FPL Fortress

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?

Last gameweek's average score, a measly 34 points, was the lowest one we've seen all season. Indeed, every single player more expensive than Jean-Philippe Mateta (£7.7m) blanked, and the savior of the gameweek was Jacob Murphy (£5.1m). Thankfully, there are exciting times ahead: Newcastle and Crystal Palace have upcoming double gameweeks, which means we'll be taking a deep dive into the best assets from those two teams (we also keep an eye out for the even bigger Double Gameweek 33 that's just around the corner). Given that Salah has one fixture while Isak has two, it seems like the armband might finally swing away from Salah, who yet again seems to be going through a slump in performance in the spring. Perhaps he should try his hand (or rather, try his leg) at a weak-leg Nordic hamstring curl? Mo—if you're listening, we here at the Fortress challenge you. Do you accept?

In the midst of what has undoubtedly been a prolonged lull in the game, Jacob and Jiayang look ahead to the final stretch of the season. Jacob wildcarded last gameweek, unfortunately to little success. How can FPL managers who still have their second Wildcard (like Jiayang!) take full advantage of it? Is this gameweek the best time to press the button? After this weekend's FA Cup quarter-finals, the teams that double and blank in GW 33 and GW 34 will be finalized. A shockingly high number of teams with relevant FPL assets have favorable fixtures ahead, such as Arsenal, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Newcastle, and Nottingham Forest. Which players from these teams should we be targeting? Despite Arsenal's, Liverpool's, and Newcastle's good fixtures, does an optimal triple-up even exist?

This may not be the first time you heard this, and it probably won't be the last: the Assistant Manager chip has to go. Adding a manager adds another dimension to the game, overcomplicating it and distancing it from the beautifully simple yet also endlessly stimulating concept of picking the PLAYERS you think will get the most points. What do you mean, DAVID MOYES has scored the same amount of points as MO SALAH in their last four games? But alas, we are stuck with the chip this season at least, and therefore we must try to optimize our strategy given the conditions under which we've been placed. So, for those with Slot and Emery—stick or twist? If twisting, play it safe with Arteta or chase the table bonus with Glasner or McKenna? Perhaps I must begrudgingly admit that certain elements of the chip are rather well designed. But before we get to that, in our Gameweek 25 review, we laugh at Spurs and Man United and admire the new Egyptian Prince in town, though the reigning Egyptian King won't be superseded anytime soon. As for captaincy—does Salah's difficult fixture against City (though maybe we really need to stop thinking of City as all that difficult) open the door for another option? Dare I say, one that costs £4.6 million?Follow us on Twitter: @FplFortress

Bournemouth have become somewhat of a juggernaut of late, and FPL managers have the tricky task of weighing three fantastic budget midfielders in Semenyo, Kluivert, and Ouattara. Each of them have their own pros and cons, but which one tickles your fancy? After discussing whether transferring Mbeumo in for Gordon is a good idea, we also devise a brand new, state-of-the-art metric (read: questionable numerical manipulation) to decide whether to play Gabriel against Man City or Ben Johnson against Southampton. But the question at the forefront of most managers' minds is whether or not to triple captain Salah ahead of away trips to a high-flying Bournemouth and a resolute Everton. On top of the tricky fixtures on paper, it seems like Salah has, in classic Salah fashion, begun to tail off in the second half of the season. But given the new Assistant Manager chip—which will prevent managers from using any other chips while it's in effect—is now simply the best time to get the Triple Captain “out of the way,” all things considered? The more we talk, the more we realize that it might not be possible to reach a satisfying conclusion…

As Liverpool and Everton's double gameweek gets ever closer, we really drill into the question of who our third Liverpool asset should be—and note the use of the word “asset” instead of “player,” because that asset, other than Díaz, Gakpo, or Konaté, could very well be Arne Slot! As for Everton? Jacob brings up the point that if the “extra” Liverpool game didn't exist, we wouldn't be talking about Everton assets at all—and “extra” is in quotes because, well, is there really that much value added when the game is against Liverpool? This leads us to consider the more macro question: What is a game in hand, anyway? How would our perception change if Everton's “original” fixture were against Liverpool and their “extra” fixture were against Leicester?

