We now switch to focus on the Sky Sports Fantasy game and take a look back at the weekend action before preparing you for the forthcoming 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 30 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 |
| Burnley vs Everton | Ashley Barnes |
| Watford vs West Brom | Salomon Rondon |
| Swansea vs West Ham | Ki Sung-yueng |
| Tottenham Hotspur vs Huddersfield | Son Heung-min |
| Southampton vs Stoke | Kurt Zouma |
| Leicester vs Bournemouth | Simon Francis |
| Liverpool vs Newcastle | Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain |
| Brighton vs Arsenal | Glenn Murray |
| Man City vs Chelsea | David Silva |
| Crystal Palace vs Man United | Nemanja Matic |
Another big week for differential picks. Nemanja Matic was the only real exception, with 17% ownership, but the rest are all found in fewer than 5.5% of squads.
A few players have now thrown their hat into the ring for the restricted Gameweek 32 that looms.
Simon Francis, Salomon Rondon, Kurt Zouma and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will all be expected to feature and may be worth a punt for those with more transfers than the average.
Gameweek 30 Bonus Points
Let’s take a look at any player to earn 40 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 |
| Sterling | Man City | 9.8 | 13.3% |
| Fernandinho | Man City | 8.7 | 9.2% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 6.6% |
| Jones | Man United | 7.5 | 5.4% |
| Kane | Spurs | 12.9 | 4.8% |
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 8.9% |
| Sane | Man City | 10.3 | 5.8% |
| Lingard | Man United | 8.8 | 3.6% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 3% |
| Doucoure | Watford | 7 | 2.9% |
Average Transfers Remaining
Top 10 – 9.40
Top 100 – 9.85
Top 1,000 – 9.11
Top 5,000 – 8.56
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Kane | Spurs | 12.9 | 26.2% |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 17% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 9.5% |
| Salah | Liverpool | 9.4 | 5.3% |
| De Bruyne | Man City | 11.5 | 4.3% |
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 the right direction.
| Budget | Mid-Price | Premium | |
| Defender | Mathias Jorgensen 5.7m 4.7% |
Andrew Robertson 7.8mm 2.7% |
Virgil van Dijk 8.9m 2.8% |
| Midfielder | Rajiv van La Parra 7m 0.3% |
Aaron Ramsey 9.1m 2.6% |
Mesut Ozil 11.1m 2.1% |
| Forward | Oumar Niasse 7.4m 0.6% |
Josh King 10.3m 1.5% |
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 12.2m 1.9% |
My Team
Karius
Davies Ward van der Hoorn Christensen
Walcott De Bruyne Salah
Benteke Kane Firmino
ITB: 1.2
Transfers remaining: 8/40
Last week’s points: 83
Overall points: 2475
Rank: 193rd
Notes
Another slight jump in rank, with the star of the show undoubtedly the cheapest asset in my team – Mike van der Hoorn – whose headed goal earned him (and me) nine points.
In fact, my defence is carrying my team at the moment, with Loris Karius and Ben Davies also picking up nine apiece.
Theo Walcott continues to toil, but I feel I have to keep him as a differential captain this week and then as a starter in the Gameweek 32 void. I’ll reassess after that.
You may have noticed a certain Belgian striker sneak his way into my team on Monday at the expense of Christen Eriksen.
I wasn’t expecting much to come of this move, but with Crystal Palace having four games to Spurs’ one, I felt I would go with the gamble.
Surprisingly, it’s already gone some way to working out, with Christen Benteke earning me ten points as captain from his first match.
I’ll continue to look for differentials and gambles as I move forward in a bid to cheer something other than Mohamed Salah points every week.
Captain Plan
Sat 10th – Walcott (BHA)
Sun 11th – Kane (bou)
Mon 12th – De Bruyne (stk)
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.
