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Sky Sports Focus

Friday delivers our article for Sky Sports Fantasy managers, where we take a look back at the last ten fixtures before helping with your preparations for the forthcoming Gameweek.

We’ll examine the recent run of Man of the Match (MoTM) awards, the bonus point beneficiaries, transfer trends and our Watchlist, before moving on to look at our current Scout line-up and review our future plans.

Gameweek 13 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.

FixtureMoTM
Stoke vs LeicesterPeter Crouch
Swansea vs BrightonAnthony Knockaert
Huddersfield vs West BromRajiv van La Parra
Newcastle vs BournemouthSimon Francis
Southampton vs BurnleyNick Pope
West Ham vs LiverpoolMohamed Salah
Tottenham vs Crystal PalacePaulo Gazzaniga
Man City vs ArsenalDavid Silva
Everton vs WatfordLeighton Baines
Chelsea vs Man UnitedCesc Fabregas



Mohammed Salah was the only player of significant ownership to make an impact and the Egyptian’s massive 21-point haul will have delighted his 45.1% of owners.

Priced at just 9.4, there seems to be no valid reason for not owning the game’s highest-scoring player.

David Silva (7.5%) was the next most selected player to make an impression. Valued at 10.6m and managing just one goal and MoTM all season, you could be forgiven for thinking he was overpriced.

But Silva is the game’s eighth highest-scoring player, thanks to his regular passing bonus and seven assists to date.

Gameweek 15 Bonus Points

The table below lists all those players who have currently earned 18 points or more in bonus points over the season.

members

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

NameTeamValue% of Managers
OtamendiMan City8.610.0%
SchindlerHuddersfield69.3%
AgueroMan City12.85.9%
LascellesNewcastle6.85.0%
JonesMan United7.54.9%



Four centre-backs make the top five for swaps out. Nicolas Otamendi and Christopher Schindler account for nearly 20% of transfers as defensive reshaping is top of the priority list. Both will miss out through suspension to return for the following Gameweek.

Top Transfers In

NameTeamValue% of Managers
WardBurnley6.26.8%
KaneTottenham12.94.9%
GomezLiverpool6.54.9%
De BrunyeMan City11.54.1%
StonesMan City8.94.1%



Stephen Ward is the most highly sought player as Burnley’s defence continues to impress, while Joe Gomez’s performances and regular bonus points also bring him into the spotlight as the preferred option in Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool backline.

Average Transfers Remaining

Top 10 – 14.10
Top 100 – 18.11
Top 1,000 – 19.32
Top 5,000 – 20.92

Top Five Captains Picked

NameTeamValue% of Managers
KaneSpurs12.932.1%
LukakuMan United12.419.9%
AgueroMan City12.87.6%
De BruyneMan City11.53.4%
LacazetteArsenal11.83.3%

Watchlist

Here I aim to highlight a few differential players with low ownership who I think could be profitable options for the coming six Gameweeks.

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.

BudgetMid-PricePremium
DefenderAndreas Christensen
6.5
0.3%
Charlie Daniels
7.5
4.6%
John Stones
8.9
4.8%
MidfielderPascal Gross
7.3
6.3%
Wilfried Zaha
9.3
3.6%
Eden Hazard
11.8
3.8%
ForwardTammy Abraham
8.6
6.1%
Josh King
10.3
1.6%
Daniel Sturridge
11.1
0.4%

My Team

Pope
Stones Otamendi Femenia Jorgensen
Hazard De Bruyne Salah Richarlison
Lukaku Kane

ITB: 0
Transfers remaining: 25/40
Last week’s points: 102
Overall points: 864
Rank: 1,019

Notes

Another nice jump in rank, by around 1,000 places, was mainly down to Salah’s contribution, who bagged us 42 points as captain against West Ham.

Nick Pope’s 14, after his 22 (as skipper) the week before, made him probably my best transfer of the season to date, at least for immediate returns.

De Bruyne, with 11, and Richarlison, with eight, also played their part and the only real blips were the lack of a Man City clean sheet for the second successive week having doubled on their defence. Our expensive front two also misfired, of course.

Looking forward, I’m happy with my line-up overall, having established a nice mix of the top teams’ heavy-hitters.