Welcome to the 100th episode of the FPL Fortress! Our first episode was released all the way back in March of 2021, back when we were sophomores in high school. Now, we're sophomores in college, and we thought we'd take this moment to reflect on the past four years of FPL by creating a list of the 100 most memorable players that we've had the pleasure (or displeasure) of encountering. The list is split into four categories: all-timers, honest workers, trolls, value picks, and those who can only be described as “vibes.” As we go through these players, we relive some of the memories from this most recent era of FPL history that have imprinted themselves irrevocably in our minds. Highlights include the legendary Wolves double over Manchester City in the 2019/2020 season, in which Adama Traoré humiliated the City defense; West Ham's tactical shift to 3-4-3 in the 2020/2021 season to accommodate both Arthur Masuaku and Aaron Cresswell (who is actually featured heavily in our very first episode!); and the Mateta-Eze-Olise trio that burst into life at the end of the 2023/2024 season, creating perhaps the most unadulterated embodiment of pure vibes this sport has ever seen. Throughout the episode, Jacob recalls specific moments from specific games with shocking clarity—a performance that may even outclass Lord Lundstram's 21-pointer in terms of sheer impressiveness. Finally, we contemplate the continuity that FPL has provided us over the past four years, as well as the numerous ways in which it has enriched our lives. It's been a real treat to produce the FPL Fortress for 100 episodes, and here's to the next 100!

In this first episode of 2025, we go back in time ten years—Mikel Arteta is back on the menu! With the brand new Assistant Manager chip, FPL managers can earn points from having Mikel Arteta in their team again—though this time, it's in a managerial capacity. (Speaking of Premier League managers who used to be players themselves, did you know that Andoni Iraola once played in a midfield trio with Andrea Pirlo and Frank Lampard at NYCFC, feeding balls through to Jack Harrison?) We take our first careful look at the chip, breaking down the two preeminent strategies: pick a manager from a top team and rely on victories by large margins, or pick a manager from a lower-ranked team and bet on upsets. The former is the safer option, while the latter is high risk, high reward. What whets your appetite? The answer may be more complicated than you think. And then there's the question of when to play the chip—though playing it in a double gameweek gives you an extra fixture, it also precludes you from playing another chip. Much to consider…

In FPL, much like with the study of history, we must analyze the past to better inform our actions in the future. We must never repeat the same mistakes—such as buying Diogo Jota. He was part of a combined Liverpool and Arsenal sextuple-up that netted me a grand total of two returns. How glorious. In response, we conduct a thorough dissection of the best players to invest in for FPL managers who still have their first Wildcard. Who can replace our underwhelming Liverpool and Arsenal assets (read: liabilities)? We explore the potential of Crystal Palace players with an excellent upcoming fixture run, the possibility of an Ollie Watkins resurgence sans Jhon Durán, and the fearsomeness of an in-form Newcastle attack powered by Joelinton. The indefatigable Brazilian also prompts us to look into the prevalence of true ambipedality in the Premier League. Who knew Aaron Hickey and Santi Cazorla had so much in common? Follow us on Twitter: @FplFortress

As the midway point of the season approaches, both Jacob and Jiayang find themselves in the rather strange position of still having their first Wildcard and yet lacking any desire to use it. We try to discuss the best options position-by-position, but are quickly faced with the slightly depressing truth that there simply aren't that many truly desirable players in the game right now. The situation is especially dire among the midfielders and forwards—so dire, in fact, that we even toy with the idea of playing four defenders plus six attackers (instead of the typical seven). The dryness of the current state of the game dovetails nicely with a brief discussion about Jacob's generally conservative style of playing FPL—is such a philosophy overly lenient towards middling performers, letting them linger in one's team far beyond their welcome? Follow us on Twitter: @FplFortress

Title says it all, really. Five losses and a draw after being up 3-0 … there has surely never been a bleaker moment in a Pep team. Maybe Rodri really is just that important, as Jacob explains through an insightful “field tilt” visualization. Our first Dilemma Deliberation is more theoretical (though very applicable): Is it better to start a goalkeeper from a worse defense against a worse attack, or a goalkeeper from a better defense against a better attack? We posit that it's quite helpful to imagine yourself owning an attacker from each of the opposing teams and comparing how confident you feel in each attacker. On a very practical note, we then consider a few teams whose fixtures are about to plummet and look at potential replacements for popular assets from these teams. Along the way, Darwin Núñez, Alejandro Garnacho, Timo Werner, and Adama Traoré get mentioned in the same group; brownie points if you can figure out what it is! Finally, we round the episode off with captaincy—would it be madness to captain any player against City? In their current pep-less (intentionally lowercase, mind you) state, perhaps not … Follow us on Twitter: @FplFortress

The Premier League may have taken last weekend off, but here at the Fortress, dilemmas have been brewing—and this is the episode where we bring them to the fore. To start, we revisit the idea of selling Haaland by exploring other permutations that the extra cash can fund. Regular listeners will know that we're a very interdisciplinary podcast; accordingly, Jiayang references Hegel's assertion that changes in quantity may eventually result in changes in quality as a metaphor to question how close managers are to actually committing to the act. Soon afterwards, we arrive at our first unanswerable question: How much weight should we be putting on small nuggets of information—like the fact that Haaland will likely be facing Dragusin instead of Van de Ven? Our second Dilemma Deliberation centers around a case study of Jiayang's team: is it worth it to bring in Palmer for a -8 hit? To answer this question, we spontaneously decide to do something unprecedented: we transplant our captaincy segment right into the heart of our Dilemma Deliberations. In the process, we stumble across our second unanswerable question: What's the tradeoff between sample accuracy and sample size, particularly at this point in the season when only 11 games have been played? After much grappling, we finally land on our third unanswerable question: Is intentionally creating sunk costs a winning strategy? Though definitive conclusions remain elusive, we hope the act of posing and confronting such questions are continually advancing the game forward. There is beauty in trying.

