Fantasy Football: Vardy, Lukaku and Kane have Brightside purring

If a certain Danish lager producer made football team strike partnerships then they’d probably look like the one our very own Mr. Brightside has assembled.

Following a stonking gameweek 13, the ever-chirpy Brightside is eyeing up top spot amongst the Ladbrokes Life gang with Generous John’s lead over his chums cut to just nine points.

Jamie Vardy, Romelu Lukaku and Harry Kane did most of the damage last week. Will they deliver again?

Of course, while the battle for bragging brights has kept our characters engrossed, the race to land the £100 FREE BET at the end of the season is the big talking point.

You can get the latest on how the Ladbrokes Life League is shaping up here.

But in the meantime, let’s see what our famous quintet have been up to…

#MrBrightside

Last weekend was huge for my boys with their performances closing the gap on top spot to a miserly nine points. Generous John has suddenly gone very, very quiet.

One subtle change will be key to my team taking the lead. Alderweireld is becoming a rock for Spurs and he’s kept on delivering at the heart of our defence alongside other great options in Cresswell and Souare who both keep their places.

Baggies skipper Brunt misses out through injury so Man United bright spark Lingard comes in from the bench while if Willian can start to replicate his Champions League form in the Premier League I’ll have a midfield that’s firing on all cylinders.

Finally, with Aguero now fit I had to make a big decision  on whether to replace one of my in-form front three. Given the fact the the trio racked up a monumental 45 points last week I’m sticking with my guns and trusting the three lads who are now being dubbed the new ‘MSN.’

#GenerousJohn

It wasn’t the best of weeks for my team but they still managed to pull in an above average points total. Mr Brightside has closed the gap but there’s still a long way to go and I’m sure his recent surge to the top of the league will fizzle out soon.

I’ve taken a gamble by leaving Hart and Sanchez in the starting XI. Both carry minor knocks but I’m hoping they’ll recover in time for their respective games.

My only change this week sees Lanzini come in for his West Ham team mate Payet. The young Argentine has been in tremendous form this year and he’s been one of the Hammers’ best performers. He joins a midfield that has not only been providing the goals but scoring them.

My forward line has bags of goals in them and out of the three it’s Ighalo that gets the armband this week. The Hornets take on Aston Villa and I’m expecting plenty of goals in this one. Let’s just hope Ighalo’s the man that’s scoring them.

#TheProfessor

It was a decent enough gameweek 13 for Statletico Madrid thanks to great performances by Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku with two goals each. Yes, the team could have scored a little higher had I given the captaincy to either Barkley or Harry Kane but a lesson learnt there.

Only one change this week and that’s Nathan Redmond transferred out for Manuel Lanzini. Norwich have a tough fixture against Arsenal on Sunday and Lanzini has scored in each of the last three league games where he has played 90 minutes so I’m expecting a good performance from him at home to West Brom.

Everton travel to Bournemouth on Saturday so I’m making Lukaku captain this week. Hopefully he can add to his tally of nine goals and four assists. Riyad Mahrez provided another assist last week making it six in 12 games and while he might not be as effective against Man United he should pick up some decent points.

Meanwhile, Kane has hit form now with eight goals in 13 games so hopefully he can net one or two against Chelsea.

#TheGutTruster

A poor week by all accounts has seen me give up more ground on Generous John and now Mr. Brightside has steamed ahead!

I’m taking a four-point hit this week in the hope that the two players I’m bringing in will rack up some vital points for me this weekend and get me back on track.

Arguably, I should’ve done this a couple of weeks ago, but I’ve had to remove David Silva. He’s been out for a while and it’s been extra cash just sitting there. Martial is gone too, as out of my three strikers, he was the most expensive and the one who I thought would be least likely to score.

This is the longest I’ve taken to look at my team and it gave me a dilemma –  do I use the extra cash on Aguero or Sanchez? I had my mind made up even before I saw about the latter’s injury scare…

With the Gunners playing Norwich, I can see this as a game where Wenger may give Sanchez a rest and not risk aggravating his injury further.

This means, I’ve gone from adding Ighalo upfront, to Arnautovic in midfield. The scorer of his team’s winner, and only goal against Chelsea, I hope he can put in another strong performance and bag another goal, as none of the other lads have him in their team!

Finally, I’ve swapped captains from Vardy to Lukaku. I just can’t see Vardy notching against Man United to break Van Nistlerooy’s record, whereas Lukaku’s Everton face Bournemouth away. He’s bound to bag a few on the south coast.

#TheBeliever

I promised some big changes last week if some big players didn’t put in a performance and I’m delivering on that vow. Wijnaldum, Bony and Fabianski all get the chop in favour of some proven point scorers.

I’ve brought in Ozil for that extra punch on the assist front and the stats don’t lie when it comes to the German midfielder. Jack Butland has been in impressive form for Stoke so he gets the nod ahead of struggling Swansea’s number one. An injury to Bony means Benteke comes into the front three after an impressive European display against Bordeaux.

Hopefully my bad patch is done with and I can finally get some valuable points on the board after having to take a eight-point deduction this week. It’ll take a miracle to get back in this fight but dreams can come true and you’ve got to keep the faith.

Here’s how things stand ahead of gameweek 14:

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