Those looking for a beginner’s guide to Sky Fantasy Football should head over to Buffrey’s excellent article on Fantasy Football Scout. Here I’ll be casting my eye over the main change to the game, the ‘overhall’, and what it means for captaincy before kick off.
Overhaul
Here is what Sky has to say:
Due to feedback we received from our players, for 2017/18 we have introduced our new Overhaul feature. You will be able to take advantage of Overhaul twice this season; once in September and the other taking place in February.
During these periods, you will be able to make an unlimited amount of transfers but must remain within the budget of £100 million. These transfers will not come out of your 40-player transfer limit.
The first Overhaul period will be for the whole of game week 4 and up until the first kick off of game week 5.
The second Overhaul period will be for the whole of game week 28 and up until the first kick off of game week 29.
For those familiar with FPL’s wildcard its essentially that, although we have been restricted to using it during 2 weeks of the year. I’m not that keen on the rule, as it might lead to teams becoming very similar with not much variation. That said, its not a terrible addition, and one that clued up players should be able to exploit.
The most important thing here is that we only need to plan for the first 3 fixtures, picking players for after this is simply pointless as the first overhall needs to be used in gameweek 4. So that brings us to looking at teams that have the best opening 3 games and captains that have the best chance of scoring big across those first 3 weeks.
Captains
Everyone knows how crucial captains are in Sky, I haven’t done the math, but I expect they make up at least half of your season points. Because of this, the first thing I do in assembling my initial squad is to focus on the players best equipped to take on the armband duties.
GW 1 Fixtures
Straight off the bat we need an Arsenal player (or if your feeling adventurous you could opt for Leicester). Sanchez would be the go to man but we can’t be sure he’ll even be there. New boy Lacazette is currently in most of my drafts. The french frontman has a very good record and looks exactly what the gunners have been needing up top. Its always a risk opting for a new boy, but he’s come in at a decent price of 11.8 given his record and likely pen duties. On Saturday, I’ll be tempted by Hazard (also 11.8) and can see him running rings around the Burnley back line. That said there are plenty of options here, so a Chelsea player is far from essential.
The Sunday fixtures suggest Kane will be hard to ignore and heavily backed by many. Manchester United also offer a captaincy route with Lukaku (if he moves) or Pogba the main targets for me. With the Red devils and Spurs also having a tasty 3 opening fixtures, I’ll be trying to squeeze as many of them in as I can.
GW 2
Liverpool have a pretty plum home tie against Palace, which brings Coutinho into my thoughts. I’ll certainly find it difficult to ignore the diminutive Brazilian, despite a fairly hefty price tag around his shoulders of 11.3. New boy Salah is the cheaper option here coming in at a tempting 9.4, but he’s firmly in the ‘wait and see category’ for me at the moment.
Man City look required for Monday night with Jesus (12.1) currently top of my list, closely followed by De Bruyne (11.5). City are also a good bet for the previous and following Saturdays.
GW 3
Not too worried about these fixtures for captaincy at moment, as the main candidates will also be required for the first 2 weeks .
4 big hitters
Based on all this, I can get most captains covered by having the following four big hitters: Lacazette, Kane, Jesus and Coutinho. Obviously there are many other routes, but this quartet look like a good place to start. Another option would be to start with Lacazette then make the trade to Kane/ Jesus/ Hazard, which will give me more flexibility and an extra game.
Blog updates
Due to overwhelming feedback I’ll be sticking with the Sky game. Next article, I’ll be looking at who will comprise the rest of my starting 11 by compiling a Watchlist.
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