Today's episode centers around a single Tweet from FPL 420 (@420fpl) at 5:45 PM on October 27, 2024: “

For the most part, I try to employ a well-balanced mixture of professionalism and wittiness when writing these episode blurbs. But from the bottom of my heart, that was one of the most enjoyable episodes I've ever had the pleasure of recording. Regular listeners will know that the Fortress enters flow state whenever we sink our teeth into a particularly juicy thought experiment—and the one explored in this episode might just be our crown jewel. It all started when Jiayang asked Jacob if he would be happy owning a player whose points were guaranteed to follow the pattern of a sinusoidal function; the odyssey that ensued (or rather, in keeping with the general principle of opting for active over passive voice, “the ensuing odyssey”) takes us on a whirlwind from the nostalgia of James Ward-Prowse's classic 150-point seasons to the contemporary pertinence of the Palmer-Son-Saka hokey-cokey. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this timeless classic (if you know, you know)...

This week, Jiayang had to get a lot off his chest. His transfer in Solanke accumulated a grand total of 0.11 xGI in a four-goal demolition of West Ham, Calvert-Lewin and Eze continued to contend for the coveted title of Biggest Twat in his team, and his captain Haaland decided to do his best Colorado River impression by extending his dry run for yet another gameweek. Dilemma Deliberations-wise, we begin by focusing on Arsenal's and Aston Villa's poor upcoming fixtures (“well-endowed on the y-axis and challenged on the x-axis,” as one might say). Then, we turn our attention towards the bigger-picture question of whether or not we ought to listen to our guts—though perhaps the answer depends on whether or not our gut microbiomes are healthy and well-balanced. And finally, despite Haaland's three successive blanks, it seems like he simply MUST be our captain for GW 9—but what if our guts are leading us towards Mbeumo against Ipswich at home? These are the questions… Follow us on Twitter: @FplFortress

Today, Donald Trump mentioned UTDTrey in a Tweet—which can only spell disaster for Trump's campaign, since nobody can escape the Trey jinx. It's no surprise, then, that the team he reps has steadily been on the decline since he joined Twitter. As Jacob says, United are towing the line between being hated and being forgotten—and for a franchise like Manchester United, the latter might be worse. Gameweek 6 also saw City draw to Newcastle, Arsenal avoid dropping points at the death against Leicester, and a certain Cole Palmer become the first and only player in Premier League history to score four goals in one half of football. We start our Dilemma Deliberations with this starboy—is now the time? Should he have been included in our discussions about the trifecta of Haaland, Salah, and Saka last week? What even is the word for trifecta, but … four? Quadfecta? Superfecta? We then conjecture about whether or not the Philip Walter Foden train is fast approaching the station, and round off the segment with a theoretical lament on our abysmal team values (but seriously, it's an important issue!). Finally, captaincy indeed seems to be a decision between our newly minted Fantastic Four—which fixture looks like the friendliest of the bunch?

Mikel Arteta almost pulled off the low block of the century against Man City, condemning City to feed their onslaught through Rúben Dias—hardly the most creative player in their team. Due to the nature of this low block (and perhaps due in part to his ghosting tendencies), Kai Havertz completed a grand total of 0 out of 5 attempted passes over the course of the 90 minutes. Nonetheless, he is a contender for the third best Arsenal asset to own, behind Saka and Gabriel, and this assessment forms the meat and potatoes of this episode of the FPL Fortress. Elsewhere, we also discuss whether the nearly 800,000 managers who have bought Luis Díaz made a good choice, as well as a grave mistake that Wildcarders and non-Wildcarders alike seem to be making. Finally, captaincy this week seems to be a relatively close call between the Trifecta—Saka at home to Leicester, Salah away to a Wolves that conceded 6 to Chelsea, or Haaland against a thoroughly unremarkable Newcastle?

The talk of the town is the Gameweek 6 Wildcard. Are Arsenal's and City's good fixtures enough to warrant pressing the button? Just how in the mud does your team need to be in order for the Wildcard to be worth it? In this episode, we try to work through these questions and analyze the cheap Isak replacements—though there are many options, few are all that exciting. And for once, the obvious captaincy choice doesn't seem to be Haaland—but what do you do if you don't have Mo?

