We move on to our weekly Sky Sports Focus article, taking a look back at the 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 future plans.
Gameweek 34 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 |
| Crystal Palace vs Liverpool | James Milner |
| West Brom vs Burnley | Ashley Barnes |
| Newcastle vs Huddersfield | Jonjo Shelvey |
| West Ham vs Southampton | Marko Arnautovic |
| Watford vs Bournemouth | Will Hughes |
| Man United vs Swansea | Alexis Sanchez |
| Brighton vs Leicester | Kasper Schmeichel |
| Everton vs Man City | David Silva |
| Arsenal vs Stoke | Aaron Ramsey |
| Chelsea vs Tottenham | Christian Eriksen |
It was all about midfield domination last week, with seven of the ten accolades going to the creative men in the middle.
In terms of popularity, Christian Eriksen was the man to make the most impact on rank due to his lofty 18.9% ownership, David Silva coming in second with just 7.4%.
Both Silva and Marko Arnautovic have now hit six MoTM awards for the season.
The Austrian, in particular, looks a great acquisition right now, off the back of a stunning 21 points this week.
He has an individual matchday on April 16 at home to Stoke City, making him a top captain pick, and he’s also a differential, with just 3.2% backing.
Gameweek 34 Bonus Points
Let’s take a look at any player to earn 47 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 |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 12.3% |
| Gomez | Liverpool | 6.5 | 9.7% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 12.9 | 9.5% |
| Firmino | Liverpool | 11.6 | 6.5% |
| Jesus | Man City | 12.1 | 3% |
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Aubameyang | Arsenal | 12.2 | 8.4% |
| Heung-min | Tottenham | 10.8 | 7.9% |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 7.8% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 12.9 | 6.3% |
| Tarkowski | Burnley | 6.1 | 4.8% |
Average Transfers Remaining
Top 10 – 6.7
Top 100 – 7.1
Top 1,000 – 6.6
Top 5,000 – 6
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Kane | Tottenham | 12.9 | 25.3% |
| Lukaku | Man United | 12.4 | 15.5% |
| Salah | Liverpool | 9.4 | 7.3% |
| Aguero | Man City | 12.8 | 6.6% |
| De Bruyne | Man City | 11.5 | 3.5% |
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 | James Tarkowski 6.1m 5.2% | Andrew Robertson 7.8mm 3.7% | Nacho Monreal 8.5m 3.8% |
| Midfielder | Johann Berg Gudmundsson 6.7m 2.1% | Wilfried Zaha 9.3m 3.6% | Mesut Ozil 11.1m 2.3% |
| Forward | Ashley Barnes 8.8m 0.6% | Cenk Tosun 11.1m 0.2% | Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 12.2m 3.6% |
My Team
Karius
Davies Ward van der Hoorn Christensen
Walcott De Bruyne Salah
Jesus Firmino Aubameyang
ITB: 1.1
Transfers remaining: 6/40
Last week’s points: 76
Overall points: 2702
Rank: 230th
Notes
It’s a tough crowd out there at the moment.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s 28 points as captain on Monday night had me thinking I would rise in the ranks, not drop by 28 places.
It could have been even better of course – it was painful to watch as he handed the ball to team-mate Alexandre Lacazette to take the final penalty, denying the Gabonese striker his hat-trick and us the MoTM award that surely would have followed.
Moving forward and now armed with a full TV fixture list, I’m considering some drastic surgery to my team for a final push, although with just six swaps remaining that’s a scary prospect.
I’m thinking of removing Gabriel Jesus, Ben Davies and Theo Walcott this week for Harry Kane, Pascal Gross and Wilfried Zaha. This would leave me with enough in the bank for Roberto Firmino to Romelu Lukaku the following week.
The fact that I’d have just two transfers left to tackle rotation and injuries means it could all backfire, but it allows me to cover all captain matchdays aside from two (West Ham vs Stoke and Everton vs Newcastle) until the season ends.
And it gives me a power frontline of Kane, Lukaku and Aubameyang for the run-in.
Mohamed Salah’s groin tweak may put a spanner in the works here, and Liverpool’s likely progression in the Champions League also raises rotation fears.
But I feel Salah is simply too good to remove, and even if he features in a reduced amount of matches, he could still hurt those who don’t own him.
Captain Plan
Sat April 7 – Harry Kane
Sun April 8 – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
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.
