Always Cheating Fpl Podcast

While superstars like Kevin De Bruyne and Bruno Fernandes owned this weekend's Premier League action, the FPL narrative belongs to new January transfers like Aston Villa's Philippe Coutinho and Lucas Digne. Yeah, Chris Wood, too . . . sure. So, what do we actually make of the upcoming fantasy prospects for these new signings? Is one performance enough to cement our faith? We also pick the bones of GW22 and its mess of doubles, postponements, and hidden gems—like the weirdly under-the-fantasy-radar Andy Robertson. Then it's all eyes on GW23 and our transfer and captaincy plans, including a potential wildcard. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With the magic of the FA Cup subsiding, we must now turn our attention to the impending doubles of GW22. Preparing our fantasy squads won't be easy, though, as injuries, COVID cases, and fixture postponements continue to complicate matters. Join Josh and Brandon as they discuss the teams and players who'll benefit most from a double gameweek, and then assess the pros and cons of certain chip strategies, including the Free Hit and Wildcard. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As we emerge from the hectic festive period, it's a good time to assess exactly where we are and where we're headed in this FPL season. Fixture postponements, COVID-positive players, and the upcoming African Cup of Nations all present obstacles and uncertainty, but there is still opportunity to be had in the New Year. This week we're previewing the teams and players poised to benefit from double gameweeks and also discuss our strategy for the Egypt–bound Mohamed Salah. Plus, there's a debate on chip strategy with new wildcards and free hits at our disposal. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Boxing Day delivered on exciting football and high-flying Free Hit squads, but also presented more of the same challenges for FPL managers with match postponements and unpredictable lineups. Alas, there's not much time to dwell as the festive fixtures continue on with the midweek round of GW20. Arsenal-Wolves and Aston Villa-Leeds are already off the menu, so in this episode Josh and Brandon are zeroing in on team and player priorities to get us through January. Are Spurs assets about to replace the diminishing fantasy returns of Chelsea? How big a priority is Manchester United at the moment? Plus, we rank our captaincy picks and discuss our own plans. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With nearly half the season now behind us, Always Cheating proudly presents our annual mid-season review of all twenty Premier League clubs. Yep, that's Arsenal to Wolves, and everyone in between. We discuss both FPL and real-life player and team performances—best and worst—and how those assessments might influence our fantasy decisions down the home stretch. We also rate clubs on the all-important Make Fantasy Fun Again (xMFFA) scale. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

GW17 kicks off this Tuesday, so we have precious little time to preview the matches and sharpen our FPL strategy. On this episode we discuss our biggest dilemmas including: COVID-19 infections and rumors surging through the Premier League, an underperforming Chelsea defense, the allure of Ollie Watkins, the price tag of Cristiano Ronaldo, and the quickly developing pool of emerging midfielders. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As midfielders like Bernardo Silva, Mason Mount, and Son Heung-min emerge from GW15 with incredible fantasy returns, it's the perfect moment for us to wipe the slate clean and reconsider some assets who we've unjustly pushed aside. And is this refresh of midfield options going to push FPL managers from "big at the back" to five across the middle? The Cheaters also preview GW16 and the impact of intervening midweek Champions League matches before discussing the enticing fixture turn for Manchester United, now under Ralf Rangnick. Is it time to move back to Ronaldo or even bring in a United defender? Plus, we chat Chelsea defense, Ivan Toney's COVID-19 test, and the ongoing Harry Kane saga. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The GW14 deadline is just hours away, so there's precious little time to dwell on the ups and downs of this weekend's blizzard-filled events. Spurs assets? What Spurs assets? We're now looking ahead to the midweek fixtures and debating which budget-priced forwards between Teemu Pukki, Allan Saint-Maximin, and Emmanuel Dennis are most appealing. As it turns out, some of these players have better runs than others through the congested festive period. We also discuss the constantly revolving cast of midfield options, as well as the prospects of captaining someone other than Mohamed Salah. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As we now hurtle toward the festive period, Premier League fixtures are about to start piling up. Rotation and fatigue are worries and its time to look seriously at the quality of our FPL benches. This week, we're attempting a commonsense approach in tackling some major fantasy dilemmas: We estimate the shelf-life of the current preferred "big at the back" defense—how long can fullbacks like Reece James, Ben Chilwell, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and João Cancelo keep up this rate of return? Antonio Conte's project at Spurs is also up for debate as we look at the new manager's impact on Harry Kane and Heung-min Son. Are they transfers to watch or to avoid? Plus, we assess the state of our meager forward lines and look for new striker talent ahead of GW13. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who are the key FPL assets heading into GW12? And which players should we be avoiding? Josh and Brandon check in on all of the international break news—from Sadio Mané's possible injury with Senegal to Harry Kane's hat trick for England—and then make some bold predictions on how the matches will unfold this coming weekend. We also discuss the managerial changes at Aston Villa (Steven Gerrard), Newcastle (Eddie Howe), and Norwich City (Dean Smith) and wonder when the Antonio Conté's influence at Spurs will truly take hold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the eve of another international break, we review the first eleven gameweeks of this FPL season through the lens of each week's dream team. That's right—it's time for the Kings of the Gameweek. What lessons can we learn and what patterns can we discern from the teams, players, and positions that appear in the FPL site's often overlooked feature? We also discuss the ongoing points draught for fantasy forwards, the continued excellence of fantasy defenders, and an urge to try new fantasy formations. