With just three Gameweeks remaining its officially “squeaky bum time” for Fantasy managers. As always, we take a look at the Sky Sports game and 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 38 Man of the Match Awards
Listed below are the players that caught the eye of the Sky Sports reporters from last weekend’s fixtures achieving the Man of the Match award (worth an additional five points).
| Fixture | MoTM |
| Leicester vs Newcastle | Jamie Vardy |
| Aston Villa vs Everton | Christian Benteke |
| Liverpool vs QPR | Philippe Coutinho |
| Sunderland vs Southampton | Jordi Gomez |
| Swansea vs Stoke | Jonjo Shelvey |
| West Ham vs Burnley | Mark Noble |
| Man United vs West Brom | Boaz Myhill |
| Chelsea vs Crystal Palace | Nemanja Matic |
| Tottenham vs Man City | Sergio Aguero |
| Hull vs Arsenal | Santi Cazorla |
One goalkeeper, three forwards and six midfielders picked up the awards this week. Both Boaz Myhill and Christian Benteke earn back-to-back awards as they continue a great run of form. Benteke is still only owned by 2% of players and continues to look a great bet for the run-in, whilst Jamie Vardy, who is priced at just 6.6m and owned by 0.8%, is making a mighty impressive case for inclusion with scores of 7,10,10,12,2,7,5,7 in the last eight Gameweeks.
Gameweek 38 Bonus Points
Six goalkeepers managed to pick up saves bonus this week. Myhill was the biggest earner with a clean sheet, a penalty save and a MoTM to add to his save bonus meaning he picked up 17 points. QPR’s Robert Green is the busiest keeper in the league having racked up 30 bonus points over the season.
In defence, six players grabbed bonus, two for tackles and four for passes completed. Marcos Rojo looks like a player to keep an eye on next season if he’s kindly priced. The Argentinean has picked up 18 bonus points in his 18 starts so has a 50% rate, the highest in the league – fellow countryman Pablo Zabaleta is still leading the way for defenders with 24 bonus points overall.
In midfield, there were 14 beneficiaries in total: eight for tackling and seven for passes. Cesc Fabregas was the man to earn both, netting four additional points to cement his place as the game’s highest scoring player in terms of bonus, with 50 points credited.
Battling front man Connor Wickham picked up tackling bonus this week which is a rarity for forwards- his owners will be hoping for more from the Sunderland man after his sensational end of season last time around.
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 |
| Rooney | Man United | 9.4 | 6.5% |
| Sterling | Liverpool | 7.8 | 4.7% |
| Costa | Chelsea | 9.5 | 4% |
| Tadic | Southampton | 6.7 | 3.2% |
| Kane | Tottenham | 6.7 | 2.9% |
Injuries to Diego Costa and Dusan Tadic explain their sales whilst the remaining three players are amongst the highest owned players the game but have suffered a recent downturn in Fantasy returns – at this stage of the season, it’s easy to see why managers are turning elsewhere.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.5 | 7.3% |
| Giroud | Arsenal | 8.9 | 5.9% |
| Benteke | Aston Villa | 8.1 | 5.6% |
| Aguero | Man City | 9.8 | 4.9% |
| Cazorla | Arsenal | 8.3 | 4.1% |
Arsenal’s Monday night match means they make up three of the top five positions and with their double Gameweek to come, it looks a shrewd move. Elsewhere, form forwards Benteke and Sergio Aguero attract more suitors ahead of a couple of favourable home ties.
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 2.051, whilst the top 100 have 1.82 and finally the top 10 have 1.9.
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Costa | Chelsea | 9.5 | 13.4% |
| Rooney | Man United | 9.4 | 9.7% |
| Aguero | Man city | 9.8 | 7.1% |
| Hazard | Chelsea | 8.9 | 6.8% |
| Fabregas | Chelsea | 8.6 | 6.5% |
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, 0.7% | Hector Bellerin, 5.3m, 1.4% | Laurent Koscielny, 7.5m, 2.6% |
| Midfielder | Marc Albrighton, 4.9m, 0.1% | Charlie Adam, 5.3m, 3% | Mesut Ozil, 8.6m, 1.5% |
| Forward | Jamie Vardy, 6.6m, 0.7% | Papiss, 7.5m, 0.4% | Christian Benteke, 8.1m, 2% |
My Team
Fabianski
Bertrand Dawson Schlupp
Hazard Silva Coutinho Mane
Aguero Giroud N’Doye©
ITB: 0m
Transfers remaining: 3/40
Last week’s points: 88
Overall points: 2121
Rank: 73
Notes
Finally, with three weeks to go, I find myself in the top 100 overall, which is my aim every season. I think my team is nicely poised to maintain that position and as long as there aren’t too many surprises, my three remaining transfers should be enough to cope with the run in. I’ll probably be using them for captain swaps more than anything. The big stepping stone was, of course, Philippe Coutinho as my captain, who managed an impressive 30 points at home to QPR, whilst three of my back four earned clean sheets.
Captain Plan
On Saturday, I’m locked into Dame N’Doye who plays Burnley at the KC Stadium, I’m hoping the Hull man can be a key differential, seeing as he’s owned by only 0.1% of Fantasy managers – any big returns could see a significant climb in ranking. Having said that, I don’t own Harry Kane anymore so if he performs well I willl plummet like a stone – fingers crossed!
For Sunday, I’ll be swapping to Sergio Aguero for Man City’s match at the Etihad against QPR. The Argentine will surely be the top choice as captain for this matchday given his recent record, though bear in mind that City don’t play until Sunday in Gameweek 40.
There is also a Monday night match to contend with, where the Gunners host the Swans at the Emirates. This fixture means I may take the plunge and swap out Aguero for Alexis Sanchez to gain the extra captain, something to consider closer to the time. Again, Arsenal don’t feature until Sunday on Gameweek 40 so a further transfer or single captain approach may be required in order to maximize your captains.
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 former England man Darren Bent and asking him for his #One2Eleven.
