Fantasy Football: Leicester man is focal point in high scoring week

Jamie Vardy’s goalscoring run may have come to an end at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday, but while he drew a blank one of his team-mates went on a rampage.

In netting a hat-trick Riyad Mahrez not only catapulted Leicester to the top of the Premier League but he also repaid the faith shown by Fantasy Football managers up and down the country.

One such fantasy gaffer was Generous John.

The long-time leader in the battle for bragging rights amongst the Ladbrokes Life quintet had the Foxes man to partly thank for his return of 65 points in Gameweek 15.

He wasn’t the only player in our man’s team to breach the 20 points mark though, but the other was rather fortuitous.

After Odion Ighalo scored big the previous week, it was a bold move to take the captain’s armband off him and hand it to Sergio Aguero, and it so nearly back-fired.

However with the Manchester City man absent, vice captain Ighalo saw his points doubled to add 20 points to John’s league-leading return.

He wasn’t the only one of the gang to breathe a sigh of relief after avoiding a similar gaffe.

The Gut Truster had brought in ‘Kun’ to his starting XI at the expense of Stoke’s Marko Arnautovic.

Cue horror when the Austrian ran riot against the Citizens to bag two goals and pick up 16 points. However, with Aguero’s absence once again having an effect, the automatic substitution feature saved the day.

It was more of the same with the other trio in the group with all five posting above average scores.

The Professor was another who benefitted from Mahrez’s dazzling display against Swansea, while the decision to hand Everton goalscorer Romelu Lukaku the arm-band paid dividends, with the Belgian returning 16 points in a 65 point total.

Things weren’t quite so fantastic for the remaining duo, but they still posted decent enough scores.

The Believer finally gave in and shipped out his remaining Newcastle player in Daryl Janmaat, though with the Toon turning a corner against Liverpool, he could yet make a return.

His replacement Toby Alderweireld brought in a good six points, but the decision to opt for Thibaut Cortouis over Jack Butland hurt his score.

As for Mr Brightside, it was a solid week, nothing more, nothing less.

Kevin De Bruyne was brought into the team, but could only add two points, while captain Lukaku was the only man to reach double-figures as Brightside laboured home with 56 points.

The race for the free £100 bet shows no sign of stopping, with four teams separated by just eight points at the head of the Ladbrokes Life League.

We do have a familiar face at the head of proceedings in Tarek Daioub’s ‘Tareksheva’.

His 71 point return was enough to see the former leader return to the number one spot, but it doesn’t look like he will have his own way up top.

The big mover of the week was Jack Ore, who sent his ‘Flamingoes’ out to return a whopping 93 points and move up to fifth place in the table.

The Watford front-line of Troy Deeney and Ighalo were solid focal points, but it was that man Mahrez who dominated, with the captain’s armband ensuring the Algerian added 42 points to the total.

We still have more than half of the season in front of us, but things are really hotting up in the Ladbrokes Life League.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.

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