Time for our weekly Sky Sports Focus article where we cast our minds back to the previous Gameweek, before preparing you for the incoming fixtures.
We’ll examine the recent run of Man of the Match (MoTM) awards, the bonus point beneficiaries, transfer trends and our current Watchlist, before moving on to our Fantasy Football Scout team and 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 |
| Huddersfield vs Spurs | Harry Kane |
| Bournemouth vs Leicester | Marc Pugh |
| Stoke vs Southampton | Kurt Zouma |
| Man United vs Crystal Palace | Marouane Fellaini |
| West Brom vs Watford | Richarlison |
| West Ham vs Swansea | Alfie Mawson |
| Chelsea vs Manchester City | Kevin De Bruyne |
| Arsenal vs Brighton | Alexis Sanchez |
| Everton vs Burnley | James Tarkowski |
| Newcastle vs Liverpool | Matt Ritchie |
A mixture of big hitters and budget enablers make up the gang this week, with Harry Kane (46.7%) and Kevin De Bruyne (17.5%) the most heavily owned.
Meanwhile, Richarlison stormed into the top three midfielders for points.
He costs just 7.6 – slightly more pricey than budget enablers of the past – but is building a compelling case for inclusion, with Watford’s fixtures also picking up from Gameweek 12 to further his cause.
James Tarkowski, at 6.1, is another name for consideration. The imposing centre-back now has two MoTM awards and has been key to Burnley’s three shut-outs so far.
Gameweek 8 Bonus Points
Let’s take a look at any player to earn 11 points or more in bonus for the season:
Man City’s Nicolas Otamendi is probably the most appealing option here. He comes in at 8.6 and is a regular tier two passing earner.
In fact, his bonus is the equivalent of three extra clean sheets already. So considering he has five shut-outs to add to that, you could look at it as eight clean sheets in seven matches, or eight goals in seven for a forward.
That’s impressive scoring whichever way you look at it.
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 |
| Morata | Chelsea | 12.2 | 11% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 4.8% |
| Mane | Liverpool | 11 | 4.3% |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 4% |
| Kante | Chelsea | 9.1 | 3.7% |
Only Romelu Lukaku looks set to make the weekend’s action as injuries claim some popular players. Alvaro Morata, in particular, stands out as roughly one in ten managers removed him over the international break.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Kane | Tottenham | 12.9 | 11.6% |
| Jesus | Man City | 12.1 | 6.9% |
| Richarlison | Watford | 7.6 | 5.5% |
| De Bruyne | Man City | 11.5 | 4.5% |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 2.7% |
Harry Kane’s frightening form means a further 11.6% have jumped on board, while Sergio Aguero’s recent injury prompted many to turn to Gabriel Jesus and De Bruyne ahead of Man City’s favourable schedule. Elsewhere, Richarlison and Romelu Lukaku make up the top five.
Average Transfers Remaining
Top 10 – 13.6
Top 100 – 21.37
Top 1,000 – 24.61
Top 5,000 – 26.65
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Kane | Tottenham | 12.9 | 29.1% |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 19.6% |
| Salah | Liverpool | 9.4 | 7.3% |
| Lacazette | Arsenal | 11.8 | 7.1% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 3.7% |
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 | Alfie Mawson 7.3m 2.9% |
Cedric 7.9m 3.5% |
Cesar Azpilicueta 10.3m 5.9% |
| Midfielder | Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting 8.2m 1.5% |
Michail Antonio 8.5m 1.8% |
Raheem Sterling 9.8m 3.9% |
| Forward | Tammy Abraham 8.6mm 4.2% |
Jamie Vardy 11.2m 3.9% |
Alexis Sanchez 12.7m 3.3% |
My Team
Forster
Femenia Jorgensen Suttner
Hazard Coutinho Salah Carrillo
Lukaku Kane Lacazette
ITB: 0.8
Transfers remaining: 32/40
Last week’s points: 77
Overall points: 573
Rank: 1,435
Notes
A jump in rank by a whole two places suggests my week was…average.
To be honest, it was probably less than average when you consider I had a transfer frenzy, subbing in Kiko Femenia, Eden Hazard and Andre Carrillo for Kyle Naughton, Nemanja Matic and Anthony Knockaert.
I simply couldn’t bear another Gameweek with Knockaert in my line-up, while Matic was failing to deliver bonus points at the rate I expected.
I’m now fairly happy with my set-up, with Alexandre Lacazette basically a placeholder for captain rotation. In fact, he’s coming out for Jamie Vardy on Monday. The main concern is undoubtedly my lack of Man City options ahead of their forthcoming fixtures.
I’ll likely wait until Sergio Aguero is fully fit and then address that issue further down the line.
Captain Plan
Sat 14th – Kane (BOU)
Sun 15th – Forster (NEW)
Mon 16th – Vardy (WBA)
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. This week we are joined by last season’s champion Dan Cox.
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.
