The Weekly Digest
This is a new Sky Sports Fantasy Football series by Dan Cox 2016/17 winner. Dan will be casting his eye back at the previous weeks action before preparing you for the incoming Gameweek.
Dan will examine the recent run of Man of the Match (MOTM) awards, the bonus point beneficiaries and transfer trends before moving on to his team and future plans.
GAMEWEEK 24 SKY SPORTS MAN OF THE MATCH AWARDS
These were the players who caught the eye of the Sky Sports reporters and earned an extra five points as a result.
| Fixture | MoTM |
| Watford v Burnley | Tom Heaton |
| Arsenal v Chelsea | Laurent Koscielny |
| Newcastle v Cardiff | Fabien Schar |
| Liverpool v Palace | Jordan Henderson |
| Huddersfield v Man City | Leroy Sane |
| Southampton v Everton | James Ward-Prowse |
| Fulham v Tottenham | Harry Winks |
| Wolves v Leicester | Diogo Jota |
| Bournemouth v West Ham | Callum Wilson |
| Man Utd v Brighton | Marcus Rashford |
Man of The Match Awards
Sill Eden Hazard and James Maddison lead the way with five awards each, But Leroy Sane and Fabien Schar ( surprisingly ) are catching them up both earning their third award at the weekend. Harry Winks, Callum Wilson and the inform Marcus Rashford all earned their second award of the season.
Bonus Points
Goalkeepers
Only one goalkeeper made bonus and that was Julian Speroni with five saves to earn T1 save bonus. He did also let in four goals and made a howler to let salah get a tap in but still, he made bonus.
Defenders
Looking at T2 passes as always and six players achieved this – Danilo, Laporte, Matip, Otamendi, van Dijk and Vertonghen. Its not often that Rudiger and Luiz don’t appear on this list, however Rudiger did make T1 passes. No surprise to again see Man City, Liverpool and Tottenham players appear.
Defenders who made T1 passing – the aforementioned Rudiger, Azpilicueta, Robertson, Alderweireld and the much talked about in recent weeks – Declan Rice of West Ham.
T2 tackles was achieved by only one player, Sead Kolasinac.
T1 tackles, there was loads, 17 all in all. No surprise to see Wan-Bissaka again make the list along with Trippier and Robertson the main ones of note.
So again the top defenders are just such good value with pretty much guaranteed T2 bonus each week. It was nice of Manchester City to keep a clean sheet for the second time in nine games, you wait ages for one then two come along back to back.
Midfielders
Again concentrating on T2 passing, and six made the magic 70 passes mark, they were Henderson – again, Fernandinho, Fabinho – again Matic and Winks.
Three players made T2 tackles and they were Gueye, Mendez-Laing and Torreira.
Three players made T1 shots bonus, Demarai Gray, Sadio Mane and Diogo Jota.
T1 passes Noble, Jorginho and Kante.
T1 tackles was made by Henderson – again, Hojbjerg, Milivojevic, Noble, Romeu and Sigurdsson.
Henderson again getting passing and tackle bonus, I’m just unsure of his position in the team over the coming weeks. Pogba after being great for a variety of bonus in the last few weeks decides to not get anything this week, although he did score so you can’t complain too much.
Diogo Jota, where was that performance in GW1 when you were in my team? Maybe he’s taken six months to settle into the premier league. Definitely one to monitor up until the overhaul.
Strikers
Two strikers made bonus this week, Ayoze perez with T1 shots and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with T1 tackles.
Average Transfers Remaining
As of 22nd January 2019
| Top 10 | 13.3 |
| Top 100 | 12.3 |
| Top 1,000 | 11.9 |
| Top 5,000 | 11.8 |
Last week we had 14.6,13.6,13 and 12.9 so its about one transfer used on average in all brackets of team positions. The top ten really looking strong now in my opinion. With only a few weeks now until the Overhaul I’d be looking at keeping transfers to a minimum now.
My Team
Overall points: 1809
Gameweek points: 69
Rank: 243rd
Notes
Another disappointing weekend, Salah my captain did score twice but failed to take home the MOTM award. Wolves defenders had a nightmare conceding three goals with Coady for the second game in a row scoring an own goal. It was probably for the best that Boly was suspended.
Luiz and Chelsea had a nightmare with a 2-0 loss to Arsenal. At Least Laporte picked up ten points for T2 passes and a clean sheet.
Alisson had a disappointing day conceding three goals, but he’s been an amazing pick all season so again you can’t complain too much.
I picked the wrong captain on Sunday opting for Sterling over Sane, but I should be happy to own both really. Richarlison has been terrible for a while now and I can’t wait to get rid at the Overhaul.
Future Transfer Plans
None till Overhaul now, team has an imaginary transfer embargo.
Captaincy Plan
Tuesday – Jesus, Sterling, Sane in that order
Wednesday – Salah
Hi Dan, I’ve got Stirling, Sane and Pogba in my team. Would you still stick with one of the Man City players to captain on Tuesday, or go for Pogba (at home against Burnley)?
They’re all good options mate. I’d happily captain any of the three
Hi Dan,I need help!! My team is Alison, Van Duk, Robertson, Alexandre Arnold, Doherty, Pogba, Maddison, Anderson, Rashford, Salah, Jimenez. I have 10 transfers left and 0.8 million in the bank.Liverpool we’re doing quite well so I opted for mostly a Liverpool defence. Then it went terribly wrong as soon as I changed it. Lessons to be learned there.Cheers in advance for any help or wise words.Steven.