Time for our weekly Sky Sports Focus article where we take a look back at the weekend action before preparing you for the incoming 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 7 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 |
| West Ham vs Spurs | Harry Kane |
| Swansea vs Watford | Kiko Femenia |
| Man City vs Crystal Palace | Leroy Sane |
| Stoke vs Chelsea | Alvaro Morata |
| Burnley vs Huddersfield | Christopher Schindler |
| Everton vs Bournemouth | Oumar Niasse |
| Southampton vs Man United | Phil Jones |
| Leicester vs Liverpool | Philippe Coutinho |
| Brighton vs Newcastle | Tomer Hemed |
| Arsenal vs West Brom | Nacho Monreal |
Alvaro Morata’s 24-point haul made him the highest scoring player this week and adds yet another expensive forward option to a growing list.
Harry Kane’s impressive away form continued with a 17-point return to follow his 19 against Everton, while Philippe Coutinho flew the flag for pricey midfielders with 16 points, leaving managers pondering how to stretch their budget even further.
Luckily, Christopher Schindler and Kiko Femenia seem to be on hand to offer us great enablers. Both players have been in excellent form, with the former now the eighth highest-scoring player overall. He costs just 6.0.
Gameweek 7 Bonus Points
Let’s take a look at any player to earn eight points or more in bonus for the 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 |
| Jesus | Man City | 12.1 | 4.5% |
| Rooney | Everton | 10.4 | 3.6% |
| Keane | Everton | 7.9 | 3.1% |
| Eriksen | Tottenham | 10.8 | 3.0% |
| Firmino | Liverpool | 11.6 | 2.7% |
Gabriel Jesus is the top target out after his benching at the weekend – but that was before the Sergio Aguero story broke earlier today.
The lack of points from Everton duo Wayne Rooney and Michael Keane seems to have counted against them (as has the latter’s injury doubt), while Christian Eriksen and Roberto Firmino make up the final two spots.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 7.6% |
| Lascelles | Newcastle | 6.8 | 3.6% |
| Lacazette | Arsenal | 11.8 | 3.6% |
| Salah | Liverpool | 9.4 | 3.3% |
| Morata | Chelsea | 12.2 | 3.2% |
Sergio Aguero is again the most sought-after player and is now the highest scorer in the game. However, his injury following a car accident in Amsterdam is obviously going to have its effect this Gameweek and beyond.
Jamaal Lascelles is a somewhat surprising inclusion but has already netted twice in the league to add to his appeal. Mohammed Salah continues to feature week after week, while Alvaro Morata’s hat-trick and Alexandre Lacazette’s brace make them hot properties.
Average Transfers Remaining
Top 10 – 22.00
Top 100 – 24.05
Top 1,000 – 27.02
Top 5,000 – 28.84
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 25.6% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 12.9 | 24.4% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 5.7% |
| Lacazette | Arsenal | 11.8 | 5.3% |
| Hegazi | West Brom | 6.2 | 4.5% |
Watchlist
Here I aim to highlight a few differential players with low ownership who I think could be good options for the coming six weeks.
Three specific price brackets will be used to cater for our available budgets.
The players will evolve with fixtures and form and offer Fantasy managers a nudge in the right direction.
| Budget | Mid-Price | Premium | |
| Defender | Kyle Naughton 6.7 3.1% | Cedric 7.9 3.5% | Hector Bellerin 9.3 3.0% |
| Midfielder | Pascal Gross 7.3 5.3% | Aaron Ramsey 9.1 4.3% | David Silva 10.6 6.0% |
| Forward | Oumar Niasse 7.4 0.2% | Jamie Vardy 11.2 3.9% | Alexis Sanchez 12.7 3.2% |
My Team
Forster
Naughton Jorgensen Suttner
Coutinho Matic Knockaert Salah
Lukaku Kane Lacazette
ITB: 0.6
Transfers remaining: 35/40
Last week’s points: 111
Overall points: 496
Rank: 1,437
Notes
A jump in rank by nearly 3,000 places for me, so all in all a pretty good week.
Fraser Forster and Kyle Naughton claimed clean sheets in the previous round and they handed the torch to Mathias Jorgensen and Markus Suttner in Gameweek 6. If I can get two shutouts a week I’ll be more than happy.
My early move for Philippe Coutinho really paid off as he returned a 16-point haul.
He was Sky Sports gold last season thanks to his monopoly on the MoTM award and I expect the same again moving forward.
Mohamed Salah chipped in with his usual goal, but it’s the other two midfielders that are causing me most concern.
Nemanja Matic failed to provide bonus and has now earned it just three times – that’s a major worry for a player whose sole appeal is passing and tackles.
My other main issue is Anthony Knockaert. The reason for his inclusion was to cover Brighton’s many single match days and therefore offer a captain option.
But as it turns out, Markus Suttner appears to be the better captain option as clean sheets seem more obtainable than Knockaert points.
I’m not sure how I look to rectify those issues, but have a number of players on my personal watchlist.
Switching to a 4-3-3 formation with Phil Jones at 7.5 was an option I had considered but he now looks set to miss out against Palace tomorrow.
Another alternative is to switch to a premium midfielder and budget midfield gem such as Watford’s Andre Carrillo, who is just 5.8.
Obviously Carrillo’s main appeal is his enabling price, but he’s also looked threatening in the matches I’ve watched, so he could start to churn out the odd assist. He’s started the last four matches in a row, although Roberto Pereyra’s return may change that.
Thankfully, Watford’s fixtures are still pretty tough, so I’ll sit back and assess before jumping ship. Unfortunately, that means I’ll likely stick with Matic and Knockaert for now in an effort to conserve transfers.
Captaining Alexandre Lacazette on Monday was a great feeling as finally one of my armband “hokey-cokey” transfers paid off in style.
The fact he didn’t get MoTM was a blow, given that he earned it early in the season for essentially “making his debut”, but I guess I can’t argue with Nacho Monreal, who was sensational on the day.
Captain Plan
Sat 30th – Kane (hud)
Sun 1st – Lacazette (BHA)
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.
