We now turn to assess the Sky Sports game, as our focus article looks back at the previous weekend’s 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 line-up plans.
Gameweek 31 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 |
| Man United vs Liverpool | Marcus Rashford |
| Everton vs Brighton | Phil Jagielka |
| West Ham vs Burnley | Chris Wood |
| Newcastle vs Southampton | Jonjo Shelvey |
| Huddersfield vs Swansea | Federico Fernandez |
| West Brom vs Leicester | Riyad Mahrez |
| Chelsea vs Crystal Palace | Willian |
| Arsenal vs Watford | Petr Cech |
| Bournemouth vs Tottenham Hotspur | Son Heung-min |
| Stoke vs Man City | David Silva |
Son Heung-min and David Silva both moved onto five awards for the season and sit alongside Mesut Ozil and Marko Arnautovic in the chasing pack, behind the top-four heavyweights of Mohamed Salah (ten), Kevin De Bruyne (nine), Eden Hazard (eight) and Harry Kane (seven).
Son looks a great option right now. He’s owned by fewer than 5% of the game and has back-to-back scores of 19 and 17 points. With Harry Kane on the sidelines, a straight swap to the South Korean looks tempting in time for Gameweek 34 when Spurs return to Premier League action.
Gameweek 31 Bonus Points
Let’s take a look at any player to earn 45 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 |
| Kane | Spurs | 12.9 | 22.7% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 15.7% |
| Sterling | Man City | 9.8 | 4.8% |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 3.2% |
| Gomez | Liverpool | 6.5 | 2.9% |
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Jesus | Man City | 12.1 | 13.4% |
| Son | Spurs | 10.8 | 8.1% |
| Firmino | Liverpool | 11.6 | 5.8% |
| Sane | Man City | 10.3 | 5.2% |
| D Silva | Man City | 10.6 | 5% |
Average Transfers Remaining
Top 10 – 7.60
Top 100 – 8.43
Top 1,000 – 7.94
Top 5,000 – 7.31
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Kane | Spurs | 12.9 | 25.4% |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 15.3% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 9.6% |
| De Bruyne | Man City | 11.5 | 8.2% |
| Salah | Liverpool | 9.4 | 6.1% |
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 | Martin Jorgensen 5.7m 4.7% |
Andrew Robertson 7.8mm 3.1% |
Virgil van Dijk 8.9m 2.9% |
| Midfielder | Rajiv van La Parra 7m 0.3% |
Wilfried Zaha 9.3m 3.5% |
Mesut Ozil 11.1m 2.1% |
| Forward | Alexander Sorloth 8.6m 0% |
Cenk Tosun 11.1m 0.1% |
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 12.2m 2.3% |
My Team
Karius
Davies Ward van der Hoorn Christensen
Walcott De Bruyne Salah
Benteke Jesus Firmino
ITB: 2.0
Transfers remaining: 7/40
Last week’s points: 50
Overall points: 2525
Rank: 256th
Notes
A poor week overall, with my Saturday captain Theo Walcott being hooked off early and Harry Kane repeating the trick on Sunday.
To compound matters, Ben Davies failed to feature and then Christian Benteke decided to put in a sub-par shift of 45 minutes – it was all frustrating to say the least.
Drifting from the safe options in a bid to make ground is fraught with danger, though, and I was well aware it could backfire. I just wish I had been given a sporting chance this week.
With the Harry Kane injury, I decided to act quickly, like many others, settling on Gabriel Jesus as my replacement.
The allure of the Monday night Stoke City match was too much. Jesus, disappointingly, only managed an assist that evening, but looks a good option to me for the rest of the season.
With Sergio Aguero nursing an injury and Man City progressing into the latter stages of the Champions League, I suspect Jesus will be used more often in the Premier League.
Captain Plan
Sat 17th – Salah (WAT)
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.
