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.
| Fixture | MoTM |
| Stoke vs Leicester | Peter Crouch |
| Swansea vs Brighton | Anthony Knockaert |
| Huddersfield vs West Brom | Rajiv van La Parra |
| Newcastle vs Bournemouth | Simon Francis |
| Southampton vs Burnley | Nick Pope |
| West Ham vs Liverpool | Mohamed Salah |
| Tottenham vs Crystal Palace | Paulo Gazzaniga |
| Man City vs Arsenal | David Silva |
| Everton vs Watford | Leighton Baines |
| Chelsea vs Man United | Cesc 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.
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 |
| Otamendi | Man City | 8.6 | 10.0% |
| Schindler | Huddersfield | 6 | 9.3% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 5.9% |
| Lascelles | Newcastle | 6.8 | 5.0% |
| Jones | Man United | 7.5 | 4.9% |
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
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Ward | Burnley | 6.2 | 6.8% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 12.9 | 4.9% |
| Gomez | Liverpool | 6.5 | 4.9% |
| De Brunye | Man City | 11.5 | 4.1% |
| Stones | Man City | 8.9 | 4.1% |
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
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Kane | Spurs | 12.9 | 32.1% |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 19.9% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 7.6% |
| De Bruyne | Man City | 11.5 | 3.4% |
| Lacazette | Arsenal | 11.8 | 3.3% |
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.
| Budget | Mid-Price | Premium | |
| Defender | Andreas Christensen 6.5 0.3% | Charlie Daniels 7.5 4.6% | John Stones 8.9 4.8% |
| Midfielder | Pascal Gross 7.3 6.3% | Wilfried Zaha 9.3 3.6% | Eden Hazard 11.8 3.8% |
| Forward | Tammy 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.
