<p>The festive fantasy football fun did not disappoint. Goals galore and a sprinkling of fantasy points ensured that my time tinkering, instead of preparing the turkey, was not completely in vain (although for some reason my other half doesn&#8217;t seem to agree!). As we move into the new year, my only other festive wish is for a few more transfers. Sadly, I can&#8217;t see that one coming true.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-3673" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Screen-Shot-2017-12-29-at-15.07.42.png" alt="" width="435" height="538" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Screen-Shot-2017-12-29-at-15.07.42.png 435w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Screen-Shot-2017-12-29-at-15.07.42-243x300.png 243w" sizes="(max-width: 435px) 100vw, 435px" /></p>
<p><strong>Transfers remaining: 16</strong></p>
<p><strong>Money in the bank: 0.7m</strong></p>
<h3>Last gameweek</h3>
<p>A tidy double ton score saw me edge towards the top 300. Although it seems like a massive total, I can&#8217;t help but think it could have been so much more. Last Saturday, I had the armband pinned to <strong>Kane</strong> but brought in <strong>De Bruyne </strong>for <strong>Sanchez</strong> last minute and captained him. As luck would have it, it turned out to be a rare blank by the Belgian and a Kane hat-trick. Things were compounded by Sanchez&#8217;s haul against Palace, who would have been my captain. Gutting, to say the least, especially having held onto Sanchez for so long.</p>
<p>At least I caught Kane&#8217;s 2nd hat-trick of the week on Tuesday and De Bruyne captain did come good midweek. That combined with everyone else bar <strong>Pope</strong> chipping in, meant I was pretty content with the week&#8217;s work. Regular readers will notice that I have also acquired the services of <strong>Alonso</strong> for <strong>Bong. </strong>Having some spare money in the bank and Bong not making regular starts, it seems like a no-brainer to bring him in ahead of their Tuesday clash. The Spaniard, duly delivered a goal and clean sheet to immediately justify the move.</p>
<h3>Moving into the new year</h3>
<p>I&#8217;m happy with my team. It&#8217;s fairly &#8216;template&#8217; with only Coutinho and Alonso being the main differentials. That&#8217;s no bad thing, though, there is still a long way to go and plenty of ground to be made up by picking the correct captain. In an ideal world, I&#8217;d also have <strong>Sterling.</strong> But, despite the Englishman&#8217;s form, De Bruyne would still be my City captain of choice and we can&#8217;t have them all.</p>
<p><strong>Hazard</strong> and <strong>Richarlison</strong> have failed to live up to my expectations, but I&#8217;m hopeful they can both deliver on their promising underlying statistics. Hazard, in particular, should improve once Morata is back and firing as the Belgian doesn&#8217;t seem suited to playing false nine.</p>
<h3>Holding firm on transfers</h3>
<p>It&#8217;s a constant battle. On the one hand, the urge to make moves and gain points. On the other, the need to refrain from delving into the kitty. Its one of the best elements of Sky, but it doesn&#8217;t half cause me a few headaches. Sitting on just 16 remaining trades, it&#8217;s clear which side is winning.</p>
<p>I won&#8217;t be making any more transfers before the February overhaul unless they are enforced through injury or suspension. The one exception to this might be the Manchester United single game day coming up on the 15th January. This does make a diary a bit boring, so I might just be chipping in once or twice during January rather than every week. I was thinking of switching to my 2nd team, which is now up to 62nd, but its got even fewer transfers so I&#8217;ll hold off for now.</p>
<p>For those sitting pretty with lots of transfers, there are <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/sky-captain-strategy-guide-christmas-january/">quite a few opportunities</a> to gain a few extra games if you use them wisely.</p>
<h3>Captaincy polls</h3>
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<p>I plan to gamble on <strong>Hazard</strong> returning to form on Saturday as he takes on a Stoke team that is missing half its defence. For new years eve, I&#8217;ll hand duties to the ever-reliable <strong>De Bruyne</strong> as the City travel to Hodgson&#8217;s Palace team.<strong> </strong></p>
<p>I&#8217;ll hope <strong>Salah</strong> can help my team kick off the new year with a bang as Liverpool travel to Burnley whose resilience in defence is beginning to show cracks.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, I&#8217;ll hope that <strong>Kane</strong> gets over his illness in time to face Swansea. It&#8217;s a worry, but not the end of the world if he misses that match as I&#8217;ll have cover with De Bruyne facing Watford. Come Wednesday, I&#8217;ll return to <strong>Hazard</strong> in the hope that he can overturn Arsenal&#8217;s defence.</p>
<p>Finally, <strong>Kane</strong> will once again take armband duties. Its a much bigger problem if he doesn&#8217;t start against West Ham as I don&#8217;t have any other cover.</p>
<h3><span id="Some-useful-Sky-articles" class="ez-toc-section"><span id="Some-useful-Sky-tools" class="ez-toc-section">Some useful Sky articles</span></span></h3>
<p>If you haven’t already, check out Ian’s <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/ian-parrins-sky-transfer-toolkit/">popular planning tool </a>Carl’s super clever <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/forecasting-model-fantasy-football/">forecasting tool</a> with loads of clever <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/opta/" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c="1" title="FPL Stats by OPTA - Player and Team Stats">stats</a> – both very useful for members as we head into the new year.</p>
<h3><span id="Leave-a-comment" class="ez-toc-section">Leave a comment</span></h3>
<p>How are you doing this season? What transfers are you mulling over? Who’s on your watchlist? Let me know in the comments.</p>
<h3><span id="Follow-us" class="ez-toc-section">Follow us</span></h3>
<p>If you haven’t already, give us a follow on <a href="https://twitter.com/FFootballHub">Twitter</a> and a like on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Fantasy-Football-Hub-1652417304831273/">Facebook</a>.</p>
<p><em><strong>PS If you’re interested in joining our illustrious <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/contributors/">team of contributors</a>, fire me an email: <a href="mailto:will@fantasyfootballhub.co.uk">will@fantasyfootballhub.co.uk.</a></strong></em></p>
<p><strong><em>PPS you can check out all our latest Sky content on <a href="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/sky-fantasy-football/">this page.</a></em></strong></p>
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