To borrow a phrase from Noni Madueke: everything about this game is s***. Well, not really—in fact, FPL is a really compelling, well designed game, especially with this year's pricing—but it can feel pretty awful when the team you spent the entire summer tinkering with, and one that looks quite decent on paper, just kind of flops after the first couple of weeks. Alas, it is what it is—and though that may sound defeatist, I'm using it in the defiant way here, in the sense that we're accepting what's transpired and blazing onwards, unfazed. The meat and potatoes of this first midweek episode are about how to deal with a bad start (which, generally speaking, both Jacob and Jiayang have suffered). Sprinkled within is a neat little debate about when the best moment to get Ollie Watkins might be, as well as a bit of light economics chitchat.

Welcome to our fifth season here at the FPL Fortress! And believe it or not, despite being in the business for so long, it's our very first season preview. We're very excited to share our thoughts in a couple of different areas: we'll start with all the new rule changes, then we'll talk about player pricing through the lens of “pricing tiers” (e.g. the list of midfielders in the £9.5 to £10.5 range), and finally we'll discuss our first drafts. Given that not a single minute of Premier League football has actually been played yet, our chat is a little more theoretical, and you'll get to see how the differences in Jacob and Jiayang's FPL philosophies manifest in our team selections. Happy listening and happy tinkering!

And just like that, the 2023/24 season comes to a close. It's been a pretty good one—both of us enjoyed our best ever finishes, and there have been a number of memorable moments, from Palmer's 26-pointer to the mouth-watering Gameweek 34 Free Hit. In what is now customary fashion for the Fortress's season reviews, we assign our superlatives, which include Player of the Season, Most Consistent, Purplest Patch, most maddening to own, and favorite moments. Then, it's the classic Breakout XI (Jacob's second-favorite segment) and Flop XI (Jacob's favorite segment). Finally, we finish off with our reflections and lessons learned going into next season. We have greatly enjoyed keeping the Fortress going strong during our busy first year of college, and wish everyone a healthy green summer!

A bald striker who likes to tuck in his shirt and bangs in goals for fun? No, he's not Ronaldo Nazario in the early 2000s while he was playing for Real Madrid. No, he's arguably even better (and certainly more of an FPL hero at the very least). The club is Crystal Palace, the time is April 2024, the number on his shirt is 14, and the man of the moment is Jean-Philippe Mateta. His whopping 29 points is the capstone of, quite frankly, a feast of a gameweek—one in which the top-scoring FPL team (aptly called “Hakuna Mateta!”) ended on 216 points. Funnily enough, the popular Liverpool assets turned out to be the big disappointments, with the triple-up of Salah, van Dijk, and Robertson getting outscored by Will Hughes. It may be tempting to linger forever on DGW 34, but we must set our sights on the few remaining gameweeks of the season. To that end, we discuss which Chelsea and Spurs assets are good for DGW 35, the Salah problem (crazy that he's become a “problem”), and overall transfer strategy before the big DGW 37. Since we won't have time to record an episode next week, we look at captaincy options for GW 36 in addition to GW 35. Jacob presents an enticing idea that Jiayang may just take up next season… Follow us on Twitter: @FplFortress

Unsurprisingly, this episode centers around creating the perfect Free Hit team for GW 34. (And if you're not using your Free Hit, hopefully the points we hit on will still be valuable in helping you determine who to prioritize with your precious transfer or two). First, we try to figure out the ideal triple-ups from Liverpool and Arsenal; then, we determine who else should be a lock; and finally, we try to logically fill in the remaining spots in our XI. In this last section, we tackle the thought-provoking and delicate act of weighing 1) a good single gameweek player with a good fixture vs. 2) a slightly worse double gameweek player with two slightly worse fixtures. As for captaincy, Jiayang might just channel his inner Sybill Trelawney… Follow us on Twitter: @FplFortress

On paper, this upcoming gameweek seems like it'll be the last relatively calm one before the inevitable chaos of the tail end of the season ensues. By examining what the best course of action might be for our own teams, we touch on key topics that will hopefully be relevant for many FPL managers right now, such as whether it's time to move from Darwin/Solanke to Højlund/Isak/Jackson (yes, Nicolas Jackson). Finally, in our captaincy segment, we're back to pretty much picking between our two old friends, Mo and Erling—though at the moment, it seems like both are stuck in a bit of a rut. Who, then, to go with? Would it be foolish to make this decision based on the famously reliable metric of xNV—expected Negative Vibes? Follow us on Twitter: @FplFortress

