We now turn attention to the Sky Sports Fantasy game with our weekly article looking back at the weekend action, while preparing you for the incoming Gameweek.
As usual, we will 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 20 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 |
| Arsenal vs Liverpool | Roberto Firmino |
| Everton vs Chelsea | Michael Keane |
| Stoke vs West Brom | Eric Choupo-Moting |
| Swansea vs Crystal Palace | Tom Carroll |
| Man City vs Bournemouth | Sergio Aguero |
| West Ham vs Newcastle | Christian Atsu |
| Brighton vs Watford | Pascal Gross |
| Southampton vs Huddersfield | Jonas Lossl |
| Burnley vs Spurs | Harry Kane |
| Leicester vs Man United | Romelu Lukaku |
| Spurs vs Southampton | Harry Kane |
| Bournemouth vs West Ham | Ryan Fraser |
| Huddersfield vs Stoke | Tom Ince |
| Chelsea vs Brighton | Eden Hazard |
| Watford vs Leicester | Tom Cleverley |
| West Brom vs Everton | Jordan Pickford |
| Man United vs Burnley | Johann Berg Gudmundsson |
| Liverpool vs Swansea | Roberto Firmino |
| Newcastle vs Man City | Kevin De Bruyne |
| Crystal Palace vs Arsenal | Alexis Sanchez |
Some big names feature here with the likes of Harry Kane, Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero, Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard, Alexis Sanchez and Roberto Firmino all responsible for huge swings in rank.
Kane and Firmino, who both earned awards with scores of 48 and 32 points respectively, were the men to inflict the big damage.
Alexis Sanchez will also have been both hero and villain following Thursday’s lone fixture. He has been something of a sleeping giant given his pedigree, but we must now consider whether template teams will be scrambled to consider accommodating the Chilean.
Gameweek 20 Bonus Points
Let’s take a look at any player to earn 30 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 |
| Tarkowski | Burnley | 6.1 | 8.4% |
| Valencia | Man United | 9 | 8.1% |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 5.4% |
| Rooney | Everton | 10.4 | 5.1% |
| Ward | Burnley | 6.2 | 4.8% |
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Otamendi | Man City | 8.6 | 6.9% |
| Sterling | Man City | 9.8 | 6.1% |
| Gomez | Liverpool | 6.5 | 5.3% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 5.1% |
| Kane | Spurs | 12.9 | 4.3% |
Average Transfers Remaining
Top 10 – 12.30
Top 100 – 14.29
Top 1,000 – 14.49
Top 5,000 – 14.22
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Kane | Spurs | 12.9 | 27% |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 17% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 6.2% |
| Salah | Liverpool | 9.4 | 5.6% |
| Lacazette | Arsenal | 11.8 | 4.3% |
Watchlist
Here I aim to highlight a few differential players with low ownership who could represent quality signings over the Gameweeks to come.
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 | Jonjoe Kenny 4.3m 4% |
Andreas Christensen 6.4m 3.8% |
Hector Bellerin 9.3m 3% |
| Midfielder | Michael Antonio 8.5m 1.2% |
Wilfried Zaha 9.3m 4.1% |
Mesut Ozil 11.1m 2.3% |
| Forward | Steve Mounie 8.5m 1.8% |
Son Heung-min 10.8m 1.3% |
Alexis Sanchez 12.7m 3.1% |
My Team
Pope
Jones Otamendi Christensen Kenny
Hazard Coutinho Sterling De Bruyne Salah
Kane
ITB: 1.0
Transfers remaining: 16/40
Last week’s points: 208
Overall points: 1679
Rank: 233rd
Notes
I crumbled over the festive period and made the move to switch Raheem Sterling and Jonjoe Kenny in for Richarlison and Joe Gomez.
I had been talking about those trades for near three weeks and, in truth, I really should have committed to the decision earlier as I would be close to 50 points better off. However, it seems that “better late than never” is appropriate with Gomez once again benched last time out, while Sterling found the net once more.
My 16 transfers remaining is above the average but, among the 100 or so Sky Sports pros I regularly interact with, it’s probably just below the ideal of 18-22.
This made me hold off on bringing in Alexis Sanchez for the somewhat misfiring Eden Hazard or even for Harry Kane due to Spurs’ blank fixture.
That seems like a mistake after Sanchez’s brace and MoTM award – the Chilean was owned by just 3.7% prior to Thursday’s kick-off and will no doubt have been the catalyst for huge rank increases for those who took a chance.
That, in a nutshell, is why so many of us enjoy the Sky Sports game.
It saddens me to think that I missed out, but I have to hope there will be more opportunities down the line. Playing slow and steady for a number of seasons now has taught me that huge rank swings are possible in the back end of the season if you manage transfers carefully.
Looking ahead, again I feel happy with my team.
Hazard is on thin ice but has a great fixture this week and a chance to make amends. Chelsea also have a couple of single matchdays coming up, so it would probably be unwise to eject him at this point. However, a blank against Stoke City may just prove the tipping point. It seems fitting to captain him for a possible last hurrah, then.
Wish me luck as we go into six matchdays and, hopefully, six big captain returns.
Captain Plan
Sat 30th – Hazard (STK)
Sun 31st – De Bruyne (cry)
Mon 1st – Coutinho (bur)
Tues 2nd – De Bruyne (WAT)
Weds 3rd – Hazard (ars)
Thurs 4th – Kane (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
Our Fantasy Football Scout League is currently topping the League of Leagues as we look to defend our crown in 2017/18.
