Next up this Thursday evening, we take our usual look at the Sky Sports 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 38 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 Stoke | Kelechi Iheanacho |
| Aston Villa vs Southampton | Dusan Tadic |
| Bournemouth vs Chelsea | Cesc Fabregas |
| Liverpool vs Newcastle | Alberto Moreno |
| Sunderland vs Arsenal | Jan Kirchhoff |
| Leicester vs Swansea | Leonardo Ulloa |
| Tottenham vs West Brom | Craig Gardner |
Gameweek 38 Bonus Points
Two goalkeepers picked up bonus this week – former Sky favourites Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone were the men in question. with the latter making six saves and keeping a clean sheet to earn a tasty nine points. With 14 points earned in just 16 outings, the Italian is hot the heels of the leading three keepers Petr Cech, Jack Butland and Heurelho Gomes, who all have 16 points apiece.
In defence, ten players grabbed bonus; six for tackles and five for completed passes. Swansea full-back Angel Rangel was the man to grab both despite his side losing by four goals. Simon Francis is the top scoring defender in terms of bonus with 28 points – nearly the equivalent of six clean sheets.
In midfield there were nine beneficiaries in total: two for tackling and seven for passes. As usual, Cesc Fabregas was one of those and his total of 62 bonus points means he is the fourth highest scoring midfielder in the game, despite registering just four goals all season.
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 |
| Vardy | Leicester | 7.3 | 15.2% |
| Lukaku | Everton | 8.8 | 5.15% |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 4.28% |
| Barkley | Everton | 6.7 | 3.36% |
| Ozil | Arsenal | 8.4 | 2.87% |
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Kane | Tottenham | 9.3 | 9.09% |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 7.04% |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 4.3% |
| Alli | Tottenham | 4 | 3.99% |
| Eriksen | Leicester | 7.7 | 3.77% |
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 14.63% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 9.3 | 10.29% |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 5.97% |
| Vardy | Leicester | 7.3 | 5.21% |
| Hazard | Chelsea | 9 | 5.13% |
The average amount of transfers remaining amongst the top 10 Sky managers currently is 1.00, whilst the top 100 average is 1.43, the 1,000 is 1.964 and the top 5,000 is 2.2262.
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, 5.3% |
| Midfielder | Alex Iwobi, 4m, 0.4% | Willian, 7.5m, 2.9% | Roberto Firmino, 8m, 4.6% |
| Forward | Jermain Defoe, 7.5m, 3% | Andy Carroll, 7.9m, 0.8% | Daniel Sturridge, 9.4m, 2.2% |
My Team
Hart
Cathcart Walker Dier
Alli Ozil Mahrez Payet
Aguero Kane Sanchez©
ITB: 0.2m
Transfers remaining: 2/40
Last week’s points: 40
Overall points: 2,108
Rank: 704
Notes
Not a great week but decent enough, with captain Sergio Aguero earning me 14 points, whilst Joe Hart and Riyad Mahrez chipped in with seven points apiece.
I transferred out Craig Dawson for Kyle Walker on Monday night, which backfired instantly as Dawson’s leveller at the Lane cancelled out Tottenham’s clean sheet. Dele Alli is now out for the season after being handed a three-match ban for violent conduct earlier today, though I may just leave him in and focus my transfers on extra captains – one trade this week would allow me to have three armbands and opt for Chelsea coverage for Monday’s match with Spurs.
Captain Plan
I’m locked into Alexis Sanchez as my skipper for Saturday’s home match against Norwich – given the Chilean’s recent good form, I’m hopeful of some decent returns for this clash.
It’s no surprise that a switch to Sergio Aguero is on the cards for Sunday as Man City travel to St Mary’s and given that the Saints leaked two goals against Aston Villa last week I’m again hopeful this will bear fruit.
For Monday, I’ll be transferring out Aguero for a Chelsea asset as they square up to Tottenham at Stamford Bridge. As alluded to above, this works out well as Guus Hiddink’s side play in Matchday one away to Sunderland in Gameweek 40 and helps to give me three skippers for this week.
I’m still not certain on my likely Chelsea target, though Diego Costa, Eden Hazard or Cesc Fabregas look the best options, with the Belgian currently the front runner on the back of his brace at Bournemouth.
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 running a feature on former England midfielder Joe Cole.
