Always Cheating: A Fantasy Premier League Podcast

The Always Cheating hosts recap all (or most) of the events from the recent festive period featuring three weird and wild game weeks. Is Leicester City really falling away for good? Has Dimitri Payet been resurrected? Does one headed goal against Watford now make Agüero a must-own? And where does Chelsea's pummeling of Crystal Palace factor into the rest of these knee-jerk reactions? We cover thes...

Always Cheating dives headlong into the Festive Period fixtures with our first-ever guide to surviving the FPL holidays. The hosts look to pack your squad's bench with budget performers likely to play 270 minutes and they formulate an armchair strategy of rotation risks, likely defenders, and who to sensibly captain from Game Week 18 through Game Week 20. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit po...

Form players reign supreme in this episode of Always Cheating, but who to get into you FPL squad, and for how long? Before we optimize for Game Week 17, Brandon and Josh weigh in on a high-flying Bournemouth, league-leading Leicester City, and recently-revived Newcastle. And, yes, it may finally be time for us to bury our Chelsea assets in a shoebox in the backyard. Hail Cheaters. Learn more about...

Fire up the Stoke City bandwagon as Game Week 15 made complete converts of the Always Cheating hosts. But which Potter will best fit your FPL needs? And what have we learned, if anything, from Sunday's oddball fixture at St. James' Park? Optimizing for Game Week 16, Brandon and Josh discuss where to go with Liverpool assets, how to reset our thinking with Hazard, and juggling Leicester, Everton, a...

The head-to-head rivalry between Brandon and Josh is really starting to hit its boiling point, so who was the one left wounded after Game Week 14? Speaking of wounded, we discuss who will replace Alexis Sanchez—and, yeah, we're looking at options beyond Özil and De Bruyne. Optimizing for Game Week 15, how much more juice is left in this Watford attack? Will your Everton clean sheets finally come g...

Agüero is back! Liverpool is back? Spurs probably haven't gone anywhere, but we'll check on that. So where does that leave United, Arsenal, and Leicester City? Brandon and Josh review all of the happenings from Game Week 13 and then take a look ahead to the clean sheets and captaincies that await us in Game Week 14. Plus we have a Rate My Team and take listener questions. Learn more about your ad...

Before we optimize our FPL squads for Game Week 13, Brandon and Josh reveal the results of the First Annual Always Cheating Awards, 1/3 Season Edition. Our listeners vote on best new players, biggest disappointments, most improbable moments, and which manager is next to be sacked, among others. The hosts take a few listener questions and also relive some moments from last weekend's #BlazerCon even...

Game Week 12 gave us more Vardy, more Lukaku, and more punching! (Thank you, Rob Elliot, for punching absolutely every ball that comes into your area.) The Always Cheating hosts also discuss everyone's favorite Stoke enigma, Marko Arnautovic; what to do with poor old Dimitri Payet; and the grander FPL philosophy of playing form over fixtures. Be sure to tune in next week for our First Annual One-T...

Game Week 11 gave us plenty of goals (and that beautiful Arouna Koné smile), but there were still some FPL headaches for the Always Cheating hosts. Brandon and Josh get to it by talking about defender rotations, differential strategies, and the impact of filling an Ashley Westwood sized hole on our benches. There's also a new Rate My Team feature and we fire up the Optimizer for a Game Week 12 pre...

Brandon and Josh look back at the Game Week 10 fixtures, giving their FPL assessments of the derby results, Arsenal's continuing form, and Klopp's second consecutive draw. Key transfer targets for both Everton and Manchester United are highlighted, Game Week 11 gets the Optimizer treatment, and our hosts present their first-ever "rate my team" review. Submit your RMT requests to @hailcheaters on T...

Is Wijnaldum's windfall in Game Week 9 enough to convince Brandon and Josh to bring a Newcastle midfielder into their FPL squads? To compare, the Always Cheating hosts try to pinpoint this season's truly essential players. There's a quick review of last weekend's action and then it's into the Optimizer for a look ahead to Game Week 10 and the difficult choices therein. Learn more about your ad cho...

This international break has been filled with more than just Klopp puns, though 'Kindergarten Klopp' does weigh heavily on our minds. More immediately, FPL managers must wrestle with the striker stats and who exactly will replace Agüero—and then what to do with all of that extra cash-flow? Looking at a long list of injuries and lineup doubts popping up during the break, we recap the international...

After each jumping about one millions places in the Fantasy Premier League rankings, Brandon and Josh manage to sound ungrateful for Sergio Agüero's record-tying game week. But before recapping a weekend of madness featuring star turns by Pellè, Cabaye, Eriksen, and De Bruyne—among others—the hosts take a few questions from you listeners: Walcott over Alexis? Is team value even valuable? Then it's...

With Josh's FPL team kinda, sorta saved from the brink, it's Brandon's turn to hit the panic button. Could transfer penalties be the answer? The hosts perform some surgery as they look at Swansea's diminishing returns, Manchester City's hovering assets, and the Callum Wilson sized hole left in many managers' squads. And what about this West Ham team Brandon keeps hearing so much about? Then it's a...

As Chelsea's season turns, so do our FPL teams after an illuminating game week 6. Brandon and Josh parse the Martial goals, Payet assists, Dawson clean sheets, and Costa neck scratches as only they can—by mispronouncing the names of every player in the Premier League. And before we preview game week 7, the new feature "Unpopular Opinions" is unveiled, in which our hosts go with their guts and dism...

The Premier League is back from the international break and Josh's FPL squad is still in crisis. Can we save it? In search of some new high-value assets, we review the action from game week 5 and discuss exactly where Brandon's wife was the moment Benteke scored his unholy overhead kick. We also calibrate our strategies for Champions League rest and rotation and consider the fixtures for game week...

All your bandwagon are belong to us as we let Callum Wilson bicycle kick us through the summer's closing transfer window. What, if any, good deals were made? And how much will they cost to fit into your FPL lineup? Brandon and Josh then review the results of game week 4, preview the upcoming fixture list, and commission a painting of Ashley Williams' game-saving tackle on Wayne Rooney. Learn more...

Wildcard action abounds in game week 3 as Brandon and Josh run through what worked or didn't work in their revamped FPL squads. We go bandwagon jumping with Riyad Mahrez and various Manchester City assets, take a detour into mascot controversy, and look ahead to the game week 4 fixture list. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After game week 2, could it be? A wildcard? Listen in on how Josh experienced possibly his worst FPL game week in 154 weeks of playing. And why is Brandon so miffed at Christian Benteke? Is he justified, or simply greedy? Always Cheating runs through the big fixtures of game week 2 and takes a look at the weekend ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Game week 1 was a confounding disaster for most Fantasy Premier League managers. But how did it impact Brandon and Josh? And how much was Mezut Özil's prodigious speed walking to blame? We focus in on three big fixtures from last week, write a song of praise for Jefferson Montero, and, naturally, consider our longterm plans to fold Sergio Agüero into the lineup. Learn more about your ad choices. V...

It's episode 1 of the Always Cheating podcast! Again! We've revamped the podcast ahead of the 2015/2016 Premier League season and give a warm welcome to new co-host Josh. Within, we discuss a few of our rules of thumb for those of you just getting started with the FPL game or any of you looking to hone techniques. We also run through this season's three newly promoted teams: Bournemouth, Watford,...