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're joined by special guest Eric Freeman to review the action from GW10 and give a pep talk to some FPL managers who have had a rough time of it. After cracking the world's top 10,000 rankings for the first time in his fantasy career, Eric also discusses how he thinks he has succeeded so far this season. What can others do to "make the leap" to that next level? Plus, we debate player differentials, Ivan Toney's usefulness (or lack thereof), and Ronaldo's potential FPL comeback, as well as our transfer and captaincy thoughts ahead of GW11. Hail Cheaters!A big thank-you to Always Cheating supporter John Reynolds for this week's outro music! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a GW9 full of hat tricks—from Mason Mount, Mohamed Salah, and Josh King (huh?)—the Always Cheating podcast is celebrating its own hat trick of centuries with our 300th episode. Join Josh and Brandon as they review the weekend's highs and lows, including a hugely disappointing Kai Havertz performance. How can FPL managers who put their faith in the German forward now shake off the Norwich blank? We also marvel at Salah's scorching hot form and wonder if we ever won't captain him for the rest of the season. Looking ahead to GW10, we consider the fallout of injuries to Raphinha, Jamie Vardy, and Bryan Mbeumo and debate the benefits of shifting yet more budget to our already big-at-the-back squads. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a turbulent return from the international break in GW8, we found that premium FPL forwards are still blanking, premium defenders are still being rotated, and points from mid-price midfielders are harder than ever to predict. In this week's episode, we seek to answer these key questions with a fun game of "Fill in the Blank." We talk Ronaldo and Lukaku, Chelsea fullbacks, and Mbeumo's prolific woodwork record. Plus, there's consideration given to under-the-radar premium assets like Mané, Kane, and De Bruyne. Stick around for our GW9 transfer targets and captaincy favorites. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This international break has given us some time to think ahead and in this episode we're planning not just for the upcoming GW8, but for the next four week through GW11. Whether you're on a wildcard or not, we help listeners identify both teams and players who look primed to benefit from the upcoming month's fixtures—and some who you might want to avoid. We also discuss news from around the Premier League, including injury news, Claudio Ranieri's appointment at Watford, and the new ownership at Newcastle United. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After seven weeks of Fantasy Premier League madness, we try to construct a cohesive narrative that accounts for what we've seen so far. We take a closer look at this season's top fantasy scores in all positions, from goalkeeper to defender, midfielder to forward. What are the trends that appear? Are certain patterns real, imagined, or simply the product of kind fixtures? As we head into another international break, many managers still with their wildcard in hand, it's a good time to look for the story that FPL is telling us. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Players like Jamie Vardy and Abdoulaye Doucouré have started this Premier League season in great form, yet they still haven't emerged as popular fantasy picks. Should they emerge, though? In this week's episode, we debate the merits of these rogue selections and predict whether their form might continue. We also consider the likes of Ederson, Neal Maupay, Emile Smith Rowe, and . . . Gabriel Jesus. Seriously. Stick around for our GW7 preview of key fixtures, transfer targets, and captain favorites. We consider what impact the Liverpool-Manchester City match will have on the weekend—and on wildcarders—and also attempt to pick the better armband option between Ronaldo, Lukaku, Antonio, and more. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A wild GW5 taught many FPL managers about the importance of bench depth. But, hey, didn't we all know Tino Livramento would save the day? This weekend was also a useful mile-marker in assessing popular fantasy assets—players who we can now say with confidence that we should either buy, sell, or hold. We debate the pros and cons of playing hokey cokey with Ronaldo and Lukaku, assess the urgency of getting Michail Antonio back into our lineups, and give a stress test to under-performers like Diogo Jota and Mason Greenwood. We also evaluate defensive options at Chelsea, Manchester United, and Manchester City before looking ahead to our transfers and captain picks for GW6. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ronaldo's explosive GW4 debut was matched by a brace from Lukaku, making the choice of premium forwards that much more challenging for FPL managers. Josh enters this week's episode with an active wildcard and this question of Ronaldo vs Lukaku is key to his strategy as he and Brandon debate the merits of fitting both into one fantasy squad. Will it work? Or does it strain the budget too much? We also discuss standout mid-price forwards and look at the current crop of budget forwards that might help free up some cash before we preview the fixtures and captaincy options for GW5. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This international break has offered drama and intrigue of all sorts, but we at Always Cheating won't allow ourselves to be too distracted from the GW4 deadline that's quickly approaching. So, has any of the news from World Cup qualifying changed our views on what to do with our FPL teams? We dig into the listener mailbag to answer major concerns over Ronaldo hype, Bruno doubt, Lukaku thigh scans, and the relevance of the still-delivering mid-price forwards like Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Michail Antonio, and Patrick Bamford. And what do we make of the impending Champions League schedule and its impact on Premier League squad rotation? Plus, we rank the current midfield options and take a long look at obvious and not-so-obvious captaincy choices for the weekend. Hail Cheaters! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices