Next up this Friday afternoon, 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 37 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 Sunderland | Lee Cattermole |
| Everton vs Southampton | Ramiro Funes Mori |
| Man United vs Aston Villa | Wayne Rooney |
| Newcastle vs Swansea | Andros Townsend |
| West Brom vs Watford | Heurelho Gomes |
| Chelsea vs Man City | Sergio Aguero |
| Bournemouth vs Liverpool | Joe Allen |
| Leicester vs West Ham | Robert Huth |
| Arsenal vs Crystal Palace | Damien Delaney |
| Stoke vs Tottenham | Harry Kane |
| Newcastle vs Man City | Vurnon Anita |
| West Ham vs Watford | Mark Noble |
| Liverpool vs Everton | James Milner |
| Man United vs Crystal Palace | Matteo Darmian |
| Arsenal vs West Brom | Alexis Sanchez |
Gameweek 37 Bonus Points
Four goalkeepers picked up bonus last week. Joel Robles managed to earn bonus in both his fixtures – the Toffees stopper made 14 saves, though still conceded on five occasions. Leading the way for keepers are Petr Cech, Jack Butland and Heurelho Gomes with 16 bonus points each.
In defence 15 players grabbed bonus; ten for tackles and seven for completed passes. Centre-backs Gabriel and Federico Fernandez both managed to pick up both despite playing just one game. Simon Francis is the top scoring defender in terms of bonus with 26 points – the equivalent of five clean sheets.
In midfield there were 17 beneficiaries in total: eight for tackling and 12 for passes. Four players managed to pick up four bonus points over the double but the star of the show was Lucas with six – the Brazilian now has 40 for the season and is second to only Cesc Fabregas with 60.
Wayne Rooney managed to pick up passing bonus to fly the flag for forwards and is one of the few front men to flirt with bonus on a semi-regular basis over the last few seasons.
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 | 19.34% |
| Vardy | Leicester | 7.3 | 10.65% |
| Barkley | Everton | 6.7 | 6.8% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 9.3 | 2.8% |
| Arnautovic | Stoke | 5.5 | 2.3% |
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 6.82% |
| De Bruyne | Man City | 7.8 | 6.65% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 9.3 | 5.74% |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 4.71% |
| Rashford | Man United | 5.7 | 4.6% |
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 15.58% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 9.3 | 7.78% |
| Vardy | Leicester | 7.3 | 5.97% |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 5.89% |
| Hazard | Chelsea | 9 | 5.14% |
The average amount of transfers remaining amongst the top 10 Sky managers currently is 1.7, whilst the top 100 average is 2.0, the 1,000 is 2.49 and the top 5,000 is 2.74.
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 | Jan Kirchhoff, 4.5m, 0% | Alberto Moreno, 6.2m, 1.2% | Laurent Koscielny, 7.8m, 5.2% |
| Midfielder | Alex Iwobi, 4m, 0.4% | Willian, 7.5m, 2.9% | Roberto Firmino, 8m, 4.6% |
| Forward | Jermain Defoe, 7.5m, 2.7% | Andy Carroll, 7.9m, 0.6% | Daniel Sturridge, 9.4m, 2.2% |
My Team
Hart
Cathcart Dawson Dier
Alli Ozil Mahrez Payet
Aguero© Kane Sanchez
ITB: 0.6m
Transfers remaining: 3/40
Last week’s points: 133
Overall points: 2,068
Notes
I opted to change my plans this week as Romelu Lukaku’s no-show followed by Liverpool’s Sunday team sheet forced me to abandon the Philippe Coutinho captain strategy and pushed me into the welcoming arms of Alexis Sanchez, who racked up 24 points over the double. I have owned the Chilean for long periods of the season but unfortunately at the wrong times until now – hopefully we have made up our differences and the love affair can rekindle.
Looking forward I’m in a fairly good position for Gameweek 38 as I have nine players with a fixture, which I expect is slightly more than most. With my remaining three transfers I’ll likely target a Liverpool and a Chelsea player for the double Gameweek in 40 but I’m considering using the third on switching the underperforming Craig Dawson to Kyle Walker. Spurs look likely to keep a few more clean sheets before the season is out and a double up could pay dividends.
Captain Plan
I’m locked into Sergio Aguero as captain for Saturday’s game at home to Stoke. Although his minutes may be managed ahead of the Champions League clash with Real, we all know how deadly he can be in a short period of time, so I’ll be hoping he can continue his great recent form.
For Sunday it will be a switch to Sanchez, who travels to the Stadium of Light to challenge Sunderland. This works out well as Arsenal play on match day one in Gameweek 39 at home to Norwich.
It’s definitely worth noting that Tottenham host West Brom on Monday night football and so a switch to Harry Kane could again reap big rewards – however, with Spurs not playing until match day three in Gameweek 39, it will likely take transfers to navigate this situation.
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 Real Madrid coach Paul Clement for his #One2Eleven.
