Always Cheating: A Fantasy Premier League Podcast

The official announcement of GW34 rescheduled fixtures, which came late last week, was a bit of a curveball. Now we're reconsidering some of the FPL strategy we outlined in our last episode, especially how active wildcards are impacted by the new predicted season ticker. The Always Cheating hosts are answering a boatload of listener questions, like: Is the bench boost chip only viable in GW37? If...

Wildcards are now activating across the FPL community. But before we delve into strategy going forward, we have a quick review of the crazy blank GW31 that just passed. Did Salah's incredible points haul devalue all of our careful planning? What lessons did we learn from the first major Free Hit appearance? Looking ahead, Josh lays out the chip options for managers who've already played their wild...

After a low-scoring, rant-heavy GW30 recap, Josh and Brandon look ahead to one of the weirdest game weeks in recent memory: four fixtures, with twelve teams blanking, and featuring some of the most underwhelming FPL assets of the season. So what's the plan? We consider who the must-have players and cheeky punts are for GW31, whether you're on a Free Hit chip or not. Are their any clean sheets? Is...

An average scoring GW29 was disappointing for most managers, but also kind of befitting the calm before the FPL storm that kicks off in GW31. In this episode, we're previewing what could be the last "normal" game week of the season in GW30. Do we dare break away from a Salah captaincy as Liverpool head to Old Trafford? Can Kane finally manage to explode for points after a demanding midweek Champio...

While there's still one fixture left to go in GW28, we have little time to dwell. Josh and Brandon jump straight into a preview of GW29 fixtures, hunting for yet more differentials. Do oddball in-form players like Deeney and van La Parra stand a chance in our squads? Can Walcott and Wilson survive? And where do we stand with Arsenal after their Carabao Cup meltdown, given their enticing run of fix...

After this weekend's round of FA Cup matches, we now have a pretty full picture of the blanks that await us in GW31, and it's not pretty. Sure, the planning for those blanks starts now, but in this episode Josh and Brandon first offer up a substantial preview for GW28 fixtures, clean sheets, and captaincy picks. Second, we feature a mega lightning round of listener questions to kick our FPL strate...

Goals, goals, goals, and more goals. GW27 was epic for Agüero owners, and it also brought with it substantial tallies for highly-owned players like Salah, Firmino, and Hazard. So what are the action items for FPL managers after a week like this when we are so close to the home stretch? Is Hazard still a troll? Is Agüero becoming a risk with the imminent return of Gabriel Jesus? Will we ever not pu...

A fairly disappointing GW26 will be remembered for captaincy fails, disappearing defenders, and a few crazy moments at Anfield. And based on his performance on Sunday, there's seriously no debating that Salah is this season's FPL Points King. (However, Brandon decides to debate that point anyway.) In their GW27 preview, Josh and Brandon discuss Arsenal's alluring new look, go in search of reliable...

As GW25 comes to a close, so does the January transfer window. Josh and Brandon run down a fairly complete list of player moves (Aubameyang to Moura, Laporte to Kenedy, Walcott to Alexis, and...sure, we'll mention Sturridge) and how new setups might impact our FPL squads. We take a moment to review Josh's recent wildcard restructure, and then it's a match-by-match preview of GW26 along with our ow...

Live by Agüero. Die by Agüero. GW24 was a good week for those restoring faith in the City striker, along with those who kept faith in a particular Chelsea midfielder. So where does that leave us heading into the next round? Always Cheating hosts Josh and Brandon are joined by special guest Mike DePietro (winner of our Patreon Supporters Survivor League) to discuss Alexis Sanchez, whose move to Old...

If you somehow feel like you missed out on points during the recent double game week, then we sure hope you held onto Arnautovic and Son for big hauls in GW23. The Always Cheating hosts recap the scores and highlights from this past weekend. Then it's a massive team-by-team status report, from Arsenal through to West Ham, as we search the league for new under-the-radar player picks. Stay tuned for...

Always Cheating is back after a brief winter break to discuss the January transfer dealings and how they'll impact our FPL lineups. Will Coutinho's departure upset the attacking balance at Liverpool? Is the arrival of Virgil van Dijk finally going to make that defense an appealing option? And should we assume DCL is the odd man out with new Everton striker Cenk Tosun? We also talk about the curren...

