Time to take a look back at the Sky Sports 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 plans over this busy period.
Gameweek 19 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 |
| Leicester vs Crystal Palace | Wilfried Zaha |
| Brighton vs Burnley | Matthew Ryan |
| Stoke vs West Ham | Marko Arnautovic |
| Chelsea vs Southampton | Marcos Alonso |
| Watford vs Huddersfield | Aaron Mooy |
| Arsenal vs Newcastle | Mesut Ozil |
| Man City vs Spurs | Kevin De Bruyne |
| West Brom vs Man United | Nemanja Matic |
| Bournemouth vs Liverpool | Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain |
| Everton vs Swansea | Idrissa Gueye |
Our Watchlist tips Wilfried Zaha and Mesut Ozil continued to perform in a week largely dominated by midfielders.
In fact, the men in the middle made up eight of the ten awards, with forwards earning none. A sign of the times for many who, like myself, have adopted a 4-5-1 formation due to misfiring strikers.
A special mention to Kevin De Bruyne – once again – who now has six MoTM awards and sits at the summit of the table alongside Mohamed Salah.
Gameweek 19 Bonus Points
Let’s take a look at any player to earn 26 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 |
| Ward | Burnley | 6.2 | 9.9% |
| Doucoure | Watford | 7 | 4.6% |
| Femenia | Watford | 5.7 | 4.1% |
| Jesus | Man City | 12.1 | 3.8% |
| Valencia | Man United | 9 | 3.6% |
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Tarkowski | Burnley | 6.1 | 8.6% |
| Rooney | Everton | 10.4 | 7.1% |
| Otamendi | Man City | 8.6 | 4.4% |
| Sterling | Man City | 9.8 | 4.4% |
| Kenny | Everton | 4.3 | 4% |
Average Transfers Remaining
Top 10 – 13.00
Top 100 – 15.04
Top 1,000 – 15.37
Top 5,000 – 15.23
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Kane | Spurs | 12.9 | 27% |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 17.2% |
| Salah | Liverpool | 9.4 | 9.4% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 6.2% |
| De Bruyne | Man City | 11.5 | 3.3% |
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 | Mathias Jorgensen 5.7 4.4% | Andreas Christensen 6.4 2.5% | Phil Jones 7.5 6.1% |
| Midfielder | Michael Antonio 8.5 1.2% | Wilfried Zaha 9.3 4.1% | Mesut Ozil 11.1 2% |
| Forward | Steve Mounie 8.5 1.8% | Son Heung-min 10.8 1.3% | Alexis Sanchez 12.7 3.2% |
My Team
Pope
Gomez Jones Otamendi Christensen
Hazard Coutinho De Bruyne Salah Richarlison
Kane
ITB: 1.0
Transfers remaining: 18/40
Last week’s points: 84
Overall points: 1471
Rank: 189th
Notes
A drop of seven places ends a run of rank jumps, but I’ll take it.
I was up to 120th just before Everton played on Monday night when I went without a single player or captain, so a drop was always on the cards.
I resisted the urge to bring in Jonjoe Kenney, who again managed tackle bonus and even an assist, but thankfully for me he also failed to keep a clean sheet.
This might be a mistake as, at just 4.3, he’s been the best value player over the last five weeks by quite some distance.
As I alluded to last week, I would likely drop Joe Gomez for him and then upgrade Richarlison to David Silva or Raheem Sterling.
Although I think the second pair is probably better, it seems something of a vanity move when Gomez (and in particular the heavily-owned Richarlison) could easily punish me in the weeks to come.
With Man City due to play late in the Gameweek for the next couple, I may wait to see if Richarlison sparks back into life or not before I make the move to get the extra player.
It also helps that the City line-ups will be available before I make the swap.
Another consideration is an Arsenal player in order to have a captain for Thursday.
Unfortunately I can’t afford Mesut Ozil in one or two trades, so I’m unlikely to go that route.
Of course I’m hoping Richarlison’s form improves to the point where I don’t have to make any transfers.
This means I’ll likely be going into this weekend with no Sterling, which certainly makes me feel uneasy. I just hope I can hold my nerve.
Captain Plan
Fri 22nd – Salah (ars)
Sat 23rd – De Bruyne (BOU)
Tues 26th – Hazard (BHA)
Weds 27th – de Bruyne (new)
Thurs 28th – ?
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.
6 years, 5 months agoThe bookies say that Newcastle are almost 50% more likely to keep a clean sheet this weekend than Burnley. Can't see it myself. I think I will play Pope over Elliot as I also have Kane so it's hopefully a decent bit of bet-hedging.
Anyone else in the same predicament?
Also tempted to play Quaner over DCL but I'm not sure I have the Caballeros.