Having said that, they need to start performing.

Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku, in particular, have been fairly lacklustre in terms of output, but have the fixtures and the captaincy matchdays to make amends.

Two budget defenders have emerged as options in recent weeks. Andreas Christensen (6.4) and Joe Gomez (6.5) have the potential to offer great value, and if I were flush with transfers, I would consider something like John Stones, Kiko Femenia and Martin Jorgensen to Phil Jones (7.5) (when fit), along with Christensen and Gomez.

That would leave me with a formidable back four, albeit a risky one given their security of starts and, in Jones’ case, fitness concerns.

Ultimately, having only 25 swaps remaining and a busy Christmas schedule ahead means this remains out of reach. I’ll just have to monitor the situation from afar for now.

Captain Plan

Sat 18th – Lukaku (vs NEW)
Sun 19th – Richarlison (vs WHU)
Mon 20th – None

Weekly Articles and Podcast

As well as the weekly Focus article, we talk 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

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.

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1,223 Comments Post a Comment
  1. The Fed
    • 8 Years
    6 years, 5 months ago

    Foster (Elliot)
    Simpson, Lowton, Löwe* (Long, Jones*)
    Salah, Sterling, Richarlison, Choupo-Moting (Carroll)
    Lacazette, Aguero, Kane (c)

    1 FT, 1.2M ITB.

    A) Lacazette to Lukaku/Morata
    B) Aguero to Lukaku/Morata
    C) Lowe to Moreno/other 4.5

    Possibly only 2 starting defenders with Lowe maybe 50/50 to start ahead of Malone. But not sure the two strikers will start either.

  2. Ramboros
    • 12 Years
    6 years, 5 months ago

    Would you WC to do:

    De Gea - Davies, Jones (INJ), Long - Carroll, Sterling - Ayew, Chicharito (INJ) > Pope - Moreno, Dunk/Kenny, Dummett - Zaha/Richarlison, RLC - Niasse, Lukaku

    Simple yes/no will suffice.

    1. Salah Daze
      • 6 Years
      6 years, 5 months ago

      Depends on the rest of your squad?

      1. Ramboros
        • 12 Years
        6 years, 5 months ago

        The rest of the squad (Elliot, Alonso, Daniels, Sané, Salah, Silva, Kane) are players I wouldn't change on a WC.

  3. FDMS All Starz
    • 8 Years
    6 years, 5 months ago

    Which combo for this week?

    A)Zaha,Dunk,Simpson (-4)

    B)Tcaroll,Bellerin,Francis (free)

    C)Tcaroll,Bellerin,Simpson (Save FT)

    Need as many opinions as possible, please help out

    1. ooooo
      • 6 Years
      6 years, 5 months ago

      C

  4. THFC4LIFE
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    6 years, 5 months ago

    Jones/Jesus > Daniels/Kaku(c) for a hit?

    1. ooooo
      • 6 Years
      6 years, 5 months ago

      Yes

    2. Salah Daze
      • 6 Years
      6 years, 5 months ago

      Yes

  5. ♤TeddyBear♤
    • 9 Years
    6 years, 5 months ago

    Captain Aguero or No Salad?

  6. _____JR_____
    • 13 Years
    6 years, 5 months ago

    Sterling and Lascelles to Silva and Moreno? Have 2 FT. Can’t afford Daniels.

  7. Wag the Drog
    • 12 Years
    6 years, 5 months ago

    1 FT 0.0 itb. What would you do with this backline?
    Trippier-Jones-Naughton-Mee-Mbemba

  8. TaiwanHC
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    6 years, 5 months ago

    What would you guys do with this team?

    Fabianski - Elliot
    Kolasinac - Otamendi - Yoshida - Mee - Long
    Salah - Eriksen - Silva - Atsu - Carroll
    Kane - Aguero - Abraham

    Thanks guys!

  9. TaiwanHC
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    6 years, 5 months ago

    Thoughts on this WC team?

    Fabianski
    Azp - Daniels - Moreno - Mee
    Salah - Eriksen - Silva - Zaha
    Kane - Lukaku (C)

    Speroni - Abraham - Grujic - Long

    Thanks guys!