As the title of this episode conveys, we are concerned this gameweek with what words rhyme with Romeo's close friend in Shakespeare's classic. The answer we present: TIOotIO (pronounced “ti-OO-shee-oh”). Humor us and take a moment to think about what that might stand for—yes, it's an acronym. Got a guess? Well, if you landed on “The Ins and Outs of the Ins and Outs,” that you'd be right! And we're aware of the inconsistency of how the “of” and the “the” are represented in the acronym by lowercase letters while the two “and”s are not; we just like the way it sounds better this way. What this crazy acronym means: we talk about the intricacies of the three most transferred-in and transferred-out players for next gameweek, a topic that is always relevant. Somehow, the topic of capitalization comes up yet again later in the episode when Jiayang talks about his strong—at this point, well-established—preference for captaining a player whose upcoming fixture is spelled out in capital letters next to their name. Near the end of the segment, Jacob gets dangerously close to succumbing to a very self-consciously un-scientific way of making captaincy decisions, though he will hopefully NOT do that by the time the Gameweek 32 deadline rolls around. Follow us on Twitter: @FplFortress

The greater good has rarely outweighed my own self-interest. Specificity breeds universality. The ends justify the means. Are you confused because this sounds an awful lot like a philosophy podcast? No, this is still the FPL Fortress! And in fact, we here at the Fortress pride ourselves in forging connections between the ideas we learn in the classroom and the teams we so painstakingly manage in the game. We cover a tremendous amount of ground in this episode, moving from a short segment on the premise of the new Fantasy Challenge game mode; to a review of our predictions last week in which Jiayang expresses renewed disapproval and doubt about the nature of Jacob's divination; to a lengthy discussion on Jiayang's GW 31 Wildcard draft. In this segment, we hit on a bunch of important interlinked talking points, including the benefits of having 5 starting midfielders vs. 3 starting forwards, double Arsenal defense vs. double Arsenal attack, and an enlightening explanation of why most people seem to be leaning FH34 + BB37 rather than BB34 + BB37.

In this latest episode of the FPL Fortress, many exciting things happen: Jacob gets bamboozled, Jiayang successfully lands two puns in a row on the spot, and both work together to contemplate the strategy of the Gameweek 30/31 Wildcard that many managers are considering. It's particularly exciting because Jiayang is visiting Georgetown—so the recording is finally being done in the same room, with the same microphone (Jacob's trusty JLab Talk Go). After the admittedly not-so-exciting Gameweek 29 Review, the episode really gets going with the nitty-gritty discussion regarding our second Wildcard. For captaincy, Jiayang and Jacob make hyper-specific predictions for how Salah and Son will fare—as you will hear, Jacob shamelessly finagles his prediction to fit his captaincy choice. Maybe the tea leaves were shifting in real time. Follow us on Twitter: @FplFortress

A common piece of advice: trust your intuition. But when your intuition tells you that transferring Haaland out for Carlton Morris is an insane thing to do, don't trust your intuition. Seriously, there's a larger point here—even when a certain action seems insane at first glance, it can be very useful to create some distance between yourself and the action in order to approach it from a more logical, clear-headed place. You might even be swayed! (Hint: this exact phenomenon may or not have played out in this episode…) Jacob and Jiayang also try to resolve their first-world problems of having eight great attackers—key word, “try.” And lastly, yet again, there's an obvious captaincy candidate! But this time, his first name isn't Erling, his last name isn't Haaland, and he isn't exactly Norwegian…

Now that this round of the FA Cup has finished, the Gameweek 29 fixtures are finally confirmed—and boy, they do not look particularly exciting. In this episode, we conduct a thorough investigation on what the best course of action is to prepare for the blank, covering transfer strategies both going into and coming out of the blank and the most important players to own by the time March 16th rolls around. During the captaincy segment, Jacob, as he so often does, prods Jiayang about the psychological soundness behind something he says—this time, it's about how much Haaland's glut (apparently the term for scoring 5 goals in a match) against Luton should affect our affect our perception of him as a captaincy candidate against Man United this weekend. But first, both Jacob and Jiayang rue some transfers that didn't quite work out for them…

FPL is a game that's often characterized by the feeling of disappointment. Cold, hard, and unadulterated disappointment. And yet, before every seemingly juicy double gameweek, it seems like we FPL managers have a genuine reason to be hopeful. Double Gameweek 25 was one of those gameweeks—how exciting was it that Man City and Liverpool, two of the best teams in the league, would have two nice fixtures each? Alas, disappointment struck once again, especially when we realized that Darwin and Jota together played a mere quarter of the minutes that they could have played. In MJ's words, perhaps we should come to expect disappointment; that way, we'll never be disappointed. But there is reason to be hopeful, surely! The stars of today's shows are Wolves's dynamic duo up front, Hwang Hee-chan and Pedro Neto. Here's a fun fact: Man City and Sheffield United are the two teams who have played the most games since a 0-0 (for diametrically opposed reasons, might I add). I daresay it seems almost inevitable—though that is admittedly a dangerous term—that Hwang and Neto will carve through the Blades's defense (ironic nickname, isn't it?) like a knife through hot butter. Or is it a hot knife through butter? Either way, the butter doesn't remain intact…

In this episode, we focus exclusively on Liverpool, Manchester City, and Arsenal, the three teams that comprise the current top three of the Premier League—as such, it should come as little surprise that they also offer some of the best assets in FPL. Players from Liverpool and Man City are particularly hot property this week, given their juicy upcoming double gameweeks. Salah's impending return and the potential resurgence of Pep Roulette (Man City's squad is finally fully fit again), however, might just complicate matters a little … but first, we offer you a bit of roleplay involving an animated American and an elitist European!

