FPL Fortress

Gameweek 6 brought with it many juicy fixtures, whether that be Man City’s 5-1 demolition of Burnley (Haaland Triple Captainers rejoice), Crystal Palace’s dismantling of Liverpool, or Arsenal’s dogged comeback against Newcastle.

But none of these events can rival the miracle that was Aston Villa’s victory against Fulham and Watkins getting on the scoresheet (Jiayang rejoices). Looking ahead to Gameweek 7, we consider the appeal of Arsenal players (or lack thereof) ahead of their good fixture run, before unpacking Jacob’s decision to transfer in João Pedro for Bowen—bad thought process or simply unlucky outcome? Then, we start to brainstorm strategies for the Bench Boost, the last chip that we have yet to mention in depth on the Fortress. Could Sunderland offer the perfect cheap yet solid options?

Finally, in our Captaincy segment, we compare Haaland (decent fixture + excellent form), Saka (excellent fixture but nonexistent form + uncertain minutes), and Watkins (excellent fixture but practically nonexistent form). Call him insane, but Jiayang may or may not be leaning towards Watkins—which may or may not be due to a pact that he may or may not have made with the devil…

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Amidst all the recent talk surrounding the impact of DEFCON on the game, the other rule changes this season have taken a backseat. As a reminder, managers will be given five free transfers in Gameweek 16 in light of players departing for the Africa Cup of Nations. This means that managers will have plenty of transfers to use during this period, seemingly rendering moot the previously popular strategy of saving the Wildcard until right before Gameweek 19. Thus, if we want to harness the full power of the Wildcard, the “deadline” by which we need to use it is now much closer. Could the optimal time be as early as Gameweek 8? After all, as Jacob so eloquently put it, the sooner we “exorcise” the “chaff” from our teams, the better. Moreover, with ever-rising doubts over how “essential” Salah truly is and the potential for Isak to become a superior asset very soon, a Wildcard may be the perfect opportunity to restructure one’s team. Another change to the game that Jiayang had completely forgotten about is the addition of a second Triple Captain chip—and boy oh boy, Haaland at home to Burnley looks awfully enticing…

Aston Villa are the only team in England's top seven divisions to still be without a goal at this stage in the season. And Jiayang, along with nearly two million FPL managers, has owned Ollie Watkins since Gameweek 1. Villa have given us no signs of hope—so should we keep the faith ahead of three juicy fixtures? Or rather, is Villa now the juicy fixture for the three other teams? On the flip side, Bournemouth and Antoine Semenyo have been tearing it up so far. The big question, then: will Semenyo be this season’s Mbeumo? In this episode, we also revisit the topic of cheap DEFCON defenders. Jacob concretizes a proposal for a new meta that centers on playing four cheap defenders, thus enabling more investment in higher-end attackers. Finally, we question whether Haaland’s good form means we should consider him for captaincy in spite of a tough trip to Arsenal—especially in light of Salah’s uninspiring performances. 

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Wake up, wake up, the first international break of the season is over! First, we refresh our memories of what happened in Gameweek 3, including Liverpool’s tight victory over Arsenal, West Ham’s upset over Nottingham Forest, and Manchester United’s last-gasp win against Burnley (which contributed to Jiayang’s somewhat successful spontaneous Free Hit that featured all three of Bruno, Mbeumo, and Cunha). For our Dilemma Deliberations, we contemplate the viability of Liverpool’s attacking options following Isak’s arrival, then extensively explore the effect that Defensive Contributions are having on the defender meta. It seems like this new route to points for cheap center backs may enable them to rival—even supplant—cheap attacking fullbacks, which have been a true FPL staple for years—even decades.

Let’s face it: it’s not been a particularly bountiful start to the season, and Gameweek 2 was especially unforgiving to Jacob and Jiayang. How can managers in similar positions turn things around? Could it be time to activate an early Wildcard, or do we not have enough information yet to be confident in our selections? Or should we just all play our Free Hits and triple up on Burnley attackers ahead of their trip to Old Trafford? Listen to hear our thoughts on all this and more in this first inter-gameweek episode of the FPL Fortress!

