In our final pre-season Sky Sports article, we take a look at the bonus points system and the players who benefitted most over 2016/17.

I’ll also offer some final thoughts ahead of tonight’s Gameweek 1 opener.

Bonus can be a valuable source of points and a feature that adds a whole host of names to the viable players list – no longer does Gareth Barry have to be the only man who owns Gareth Barry.

The Bonus System

First up, let’s recap on the bonus system, which has two tiers.

Tier 1 – Two bonus points have been made available for the following:
5 saves made (GK only)
3 tackles won (All)
60 completed passes (All)
3 shots on target (All)

Tier 2 – Three bonus points have been made available for the following:
7 saves made (GK only)
5 tackles won (All)
70 completed passes (All)
5 shots on target (All)

Bonus Point Magnets

Our own Members’ area can be of assistance when it comes to assessing these.

The Sky Sports table now has all the data available and will update as the season progresses.

For our initial pre-season analysis, let’s focus on the players who earned 40 points or more from bonus.

Conclusion

Jordan Henderson managed 79 bonus points – the equivalent of 16 goals from forwards or clean sheets from defenders.

What’s incredible is that he managed this in just 24 starts due to injury. When you also bear in mind that a player’s ability to pass or tackle is far more predictable than goals/assists, it really makes sense to target these types for safe points each week.

The Holy Grail is finding a player who does this AND manages to pick up attacking points as well. These were in short supply last season.

As an example, in the now-distant past, Santi Cazorla scored 267 points by ticking all these boxes. That would have made him the third highest scoring player last season – and this was before Sky Sports had introduced tier two or or shots on target bonuses. With the bonus system as it is now, Cazorla would have likely scored over 300 points while costing just 6.7m.

Sky Sports managers will be hoping that the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Aaron Ramsey and perhaps Paul Pogba can live up to this sort of billing and challenge the more fashionable picks such as Chelsea’s Eden Hazard at the top of the rankings.

During our player focus articles we’ll also highlight the cheaper/mid-price midfielders who look likely to offer great value due to their penchant for bonus.

Final Thoughts

Articles written (links at the bottom of this piece), information passed on…it’s time to settle on a pre-overhaul team.

Planning for only the first three weeks is a change of pace, but one I have gradually warmed to. No longer do we have to pinpoint captain swaps well in advance based on not much more than pre-season and gut feeling.

The closure of the transfer window at the point of overhaul is another handy consequence of this new feature.

We now get a kind of preview before the real game starts. Armed with three weeks’ worth of information, we should be able to better select our squads and hopefully plan ahead more easily, in part again due to the second overhaul later down the line.

So, yet again, a feature probably designed to help less full-on managers remain interested in the game now looks set to benefit the more dedicated amongst us.

I’ll be covering my team and its ups and downs as the season progresses, plus venting my thoughts on a regular podcast linked below. This week we talk our final line-ups so if you’re interested, give it a listen and let us know what you think.

Weekly Articles and Podcast

We’re delighted to announce that we will be back supporting the Sky Sports game with weekly articles again for 2017/18.

I’ll be talking through the week’s action and upcoming plans with FFS posters Buffrey and Lewis on our regular podcast – the latest episode can be found here.

We also have the dedicated RMT community article to exclusively deal with Sky Sports Fantasy teams. Those looking to get involved should click this link.

Fantasy Football Scout League

We have already set up our Fantasy Football Scout League and, after winning the League of Leagues for each of the last four seasons, we’re looking to defend our crown in 2017/18.

Get your teams in – the name is FFScout and the pin number to join is 8300422.

Previous Sky Sports Articles

The Overhaul
Player List – Goalkeepers
Player List – Defenders
Player List – Midfielders
Player List – Forwards
The Man of The Match Awards