With GW 25 and GW 28 finally confirmed to be double gameweeks and a clearer picture emerging overall of the remainder of the season, it finally seems like there are some real choices to be made for FPL managers—choices that, with strategic planning, can result in massive rank gains. To that end, we try to approach the four available chips from a new angle—instead of looking at which gameweek would be best to use a certain chip, we consider which chip would be best to use in a certain gameweek. Though the conclusions between the two approaches are similar, the change in thought process might just yield some fresh ideas. Elsewhere in our Dilemma Deliberations, we also conduct a deep dive on Richarlison, so tune in to hear some thoughts on why he has scored nine goals in his last eight Premier League appearances (a seemingly miraculous fact, but perhaps there's an explanation for it?). Finally, the captaincy conversation—well, shall we just say, it truly does seem like all roads lead back to Haaland. Follow us on Twitter: @FplFortress

Gameweek 22 was full of fun moments, with Haaland completely scuffing his lines (a robot will inevitably be a little rusty after a period of disuse, after all), Maupay taking the absolute mickey out of Maddison, and Elijah Anuoluwapo Oluwaferanmi Oluwatomi Oluwalana Ayomikulehin Adebayo dethroning Addji Keaninkin Marc-Israel Guéhi in his as the player with the best name in the Premier League. Looking forward, in our Dilemma Deliberations, we consider the upcoming blank and double gameweeks, outline a rough chip strategy for the remainder of the season, and debate whether or not you MUST bring in Haaland this week. Of course, if you do bring in Haaland, he easily becomes a top contender for captaincy, and given the lack of genuinely viable alternatives, it seems like the Norwegian may just be inevitable…  Follow us on Twitter: @FplFortress

The most stretched-out gameweek in recent memory has bored us to the point of making Starting XIs consisting of animals. Yes, that's right—Jacob and Jiayang spend about 20 minutes putting together the perfect Animal XI. And to be honest, we don't see anyone getting past this team—the footballing world should be grateful it doesn't actually exist, because it would no doubt walk the Champions League every year. With the great white shark leading the line and the kangaroo marshaling the defense … goosebumps. Don't worry, we do also talk about FPL-related matters: the main topics in this episode are the legitimacy of KDB as an FPL option and the state of the forward position. Though the main event, of course, is the Animal XI. The things I would pay to see a Hawk flying at Zinchenko …

Breaks in the Premier League never come to pass calmly. Our teams just always seem to get derailed—this time, it's injuries to Bowen, Trent, and of course Charlie Taylor, coupled with the departure of Salah and Son that had been imminent—and as FPL managers, we have to navigate our way through these trainwrecks. After reviewing the key points in Gameweek 20, we spend the bulk of this episode addressing our concerns in midfield and defense by ranking the best replacement options. Given Jacob's recent infatuation with all things Crystal Palace, there is also a hefty dose of Olise prop—and honestly, Jiayang is feeling moved too. Follow us on Twitter: @FplFortress

I can scarcely believe that this is our last episode in 2023, but here we are! Jiayang and Jacob conduct reviews of Chelsea and Man City respectively, with both landing on a hopeful outlook for the future (though Chelsea might be going through yet another false dawn, whereas City's hope seems a lot more grounded). We also put Newcastle under strict scrutiny—has the Saudi money finally met its match with the mighty Wood? (There's an environmentalism joke in there somewhere.) In our Dilemma Deliberations, we discuss four midfield options to consider buying for when Salah and Son temporarily depart our teams. Jacob, it seems, has trouble separating Garnacho the player from Garnacho the person. Finally, in what is perhaps our longest captaincy segment EVER, we break down four candidates, all of whom are quite viable—but ultimately land on one man, and one man only. In classic Fortress fashion, this episode is interspersed with a couple of fun tidbits. For one, we discover that Manchester United and Chelsea transcend categorization, while also exemplifying the cyclical nature of time. For another, we ponder how much we should factor in the past when making our decisions in the present, for the future—through the lens of none other than Richarlison de Andrade. Follow us on Twitter: @FplFortress

