Fully refreshed after the international break, we take our usual pre-Gameweek look at the Sky Sports game and assess the recent run of Man of the Match (MoTM) awards, bonus point beneficiaries and transfer trends, before casting an eye over the Scout team and our future plans.
Gameweek 9 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 |
| Crystal Palace vs West Brom | Wilfried Zaha |
| Aston Villa vs Stoke | Marko Arnautovic |
| Bournemouth vs Watford | Heurelho Gomes |
| Man City vs Newcastle | Sergio Aguero |
| Norwich vs Leicester | Jamie Vardy |
| Sunderland vs West Ham | Ola Toivonen |
| Chelsea vs Southampton | Sadio Mane |
| Everton vs Liverpool | Romelu Lukaku |
| Arsenal vs Man United | Alexis Sanchez |
| Swansea vs Tottenham | Christian Eriksen |
One goalkeeper, five midfielders and four forwards made up the awards in the previous Gameweek. Romelu Lukaku and Marko Arnautovic have earned the accolade in back to back outings as their impressive form continues. The game’s two most heavily owned forwards, Sergio Aguero (40.7%) and Alexis Sanchez (20.9%), will have made a significant dent in rank for those who went without, whilst Lukaku (14.9%) and Jamie Vardy (12.7%) were also in the top six most owned frontmen in what was a bumper week for the popular players.
Gameweek 9 Bonus Points
Five goalkeepers picked up bonus – Heurelho Gomes was the star of the show after making six saves to add two bonus points to his penalty save and MoTM award, earning him ten points. Alex McCarthy, Jack Butland and, somewhat surprisingly, Petr Cech are the current leaders in the bonus stakes, with eight additional points apiece.
In defence, 11 players grabbed bonus, ten for tackles and one for passes completed. Chelsea’s Cesar Azpilicueta came closest to earning both, just missing out on two extra bonus by five completed passes. Full-backs in general are dominating right now, with five on eight bonus points.
In midfield, there were 13 beneficiaries in total: eight for tackling and five for passes. Budget midfielder Idrissa Gueye (5.7) was the closest to grabbing both, missing out by just one completed tackle. Cesc Fabregas is the game’s highest bonus earner overall, with 16 points so far.
Jamie Vardy may be leading the scoring charts in the Premier League but he also managed to chip in with tackling bonus this week to fly the flag for the forwards.
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 | 10.0 | 25.4% |
| Gomez | Liverpool | 4.7 | 8.5% |
| Ayew | Swansea | 6.5 | 5% |
| Kolarov | Man City | 7.2 | 4.4% |
| Silva | Man City | 8.9 | 3.8% |
Sergio Aguero’s hamstring injury has sparked a massive exodus, with over 25% of the transfers out involving the Argentine. Liverpool’s Joe Gomez looks set to miss the rest of the season, though Andre Ayew is expected to recover from the knock that forced him to withdraw from the Ghana squad. Yaya Toure and David Silva go into the weekend as doubts for City and have also been subject to significant sales.
Top Transfers In
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 15.1% |
| Lukaku | Everton | 8.8 | 4.5% |
| Vardy | Leicester | 7.3 | 3.8% |
| De Bruyne | Man City | 7.8 | 3.8% |
| Pelle | Southampton | 8.1 | 3.1% |
The Aguero injury has seen many turn to Alexis Sanchez, in light of the Chilean’s five goals in the last two league matches. Forward lines have been restructured over the break, with Romelu Lukaku, Jamie Vardy and Graziano Pelle’s form looking difficult to ignore. Kevin de Bruyne’s stunning form makes him the most sought-after midfielder over the break.
Top Five Captains Picked
| Name | Team | Value | % of Managers |
| Aguero | Man City | 10 | 18.9% |
| Sanchez | Arsenal | 9.7 | 8.2% |
| Hazard | Chelsea | 9 | 7.4% |
| Rooney | Man United | 9.6 | 5.4% |
| Martial | Man United | 7.5 | 3.9% |
Watchlist
Here I aim to highlight a few differential players with low 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 | Pape Souare, 4.6m, 1.6% | Craig Dawson, 5.5m, 2.2% | Hector Bellerin, 6.8m, 5.1% |
| Midfielder | Marko Arnautovic, 5.5m, 0.9% | Kevin de Bruyne, 7.8m, 6.9% | Theo Walcott, 8.0m, 5.0% |
| Forward | Steven Fletcher, 6.5, 0.6% | Aleks Mitrovic, 7.3m, 1.1% | Diego Costa, 9.8m, 5.7% |
My Team
Gomes
Martin Cathcart Nyom
Walcott Silva Ayew Mahrez Mane
Aguero Sanchez©
ITB: 1.9m
Transfers remaining: 29/40
Last week’s points: 151
Overall points: 487
Rank: 1,213
Notes
Finally, the Gameweek my team has been crying out for fell into my lap and saw me rise in rank by 19,000 places to just outside the top 1,000, after earning 151 points. Sadio Mane (16 points) and Heurelho Gomes (10) are honourable mentions but the bulk of my points were due to Sergio Aguero (64) and Alexis Sanchez (34) as captains – the stuff of dreams.
I also did the unthinkable and subbed out Eden Hazard for Theo Walcott and although it paid off, with Walcott grabbing two assists against United, it is a scary prospect moving forward without the Belgian, given his 249 points last season. In the past we have seen players we thought were untouchable after a great season suddenly become, at best, mediocre options with Robin Van Persie the obvious example – however, in the Dutchman’s case, you could at least point to his advancing years and the change of manager. As far as Hazard is concerned, it’s surely just a matter of time before he rediscovers his form and, for my sake, I just hope it’s not this week at home to Aston Villa.
The other major talking point to rear its head is Sergio Aguero’s injury which, as you could expect, has serious repercussions to my team and even future captain plans. At this point I see no point holding him, given his likely length of absence and although I’ll undoubtedly want him back in at some point, meaning two transfers, I’m just going to have to take it on the chin. I’m still not sure who I will draft in in his place but, at present, Graziano Pelle, Diego Costa and even Daniel Sturridge are tempting me.
Captain Plan
My captain this Saturday would, of course, have been Sergio Aguero prior to his injury but now it’s a toss-up between Alexis Sanchez and Sadio Mane. I’ll have to make the decision tonight due to the deadline and currently the Chilean is the front runner.
I won’t have a captain in the sole match on Sunday but will swap the armband to Andre Ayew for Monday night football as Swansea host Stoke at the Liberty stadium. That works out pretty well as Swansea play on Saturday the following week away to Aston Villa.
The Fantasy Football Scout League
Once again, we’re running our own Fantasy Football Scout League this season and were sitting fifth in the rankings at present. With a £1000 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 new host Max Rushden and Paul Merson at 18:30 SkySports 1 HD where they will be discussing the upcoming week’s Fantasy Football and asking former England centre-back Sol Campbell for his #One2Eleven.
