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Merry Christmas from Rebel FPL! It’s Christmas Eve, and we have a marathon episode for you! We were even joined by two special guests, as Rey’s lovely two children spontaneously joined the show. It was a perfect un-scripted moment to make an already wonderful show even more fun for Rey and I to record. We hope you enjoy our little family moment, and again we wish all of you a happy, healthy, and prosperous Christmas, Holidays, and New Year with all of your families. Segment 1 In this episode, we discussed Liverpool’s drubbing of Crystal Palace, and the Reds’ incredible ability to regularly perform with such high intensity and quality. Segment 2 Our second segment comes at what might be the most important moment in the history of Arsenal Football Club. Rey gives us his thoughts on why he believes it’s time for Mikel Arteta to go. Segment 3 And finally, we took a massive deep dive into the current FPL landscape, including potential wild card drafts for Derek, while Rey covers what he’ll be doing as someone who’s already used his wild card. The FPL portion of the show is a real doozy! Gameweek 14 reviewGameweek 15 previewBlank Gameweek 18Double Gameweek 19Derek’s Wildcard plans Once again: our warmest wishes to all of you, and enjoy the Holidays and the Festive Fixtures!

Welcome back to Rebel FPL: crazy midweek fixture congestion edition! Apologies for missing you last week, but we just couldn’t find time to schedule a recording. We’re back to discuss Derek’s Reds, Rey’s Gunners, and finally go on an absolute tear through the FPL landscape as we try to make sense of the weeks ahead. Also, apologies in advance for the huge gain (i.e. loud) on my (Derek) mic this week. A setting was disabled, unbeknownst to me, prior to recording. It should be back to normal next time. Here’s the rundown: Segment 1 – Liverpool The surprising performance from FulhamThe emergence of LookmanKlopp’s baffling team selection in Europe midweekHave we been unfair to him?An impressive lack of injuries in training for Klopp’s teamsBurnout at Dortmund repeating itself?Last season Klopp seemed to manage burnout well by controlling matchesBut the point still stands: it was a meaningless match Segment 2 – Arsenal Wenger’s Arsenal could reliably jump on an opponent early at home4 losses in a row at home, unprecedentedLow on confidence, but give Burnley something to be scared ofLacazette in an unfamiliar positionXhaka’s sending off, at which point Rey had enough (wow!)Is Mikel Arteta in danger?Does he have a plan?Too much chopping and changingHow does he fix it?Opponents don’t fear Arsenal anymore Segment 3 – FPL Rey’s GW12 reviewRey’s transfersDerek’s GW12 reviewDerek’s potential transfers heading into a GW16 wildcardDovetailing into an epic deliberation on the most interesting players and fixtures for FPL in GW13Given Derek’s budget flexibility and 2 free transfers, what’s the best way to make up ground?How does this relate to your team?Jack GrealishPatrick BamfordJames MaddisonJack Harrison or Raphinha?Mason Greenwood? (Rey laughs at me)Danny IngsCaptaincy – Should we consider Grealish? Thanks again for suffering the audio. We’ll keep improving. Good luck this week!

Welcome back to Rebel FPL, where we predict Pep Guardiola’s teamsheet with one hundred percent accuracy and lead you to Fantasy Premier League glory! Or not. On this week’s episode: Segment 1 – Liverpool Their performance against BrightonKlopp’s fixture congestion complaintsIs he affecting their results? Segment 2 – Arsenal Our heartfelt condolences and well-wishes to Raul Jiménez and his familyArsenal’s issues vs. WolvesDo Arsenal lack identity? Segment 3 – Our Key Fixtures from Last Week Everton vs. LeedsEverton struggle with pressureThe importance of Kalvin PhillipsChelsea vs. SpursWere Chelsea in control?Should they have won?Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount Segment 4 – FPL Review/Preview Gameweek 10 reviewPotential transfer plansCaptaincyRey’s current wildcard draft

Welcome back to another episode of Rebel FPL! Rey and I both had slight green arrows this week, but captaincy blanks (and missed chances) from our Manchester United transfers-in left us wondering what might have been. Before we get to this week’s episode, some quick housekeeping: at least one of us will be joining last week’s guest Glen Kightley on the Everything Arsenal show! We’re really looking forward to chatting again, so be sure to tune in tomorrow at 5pm GMT (London) time. As usual, in this episode, we cover our favorite clubs, the standout fixtures from the prior match week, and look ahead to what we want to do with our FPL teams. Enjoy! Segment 1 Liverpool flawless vs LeicesterReturn to form for FirminoJota Jota Jota Segment 2 Arsenal escaping with a drawArteta playing a dangerous game of public criticism of Pepe Segment 3 Spurs masterclass vs CityMan City creative issuesSouthampton vs WolvesWhy do Wolves play with the handbrake on? Segment 4 FPL plans for this weekDifferential captainsTop 5 players in the Premier League We’ll see you tomorrow on the Everything Arsenal Channel with Glen Kightley!