All any FPL manager wants for Christmas is a captaincy haul—obviously. Oh, but will Santa come and realize this dream of ours? In this Christmas Eve episode of the FPL Fortress, we conduct a deep dive into decision-making methodology, mainly through the lens of the weekly captaincy decision. Are we all becoming part of the hive mind? Are we victims of groupthink, or even GUILTY OF groupthink? Or maybe, the vast majority of managers don't possess the capacity to make decisions on any deeper level? How should we grapple with this rather futile-sounding conclusion? As is so often the case with the Fortress, we also sprinkle in some economics to help tackle the topic at hand—this time, it's the idea of being risk-averse. Would you rather take $500,000 for certain, or have a 50% chance of getting $1,000,000 and a 50% chance of getting $0? In FPL lingo: would you rather get the relatively “safe” points from a Haaland in any given gameweek, or would you try to locate a mega-haul from a lesser-proven asset (the risk being they blank while Haaland doesn't)? On a more grounded level, we also consider the idea of parting ways with Salah or Son while they're away at AFCON and the Asian Cup respectively, and what to do with the extra funds if one does decide to redistribute. Above all, we beseech you: think.

It almost seems like this week's episode of the FPL Fortress should be an episode of Sheldon Cooper's “Fun With Flags” instead. Jiayang's team is filled with five flags, which includes all four different flag colors—yes, we are in the thick of holiday season, but this is one instance in which we don't hope to see festive colors. Our Dilemma Deliberations this week focuses on one binary: playing the game aggressively versus playing the game passively. Jiayang is a member of the former camp right now, while Jacob has leaned towards the latter this season; Jacob is currently 2.2 million places ahead of Jiayang, so make of that what you will. We also dedicate a fair bit of time bemoaning the dry state of affairs within the FPL landscape, and reminisce about the days when there were more than a meager two premium assets in the game.

We've got a special double episode coming your way today, given that the first midweek gameweek is fast approaching—a sign of the busy holiday season ahead (which of course could be a good or a bad thing, depending on how your team performs). To help you navigate the imminent fixture congestion, we spend the majority of this episode discussing which one of the top FPL assets at the moment can be characterized as “season keepers” (a term that often gets thrown around lightly, that we here at the Fortress take very seriously). As problems with the rest of your team inevitably crop up, you'll want a stable core of players who you don't have to think about to help carry you through the period. Captaincy for GW 14 is unbelievably tight, with Haaland playing a Spurs side that seem to be dead set on playing a high line and Salah playing a Fulham side that—well, they're Fulham. French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre makes yet another appearance as we consider whether or not he would endorse letting a coin decide this binary decision. Captaincy for GW 15 looks slightly easier, as Salah's advantage in the quality of his opposition seems to outweigh the fact that Haaland, in a vacuum, is probably the better pick.

With Man City vs. Liverpool looming over us in under 60 hours, it's time for FPL managers to jump right back into the thick of things, especially after the long international break. First, we review the 4-4 thriller between Chelsea and City, reflecting on both funny moments (Mudryk, Jackson, Palmer…Chelsea have quite a few jokesters on the team) and tactical insights (why can't City defend in transition?). In our Dilemma Deliberations, we consider mid-priced midfielders (getting déjà vu? It's always those mid-priced midfielders…) who may come in for Mitoma or Mbeumo and contemplate the implications of Villa's bad fixture swing. We then trial a brand new mini-segment in which we analyze the top 5 most transferred-in players this gameweek thus far to get a sense of what the masses are doing—making smart decisions, or falling into traps? And finally, in a week where the two top-choice captaincy picks most weeks face each other, there is…no great alternative, much to our chagrin. Although—and this goes without saying—if a certain James Milner were fit, he'd be up there.

How much has to go wrong for you to concede three goals to Nicolas Jackson? The answer: two disallowed goals (albeit rightly so), two red cards (absolutely rightly deserved), two injuries (wholly undeserved), and a frankly ridiculous high line (this one's on Ange). The star of this episode is no doubt the London showdown between Spurs and Chelsea, which has, in recent times, become an instant classic. The energy doesn't dissipate after our in-depth dialogue about that derby, though—Jiayang gives a rather impassioned response to Jacob's suggestion that one ought to bring in Mbeumo before Brentford play Liverpool and Arsenal. We also revisit the question of how to psychologically deal with a bad gameweek—it really isn't that deep!—and round the episode off with a discussion about captaincy, which proves not to be so clear-cut this week. Follow us on our socials! Twitter - @FplFortress Instagram - @fplfortress

