Once again it’s time for us to cast an eye over the Sky Sports game. As always, we assess the recent run of Man of the Match (MoTM) awards, bonus point beneficiaries, the transfer trends, the watchlist and a look at the Scout team and our future plans.
Gameweek 37 Man of the Match Awards
Listed below are the players that caught the eye of the Sky Sports reporters from last week’s fixtures achieving the Man of the Match award (worth an additional five points).
| Fixture | MoTM |
| Southampton vs Tottenham | Graziano Pelle |
| Burnley vs Leicester | Wes Morgan |
| Crystal Palace vs Hull | Dame N’Doye |
| Newcastle vs Swansea | Nelson Oliveira |
| QPR vs West Ham | Adrian |
| Stoke vs Sunderland | Charlie Adam |
| West Brom vs Liverpool | Boaz Myhill |
| Man City vs Aston Villa | Christian Benteke |
| Everton vs Man United | James McCarthy |
| Arsenal vs Chelsea | John Terry |
| Hull vs Liverpool | Michael Dawson |
| Leicester vs Chelsea | Willian |
A massive week for differentials, with only Graziano Pelle having any significant ownership (9.5%). Our Watchlist tips last week – Charlie Adam, Christian Benteke and John Terry – all came in with MoTM performances to reward anyone who took our advice. James McCarthy picked up his fourth MoTM award and seems to be quite a favorite of the Sky reporters – possibly one to watch out for next season if given a kinder price.
Last week we also talked up Marc Albrighton and Jamie Vardy as possible differentials ahead of Leicester’s double and both duly delivered with 13 points and 12 points respectively.
Gameweek 37 Bonus Points
Five goalkeepers managed to pick up saves bonus this week. Steve Harper was the biggest earner with two clean sheets to add to his save bonus, meaning he picked up 16 points. QPR’s Robert Green is the busiest keeper in the league, having racked up 28 bonus points over the season.
In defence, six players grabbed bonus, six for tackles and one for passes completed – Swansea full-back Angel Rangel was the man to collect both and gains four additional points. Pablo Zabaleta is still leading the way for defenders with 24 bonus points.
In midfield, there were 26 beneficiaries in total: 16 for tackling and 15 for passes. A few players manage to pick up both, whilst the stand out option was Liverpool’s Emre Can, who earned passing bonus twice and tackling once across his two fixtures – a nice additional six points for the makeshift defender. Chelsea duo Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic are the game’s overall highest bonus earners with 46 extra points.
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 |
| Pelle | Southampton | 7.4 | 4.2% |
| Hutton | Aston Villa | 3.8 | 3.8% |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.5 | 2.8% |
| Fabregas | Chelsea | 8.6 | 2.7% |
| Costa | Chelsea | 9.5 | 2.5% |
Graziano Pelle is a strange one as the Italian has recently returned to form and looks a decent option for the run-in. Diego Costa remains out, whilst Alan Hutton is still doubtful going in to the weekend. Alexis Sanchez and Cesc Fabregas also have decent fixtures ahead and perhaps have been shipped by those Fantasy managers needing to find some differential options in order to climb the leader boards.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Kane | Tottenham | 6.7 | 6.3% |
| Aguero | Man City | 9.8 | 5% |
| Coutinho | Liverpool | 7.5 | 4.3% |
| Silva | Man City | 8.7 | 3.4% |
| Sung-Yueng | Swansea | 5 | 3.1% |
Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero are again the top forwards drafted in as they clash this weekend at White Hart Lane. Philippe Coutinho and David Silva are the pricier midfield options of choice this week ,whilst Ki Sung-Yeung continues to be the favored budget choice – despite dropping out of the Swansea XI last week.
We have some important transfer data to keep an eye on as the season comes to an end. Currently, the average amount of transfers remaining in the top 1000 players is 2.777, whilst the top 100 have 2.54 and finally the top 10 have 2.9.
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Costa | Chelsea | 9.5 | 13.6% |
| Rooney | Man United | 9.4 | 9.9% |
| Hazard | Chelsea | 8.9 | 8.1% |
| Aguero | Man City | 9.8 | 6.9% |
| Fabregas | Chelsea | 8.6 | 6.7% |
Again this really highlights the amount of dead teams in the Sky game with only Wayne Rooney set for a Saturday fixture after recovering from a knee problem.
Watchlist
Here I aim to highlight a few differential players with sub-6% ownership that I think could be good options in the coming weeks to help you climb the rankings. These will be looked at in three specific price brackets to cater for our available budget. These names evolve with fixtures and form and offer Fantasy managers a nudge in hopefully the right direction.
| Budget | Mid-Price | Premium | |
| Defender | Wes Morgan, 4.9m, 0.6% | John Stones 5.3m, 3.4% | Laurent Koscielny, 7.5m, 2.6% |
| Midfielder | Marc Albrighton, 4.9m, 0.1% | Kevin Mirallas, 7.1m, 2.4% | Mesut Ozil, 8.6m, 1.4% |
| Forward | Jamie Vardy, 6.6m, 0.7% | Enner Valencia, 7.3m, 1.3% | Christian Benteke, 8.1m, 1.5% |
My Team
Fabianski
Bertrand Dawson Schlupp
Hazard Silva Coutinho© Sigurdsson Mane
Aguero Kane
ITB: 2.5m
Transfers remaining: 5/40
Last week’s points: 54
Overall points: 2033
Rank: 120
Notes
I’m edging ever closer to the elusive top 100 and am just 20 places away now. With five transfers remaining I should be able to do it with a little bit of luck. I used two transfers this week; one of which was swapping out Joleon Lescott (who earned a clean sheet) to Jeffrey Schlupp, who didn’t feature due to injury – that was a real kick in the teeth but the Leicester man has now recovered for the run-in. The other transfer in was Philippe Coutinho, who, despite being the best Liverpool player on the pitch against Hull, ended up with only passing bonus – similarly to Schlupp, he now has the fixtures to make amends and hopefully it will work out in the long run. This week I’m going to look at Arsenal assets, targeting their Monday night match in order to gain the extra player over the week.
Captain Plan
On Saturday, I’m locked into Philippe Coutinho for his home tie against QPR. Although Liverpool’s form has been dire, I still think the little Brazilian can pick something up here and to be honest it’s still the stand out match up from Saturday’s fixtures.
For Sunday, I’ll be swapping to Harry Kane, who plays Man City at home. Although this is a tough fixture and Eden Hazard is at home to Crystal Palace on the same day, going with a Tottenham player sets you up for the following week, where they play on Saturday, whereas Chelsea don’t feature until Sunday afternoon.
There is also a Monday night showdown to contend with, where in-form Hull take on Arsenal at the KC Stadium. Unfortunately the Gunners don’t play again until the following Monday, so unless you are flush with transfers to adjust the armband, it looks like one to avoid from a captaincy perspective.
The Fantasy Football Scout League
Once again, we’re running our own Fantasy Football Scout League this season and are currently topping the Private League rankings. With a £1,000 prize to the winner, you’d be mad not to get involved. To join, visit Sky Sports Fantasy Football and key in League Name: FFScout, League Code: 8009000.
The Fantasy Football Club
This Friday The Fantasy Football Club show, where you can catch Fenners and Merse at 18:30 SkySports One HD where they will be discussing the upcoming week’s Fantasy Football, chatting to Saints legend Matt Le Tissier and asking him for his #One2Eleven.
