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 offe...

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 J...

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 b...

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 asset...

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, t...

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 poi...

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: questionab...

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...

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...

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...

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 s...

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...

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, o...

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...

Today’s episode centers around a single Tweet from FPL 420 (@420fpl) at 5:45 PM on October 27, 2024: “😂Your GW10 points were mostly decided weeks ago mate.” Despite the seemingly light-hearted, jovial tone evoked by the laughing emoji, the statement struck us as being quite profound. There is genuine evidence corroborating this claim—just take the all-too-painful example of Jiayang buying Colwill...

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 explore...

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...

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. Gam...

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 con...

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 capta...

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 t...

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 rang...

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, Pur...

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 point...

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,...