Time for our weekly Sky Sports Focus article where we take a look back at the recent 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 16 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 Leicester | Marko Arnautovic |
| Crystal Palace vs Stoke | Mamadou Sakho |
| Swansea vs Bournemouth | Alfie Mawson |
| Spurs vs West Brom | Salomon Rondon |
| Newcastle vs Watford | Marvin Zeegelaar |
| Man United vs Brighton | Ashley Young |
| Liverpool vs Chelsea | Mohamed Salah |
| Southampton vs Everton | Charlie Austin |
| Burnley vs Arsenal | Ben Mee |
| Huddersfield vs Man City | Raheem Sterling |
| Leicester vs Spurs | Vicente Iborra |
| Brighton vs Crystal Palace | Mathew Ryan |
| West Brom vs Newcastle | Matt Phillips |
| Watford vs Man United | Ashley Young |
| Chelsea vs Swansea | Antonio Rudiger |
| Arsenal vs Huddersfield | Mesut Ozil |
| Bournemouth vs Burnley | Chris Wood |
| Stoke vs Liverpool | Mohamed Salah |
| Man City vs Southampton | Fraser Forster |
| Everton vs West Ham | Wayne Rooney |
Undoubtedly the star of the Double Gameweek was the Premier League’s top goal scorer, Mohammed Salah.
The Egyptian picked up the award in both of his fixtures, despite starting the second clash on the bench.
He’s now the games leading scorer by an impressive 24 points and also tops the MoTM table with six awards.
Interestingly, Salah is also now the game’s most popular player, with 47.1% ownership, having overtaken Romelu Lukaku in midweek.
Somewhat surprisingly, the next highest owned player to feature here is Wayne Rooney (7.4%) in what was a good week for differential picks.
And speaking of which, Raheem Sterling (6.9%) continues to go under the radar and is now the third highest scoring midfielder overall – at a cost of just 9.8.
Gameweek 16 Bonus Points
Let’s take a look at any player to earn 23 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 |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 9.5% |
| Abraham | Swansea | 8.6 | 4.4% |
| Matic | Man United | 8.3 | 4.2% |
| Jones | Man United | 7.5 | 3.8% |
| Eriksen | Spurs | 10.8 | 3.7% |
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Morata | Chelsea | 12.2 | 6.4% |
| Otamendi | Man City | 8.6 | 4.3% |
| Sterling | Man City | 9.8 | 4.2% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 3.8% |
| Kane | Spurs | 12.9 | 3.8% |
Average Transfers Remaining
Top 10 – 16.20
Top 100 – 16.56
Top 1,000 – 17.79
Top 5,000 – 18.36
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Kane | Spurs | 12.9 | 25% |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 17.4% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 8% |
| Salah | Liverpool | 9.4 | 7.5% |
| De Bruyne | Man City | 11.5 | 4.7% |
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 (hopefully) the right direction.
| Budget | Mid-Price | Premium | |
| Defender | Kiko Femenia 5.7 4.2% | Andreas Christensen 6.4 0.9% | Shkodran Mustafi 8.8 1.1% |
| Midfielder | Ruben Loftus-Cheek 7.3 1.3% | Wilfried Zaha 9.3 3.7% | Eden Hazard 11.8 4.7% |
| Forward | Tammy Abraham 8.6 4.6% | Jamie Vardy 11.2 4.7% | Alexis Sanchez 12.7 3% |
My Team
Pope
Christensen Otamendi Femenia Sanchez
Hazard De Bruyne Sane Salah Richarlison
Kane
ITB: 0
Transfers remaining: 22/40
Last week’s points: 151
Overall points: 1118
Rank: 585
Notes
I used three transfers over the double, with Andreas Christensen, Davison Sanchez and Leroy Sane all coming in.
None of them set the world alight, unfortunately, but looking ahead I’m confident an upturn in points is just around the corner.
Like many, my midfield was hit by mass rotation during midweek but, luckily, captaining Harry Kane and then Kevin De Bruyne helped my team to tick along, maintaining my rank from last week.
I now only have one transfer “pencilled in” for the foreseeable future, which will be Kiko Femenia to Phil Jones upon his return from injury.
This will give me a back four made up of some the best teams’ defences in the league, but at a very kind price – a rare and strange experience for me having historically always gone for bargain options at the back.
Whether this experiment will bear fruit I’m not entirely sure, but each season is unique and we have to try and adapt, something I’m trying to correct in my play style after remaining too stubborn in recent times.
Wish me luck as I venture into the unknown.
Captain Plan
Sat 2nd – Hazard (vs NEW)
Sun 3rd – Sane (vs WHU)
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
After winning the League of Leagues in 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.