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In the blink of an eye, summer is practically over and we’re less than two weeks away from the start of Gameweek 1! In this first episode of our sixth season, Jacob and Jiayang finally get the gears turning again in order to assemble a first draft together. In the process, we talk through key considerations such as ideal premium structure, mid-priced and budget enablers, and the potential impact of the newly added defensive contributions to the defender landscape. With the addition of a second set of chips, we also toy with the idea of the Gameweek 1 Bench Boost—perhaps the flexibility that comes with having 15 playing players at the start of the season outweighs the siphoning of funds away from one’s starting XI? And who knows what havoc the transfer market could wreak on our plans before the deadline? Until then, happy tinkering!

Dear listeners, it’s that time of year again—welcome to the final episode of our 2024/25 season, our illustrious Season Review! We recognize that Gameweek 38 in fact happened over three weeks ago and apologize for keeping you waiting until now—but this also means that we’ve had more time to mull over what’s happened this season, allowing us to refine our reflections to deeper profundities. We start off with the superlatives, and this time, for the thrill of it all, we’ve prepared them without telling the other who/what we’ve picked. Then, we nominate eleven players who have really broken out this season, before highlighting their antitheses in the Flop XI—stunningly, one unfortunate player is a repeat from last year. Finally, in our Lessons Learned, we chew on the challenges of balancing FPL with our busy lives, the value of long-term planning even at the tail end of the season, and the virtues of never buying Diogo Jota or Dominic Calvert-Lewin ever again. And did you REALLY think we weren’t going to sneak in an economics reference? In thought-provoking fashion, Jacob astutely analogizes the debate between taking hits vs. saving transfers to the choice between a stable index fund or an actively managed mutual fund. Wishing everyone a healthy little detox from the world of FPL, before we get right back into things in August!

All in all, I think it’s safe to say most FPL managers enjoyed quite a successful Free Hit, predominantly thanks to Wolves and Newcastle assets, as well as a certain Ryan Sessegnon. In unprecedented fashion here at the Fortress, we have made the executive decision to cut the Dilemma Deliberations segment—quite frankly, there just isn’t that much to talk about, and the last thing we want is to offer a dull listening experience. To make up for this, we have an extra beefy Captaincy segment, as, going down the long line of six options, we realize that there doesn’t seem to be any single player who stands out. Spin the roulette wheel!

Excerpted from last gameweek’s episode description: “We certainly hope that Double Gameweek 33, possibly the largest double gameweek of the season, ushers in more shout-outs than whisper-ins next week.” Update: that did not happen. Double Gameweek 33 was underwhelming, to say the least: the only attacking return from my entire attacking 7 came in the 83rd minute of the last game of gameweek, and Jakub Kiwior singlehandedly outscored my entire Bench Boost. It seems like every episode, our mantra is to keep looking ahead, and look ahead we shall do! Most FPL managers will be activating their Free Hit, so we take the bulk of this episode to logically work through the ideal Free Hit draft. There does appear to be a strong template, but nonetheless, there certainly are opportunities for mavericks to think outside the box (anyone fancy a Sessegnon-Robinson double-up?). Finally, in the Captaincy segment, we put on our divination hats—a voice in Jacob’s head calls out to him, "16, 13, … 6?" What could it possibly mean?

KEVIN DE BRUYNE! marco asensio. ANTOINE SEMENYO! chelsea fc. What’s this, you ask? A textual demonstration of our latest innovation, of course: the shout-out and whisper-in mini-segment, which will now be embedded within the Gameweek Review. We certainly hope that Double Gameweek 33, possibly the largest double gameweek of the season, ushers in more shout-outs than whisper-ins next week. For the bulk of this episode, we try to parse through the best assets from Arsenal, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace, and Manchester City. Though it seems like the obvious goal would be to triple up on both Arsenal and Man City, the more we talk about their players, the more uncertain we feel about them; we share a similar lack of enthusiasm when looking at Villa and Palace. Captaincy isn’t clear-cut either, with all of the options giving us reason to question their candidacy. Is it time to captain a defender again? Or David Raya, anyone? How about a cheeky little Jakub Kiwior?