Time for our weekly Sky Sports Focus article where we take a look back at the weekend action before preparing you for the forthcoming Gameweek.
We’ll examine the recent run of Man of the Match (MoTM) awards, the bonus point beneficiaries, transfer trends and Watchlist, before moving on to the Scout team and our future plans.
Gameweek 5 Man of the Match Awards
These were the players who caught the eye of the Sky Sports reporters and earned an extra five points as a result.
| Fixture | MoTM |
| Man City vs Liverpool | Kevin De Bruyne |
| Southampton vs Watford | Nathaniel Chalobah |
| Leicester vs Chelsea | N’Golo Kante |
| Everton vs Tottenham | Harry Kane |
| Arsenal vs Bournemouth | Danny Welbeck |
| Brighton vs West Brom | Pascal Gross |
| Stoke vs Man United | Eric Choupo-Moting |
| Burnley vs Crystal Palace | James Tarkowski |
| Swansea vs Newcastle | Jamaal Lascelles |
| West Ham vs Huddersfield | Michail Antonio |
Popular pre-overhaul options Harry Kane and Kevin De Bruyne bounced back in style at the weekend after three successive blanks and are the only ‘heavy hitters’ to feature here.
Those seeking a budget midfielder long term may have had their head turned by some of the names on show above.
Chalobah (7.3), Choupo-Moting (8.2) and Gross (7.3) all offer potential value, with the latter in particular a real option for those looking to cover Brighton captain opportunities in the weeks to come.
Gameweek 5 Bonus Points
Let’s take a look at any player to earn seven points or more in bonus for the season
Harry Arter jumps to the top of the bonus table for midfielders having picked up five bonus this week, bringing his total to ten.
Christopher Schindler also continues to churn out the tackles and now has nine bonus total, just one behind the top-placed Nicolas Otamendi.
Asmir Begovic is the only keeper to feature after earning tier one save bonus in all four of his matches.
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 |
| Mane | Liverpool | 11.0 | 8.9% |
| Pogba | Man United | 11.2 | 2.9% |
| Rooney | Everton | 10.4 | 2.5% |
| Salah | Liverpool | 9.4 | 2.2% |
| Kompany | Man City | 8.5 | 1.9% |
Sadio Mane and Paul Pogba make up the top targets out this week following a red card and midweek injury respectively.
Both players are heavily owned following the overhaul and will no doubt have frustrated many new owners.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Hegazi | West Brom | 6.2 | 4.0% |
| Salah | Liverpool | 9.4 | 4.0% |
| Eriksen | Tottenham | 10.8 | 3.2% |
| Schindler | Huddersfield | 6.0 | 2.7% |
| Mkhitaryan | Man United | 10 | 2.5% |
Ahmed Hegazi and Mo Salah again make up the top two targets in this week.
Hegazi owners will be monitoring team sheets closely this week after the Egyptian was substituted early last match to make way for new acquisition Kieran Gibbs.
Christian Eriksen and Henrikh Mkhitaryan look to be the favoured Mane and Pogba replacements, while Schindler’s impressive performances and cheap price persuaded just under 3% to snap him up.
Average Transfers Remaining
Top 10 – 27.4
Top 100 – 29.75
Top 1,000 – 31.84
Top 5,000 – 33.12
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Kane | Tottenham | 12.9 | 25.6% |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 19.4% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 4.7% |
| Javier Hernandez | West Ham | 10.7 | 3.3% |
| Dele Alli | Tottenham | 11.6 | 2.9% |
Watchlist
Here I aim to highlight a few differential players with low ownership who I believe could be good options for the next six Gameweeks.
Three specific price brackets will be used to cater for our available budgets.
The players will evolve with fixtures and form to offer Fantasy managers a nudge in (hopefully) the right direction.
| Budget | Mid-Price | Premium | |
| Defender | Ciaran Clark 6.6 1.3% | Cedric 7.9 3.6% | Ben Davies 8.2 5.8% |
| Midfielder | Pascal Gross 7.3 1.2% | Michail Antonio 8.5 2.0% | David Silva 10.6 4.1% |
| Forward | Joselu 7.9 0.7% | Andy Carroll 10.0 0.2% | Jamie Vardy 11.2 4.1% |
My Team
Forster
Naughton Jorgensen Suttner
Matic Pogba Knockaert Salah
Lukaku Kane Hernandez
ITB: 1.8
Transfers remaining: 38/40
Last week’s points: 70
Overall points: 298
Rank: 5,390
Notes
A mediocre score this time around, but still a decent rank boost mainly due to the talents of Harry Kane, who was my skipper on the Saturday.
Tammy Abraham and Javier Hernandez were my other two captains and both failed to deliver in a frustrating end to the Gameweek.
Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba made up my only other points of note, although Pogba is now injured so I’m shopping for a replacement.
Christian Eriksen looks the obvious pick, but I’m also eyeing up Ben Davies (8.2) and a switch to 4-3-3, at least temporarily.
My thoughts here are that Nemanja Matic (8.3) failed to obtain bonus points and I’m now starting to question how consistently he will be able to obtain them – he’s often on the cusp, just not substantially over it.
If he’s not getting bonus, he’s near deadweight given his lack of attacking output.
If I go with Ben Davies for Pogba, I can then assess for a few weeks and remove either the full-back or Matic depending on their performances when Pogba returns.
My eye is also drawn to Philippe Coutinho, but with no guarantees over his playing time right now it seems a tad risky.
I’ll continue with my policy of transferring in the top forward or midfielder in single fixture days this week, with Jermain Defoe coming in for Javier Hernandez.
It’s not worked out too well so far, but a brace from the veteran could soon change that, particularly considering his ownership is just 2.3% currently.
Captain Plan
Fri 15th – Defoe (BOU)
Sat 16th – Kane (SWA)
Sun 17th – Lukaku (EVE)
Weekly Articles and Podcast
As well as the weekly Focus article, 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.
The Fantasy Football Scout League
We’ve 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.
