Sky Sports Fantasy: Players to target for single matchday coverage

Fantasy Football Scout are delighted to be partnering with Sky Sports Fantasy Football this season – bringing you even more content on the popular, free-to-enter game.

Our resident experts Luke Williams and Niall Murphy will be recording videos every week throughout the season and will each be writing monthly articles, so you will get the very best insight and advice on these pages.

This week, Luke takes a look at the remaining fixtures before the season close and where to gain an advantage.

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In Sky, it’s easier to think of the volume of fixtures than in terms of Gameweeks, as is often the case in alternative games such as Fantasy Premier League (FPL).

Here I present the remaining volume of fixtures for each team before the season close, with the current single matchdays addressing only fixtures already confirmed. There may well be more to come in the future for some of these clubs.

Here we can draw some rather basic conclusions. Of course, it’s generally better to own players with a higher number of fixtures remaining and therefore opportunity for points than it is for those with fewer. However, as always, the quality of Fantasy pick is important and in Sky, the requirement for captain coverage on single or smaller matchdays is crucial.

Here I wish to draw attention to a few transfers that could suit your team in the coming weeks. I have tried to focus on the more highly owned players to apply to more of the player base.

Raphinha -> Barnes/Maddison/Tielemans (Sunday 10th April)

This transfer allows us to keep the Brazilian for his appealing fixtures against Southampton and Watford (bringing his total remaining games down to six) and then move on to a Leicester midfielder of choice who will have 10 remaining matches at this point. An added benefit here is that the Foxes are expected to get more scheduled single matchdays in the future and so will likely offer captain opportunities to boot.

The players sit in roughly the same price bracket and same position so there should be few barriers to the move. The main concern for me would be managing to pick the right Leicester player as all have been open to rotation/injury this season. It does feel somewhat like pot luck as all three have their merits: Youri Tielemans is more likely to pick up bonus points and is arguably most nailed, James Maddison takes set pieces, and Harvey Barnes is probably the biggest direct threat from open play. The latter two seem more susceptible to rotation and picking up knocks, meanwhile. My personal preference is for Barnes but in truth, there seems very little to separate them. 

Wolves -> Arsenal (Saturday 9th April)

This is a more generic move as many Fantasy managers will find themselves with different assets from both teams here and in different positions. In this example, we could use Jose Sa to Aaron Ramsdale or Max Kilman to Gabriel Magalhaes. 

Holding our Wolverhampton Wanderers players until the above date means we pick up the Aston Villa tie and then the all-important single matchday captain against Newcastle, bringing Wolves’ remaining fixtures down to six. Switching to an Arsenal player will then give you nine games and the added benefit of playing four(!) matches before Wolves take to the field again versus Burnley. At this point, you could switch back if you wish but more likely look to daisy chain the move to another asset – or simply hold. 

GK -> Nick Pope (Wednesday 6th April)

One of the more obvious transfers this coming Gameweek is simply to jump off any goalkeeper you own (except Jordan Pickford) and immediately gain fixtures and captaincy coverage for future single matchdays, this week being one of the two already scheduled and there being a possibility of more in the future.