It's a (relatively) peaceful week in the FPL landscape this week. We still do our classic Gameweek Review and Captaincy segments this episode, but instead of the Dilemma Deliberations, we embark on a brief philosophical interlude regarding, among other things, Paul Tillich's ontology of courage and Henri Bergson's views on the connection between time and free will. We promise, it all connects back to FPL! Our favorite Jean-Paul Sartre makes a reappearance as well. Oh, and before all that, we tackle the Problem of God that has gripped Manchester United since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Considering the dramatic episode title, it may come as a surprise that the nature of the following 70 minutes is actually rather light-hearted. (Don't worry—Jiayang does go off on a mini-tangent about the subtlety behind how French Existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre might view FPL managers' decision to keep Haaland or not!) The bulk of this episode revolves around the nitty-gritty of Jiayang's Wildcard draft: we go through the “non-negotiables” and compare a couple of combinations. Finally, we dedicate a significant amount to our Captaincy segment for the first time in recent memory. Is the power of real choice a blessing or a curse? Sartre, I surmise, would advocate for the former. Follow us on our socials! Twitter - @FplFortress Instagram - @fplfortress

Today, we all witnessed the divinity of Daniel Johnson Burn, the lanky lad who just scored against PSG in the Champions League. To quote Newcastle's Twitter admin: “Hang it in the Louvre.” Jacob has just activated his wildcard, and we spend this episode breaking down his current draft. Jiayang explains why Darwin is a personification of entropy, Jacob questions whether FPL managers should consider the aura surrounding a club, and we laugh at all the bad records that Erik ten Hag is breaking. Note: Keep an eye out for a couple of biblical allusions.

We're back on the grind here at the Fortress—as college students now!—and, as always, there's a ton to talk about this week in FPL. Our Gameweek 6 Review encompasses the high-quality North London Derby, the clash between mid-table mediocrity and a team that's contending for Europe (Chelsea and Aston Villa—in that order), and the massacre that happened in Sheffield. In our Dilemma Deliberations, we answer key questions about Chelsea assets (or shall we call them liabilities?), how we should treat Salah (essential or not?), and initial preparations for a potential GW 9/10 Wildcard. Following that, we introduce a brand new segment: Differential Equations! And finally, a brief conversation about the captaincy “debate” rounds off the episode. Follow us on our socials! Twitter - @FplFortress Instagram - @fplfortress

This is our fourth season, and yet, for some reason or another, we still have yet to produce a Gameweek 1 episode. If we had, it's obviously safe to say that anyone who listened to it would be ranked in the Top 1K right now, because our advice is just simply that good. In all seriousness though, it's wonderful to be back for the 2023-24 season. Reviewing Gameweek 1, we debrief City's comfortable victory, Liverpool's imbalanced and dysfunctional midfield, and United's unpromising performance. In our Dilemma Deliberations, Jacob draws upon his philosophical side to answer the question of whether or not a manager should try to save a transfer going into Gameweek 2; we also look at the list of most transferred in players and attempt to identify whether or not they're fool's gold. Finally, Jiayang posits that Salah might be a better captaincy option this week than Haaland. Also tune in for some comments about James Milner and the inherent irrationality of FPL managers.

The final episode of the 2022/23 season on FPL Fortress is here! It's been another wild ride—it always is, whenever FPL is involved, at least—and we want to find some sense of closure with it all. We've all faced so many stressful last-minute decisions right before the deadline, experienced so many memorable moments, both good and bad, and (hopefully) taken away so many valuable lessons for the future. In this episode, we hand out our superlative awards of the season, go through our Breakout XI and Flop XI, trauma-dump our horror stories, reminisce about our favorite moments, and share our takeaways for next season. It's been a true pleasure and honor to be with you all this season, and—well, there isn't any green arrow to wish everyone, so Jacob and I will simply wish you all a lovely summer. Until August! Time Stamps: 00:00 - Superlatives 32:38 - Breakout XI 47:15 - Flop XI 63:21 - Horror Stories 70:30 - Memorable Moments 78:37 - Lessons Learned

This episode is all about narratives. After all, it's the last gameweek of the season—what better time to indulge ourselves? We deliberated over the best one-week punts, ranging from a Colombian troll to an English cult hero. The captaincy should probably go to Erling, but Jiayang is tempted by more alluring options (he is rather bullish about another 9-0 as a nice send-off for Southampton into the Championship). Finally, we round off the episode with a brief discussion on rank and the value of risk-taking with one week left—the highs can be so high, but the lows can be low beyond the limits of our fathomability. Instagram: @fplfortress Twitter: @FplFortress

Sir Callum Eddie Graham Wilson MBE the Great (has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?) has officially crowned himself the King of Tyneside. Just how Howe has been such a roaring success at Newcastle? We also talk about the "real Brighton" and the "fake Brighton" that we saw, as well as Liverpool's fine form of late and Arsenal's alleged "bottling" of the league. Then, we take a deep dive into the best options from Man United and Man City for their upcoming double gameweek, with a particular focus on City assets. We round this penultimate episode off with a brief discussion about captaincy—though it may not be much of a decision, as per the usual this season. Instagram: @fplfortress Twitter: @FplFortress