip for their double if you can spare the transfers or have a plan to get around the fact that Arsenal don’t featuring until matchday two in Gameweek 38.
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 Chelsea fan Omid Djalili for his #One2Eleven.