Josh and Brandon emerge from their holiday hangovers to recap the key stories and players from GW19 and GW20. But, during this hectic festive period, there's little time for reflection, and this episode quickly turns to strategizing for the big GW22 double with Spurs and West Ham. How many players do we want? Or do we need? And do the free hit and triple captain chips enter into our thinking? Plus...

Premium strikers, almost uniformly, aren't performing. All the more reason for us to discuss them on this episode of Always Cheating. Do we have the patience to hold onto Kane until his double in GW22? Is Lukaku making a strong enough case to return to our squads? How blood-thirsty is Morata? It's also time for a regular Hazard heat check, a comparison of Zaha and Richarlison, and assessing an Ars...

While the big players at Chelsea struggled in GW16, Harry Kane finally delivered on a captaincy for many FPL managers. Always Cheating hosts Josh and Brandon review those and other key takeaways from the weekend as we quickly head into GW17. From defense to strikers, the burning questions in this episode revolve, for the most part, around budget players who we can use to plug holes: Quick-fix, nai...

In GW15, it was certainly "No Hazard, No Party." So it's now looking more like a matter of when and not if we get Chelsea's Belgian midfielder into our FPL lineups. Will Harry Kane make way for the necessary transfer funds? Probably not, but Josh and Brandon are judging whether other expensive players like Jesus, Agüero, Morata, Sané, and de Gea are worth their price tags. Stay tuned for listener...

As weirdly fun and excruciating as GW13 was for many FPL managers, we have precious little time to dwell upon it - not with two more game weeks mere hours away. Always Cheating hosts, Josh and Brandon, are already sizing up almost every conceivable transfer option ahead of the GW14 midweek and GW15 weekend fixtures. How essential do Chelsea assets like Hazard and Morata look now? Is it time to par...

The Premier League returned from its most recent international break with a massive GW12 filled with goals, clean sheets, and a single dark cloud in the shape of Harry Kane. In this episode, we're looking at the Spurs lineup in the aftermath of their loss to Arsenal, compounded by a frustrating run of FPL results for their star striker. We also discuss the awaited and long-awaited returns of Pogba...

Why does it feel like this international break is going on forever? To help pass the time, we're looking ahead to the GW12 fixtures and reviewing captains and clean sheet options match by match. Is Salah a better bet against Southampton than a flat-track bully Lukaku at home to Newcastle? And might we overlook Kane who regularly delivers in the North London derby? We also take some listener questi...

We're celebrating 100 episodes of Always Cheating! To commemorate this milestone, we invited some top FPL managers and influencers, along with a few of our favorite listeners through the years, to contribute a piece of their favorite solid fantasy advice. With their combined wisdom, we've ended up with a captivating hour of FPL higher education: from battle-tested rules of thumb and proven pitfall...

From Glenn Murray to Aaron Ramsey, we're devoting some time this week to recent FPL lucky streaks. Doucouré? Mahrez? Diouf? Who's just a flash in the pan? And who's a viable longterm asset for your squad? We're also talking about David De Gea and breaking typical FPL goalkeeper conventions, the theories behind banking two free transfers, and a ton of quick-fire questions from our listeners. Of cou...

Manchester City giveth, and then they taketh away. This week we discuss Pep Guardiola's painful yet entirely predictable player rotation. And we're obliged to talk about Harry Kane's big #GW9 Wembley performance, right? Or the lack of any performance whatsoever from Manchester United? Then, for something completely different, we review top performing budget picks (£7.5M and under for midfielders a...

Undoubtedly, the biggest takeaway from #GW8 is that Manchester City is irresistible. Josh and Brandon examine the Sky Blues, from strikers to midfielders to defenders, and how best to approach their #FPL assets. We're also reassessing the recent fad of the "Power 3" up front and whether it still holds much interest amid the chaos of injuries and blanks with Lukaku, Kane, Agüero, and Morata, among...

Emerging from another international break hibernation, Josh and Brandon are ready to get back to the business of #FPL. With injuries to both Agüero and Morata, there are lingering questions on how to best structure a robust front three lineup. There is also the matter the growing Raheem Sterling bandwagon and we compare his potential against the other Manchester City mids: Sané and David Silva. La...

This week, heading into another international break, we're offering a sneak peek at our recent Patreon Supporters exclusive podcast featuring FPL stats analyst Peter Blake. The author of the Mathematically Safe blog joins us to discuss everything you wanted to know about FPL stats but were afraid to ask, including the data behind trending team formations, knowing how to interpret big chances, and...