Boy do we have an episode for you! Today we were joined by a special guest, Mr. Glen Kightley (@glen_kightley), and our merry band of football junkies went on an absolute stream-of-consciousness binge through all manner of topics. A note on the late delivery of the show: we had attempted to do a livestream yesterday, which would both get the content out right away via YouTube, but also would allow us to post the recordings more quickly. As Glen humorously pointed out with respect to his beloved Arsenal: we aren’t the only ones experiencing technical difficulties these days. Ohhhhh DOISH! Anyway here’s a very brief rundown of what we covered, which we’ll try to update here later if you’re in the mood to read/skim instead: Arsenal’s issues and a potentially killer maverick move for Glen in this week’s fixture vs. LeedsUnited’s attack and further thoughts from Rey and Derek on their potential Martial movesLiverpool’s defense, their attack, JotaA deep dive into Manchester City and what we see going forward: Sterling, De Bruyne, Foden, and Ferran Torres pushing Mahrez aside?!Jamie Vardy and Leicester’s run of fixturesAston Villa’s even better runAnd given all this: we cover what this means for the next several weeks in FPL, not just this weekend Enjoy everyone! Special thanks again to Glen for joining us (twice!), and for being such a great sport about the technical issues we had with the stream.

Welcome back for episode 11 of Rebel FPL! It’s the international snooze break, and that means it’s time to talk bigger picture and really take a deep dive into the football. But first: some big news here at Rebel FPL HQ. Rey Quraishi joined us last week for episode 10 as our guest, and we’ve decided to make it a regular thing. Everyone please officially welcome Rey Quraishi as our new regular cohost of Rebel FPL! How do you give your new Arsenal-supporting cohost a proper welcome? Easy, wear an Arsenal sweatshirt: but not as a sign of allegiance to the Gunners. Nay, Derek donned Arsenal garb as a tribute to the once-vaunted defense that saved his FPL gameweek by allowing Ollie Watkins to bag a late brace. Joking aside, let’s get down to the nitty gritty content you all love so much: not much FPL today frankly, at least in terms of transfer strategy or actual management of our teams. Instead, we wanted to go in-depth on some of last week’s fixtures: the tactics, the performances, the whole nine yards. Arsenal wtf?Aston VillaLiverpool’s stellar opening 30 minutesManchester City’s performance and what it means going forwardChelseaManchester United It’s a free-flowing conversation in which we wanted to cover Leicester and maybe some FPL as well, but we decided to save that for week two of the International Bore. See you next week!

This week Derek was joined by a very special guest: fellow member of the Planet FPL community (and football tactics guru) Rey Quraishi! What a fun conversation this was! I must say it ran a little long, but I think it was worth it. We covered all manner of topics, including some deep dives into some of the key fixtures from this past weekend. We evaluate the tactics and performances of some of the most interesting teams and players: not only from a Fantasy Premier League perspective, but especially as football fans! But don’t worry: there’s plenty more discussion of the ongoing car crash that is this FPL season. Okay let’s be real: mostly just my FPL season. We also received a fantastic question from a listener on Twitter, @fplthomas8, that Rey and I really enjoyed answering: “What are your favorite footballing moments in history that don’t involve the team or country you support?” You can find Rey on YouTube as well, so be sure to check him out there, including his excellent video on the 4-2-3-1 formation here. Here’s the full rundown of episode 10: Segment 1 Liverpool vs. West HamDiogo Jota and Xherdan Shaqiri finally break West Ham down through the middleThoughts on Liverpool and West Ham going forwardWest Ham really missed Antonio (duh)Wolves vs. PalaceAit-Nouri’s debut restores width and balance to Wolves’ attackSemedo’s best performance yetOutlook for Wolves and Palace going forwardSheffield United vs. Man CityCity might be hitting their strideThe evolution of RodriThe importance of Laporte and DiasAre we overlooking Ferran Torres?Man United vs. ArsenalWhat’s wrong with United?Praise for Arteta and ArsenalWhen will Arsenal players make good FPL assets?Arsenal’s ideal formation and what it could mean for FPL Segment 2 Rey’s plans for FPL this weekTransfer plansStart Saint-Maximan or Brewster?Derek’s FPL plansDiogo Jota bandwagon full steam aheadStill one remaining transferMartial coming in for DCL?Brilliant listener question from @fplthomas8 on Twitter: “What are your favorite footballing moments in history that don’t involve the team or country you support? Segment 3 Remaining fixture reviewsBurnley vs. ChelseaVilla vs. SouthamptonNewcastle vs. EvertonLeeds vs. LeicesterSpurs vs. BrightonKey gameweek 8 fixturesPotential transfersCaptaincy

Boyz II Men references anyone? You’re welcome. Gameweek 6 wtf?! Ah well. Regression was bound to happen. Moving on, but first: Okay Seriously, Moving on: So, the actual episode. What did we cover? Pretty much freaking everything. Almost every bloody Premier League fixture from FPL Gameweek 6.Brighton vs. West BromBurnley vs. SpursSouthampton vs. EvertonWolves vs. NewcastleArsenal vs. LeicesterWest Ham vs. Man CityMan United vs. ChelseaLiverpool vs. Sheffield UnitedVilla vs. Leeds(We skipped Fulham vs. Palace, and maybe we shouldn’t have given we could be sleeping on Zaha and even Lookman.)Previews of this week’s fixtures:Man City vs. Sheffield UnitedWhat’s wrong with City?Have Sheffield United turned a corner?My growing suspicion that this will prove to be the best captaincy fixtureChelsea vs. BurnleyThis one sets up very well for the Chelsea fullbacks: whomever the heck they end up being.Havertz vs. Pulisic, and both of them vs. WernerI might captain Havertz again in this one because I’m insane.Liverpool vs. West HamVilla vs. SouthamptonThis could be the best match of the weekOr at least the most interestingNewcastle vs. EvertonMan United vs. ArsenalzzzzzzzSpurs vs. BrightonBrighton piss me offTarget their defense more than other more obvious “whipping boys”Leeds vs. LeicesterLeeds = wowLeicester = wtf (I don’t care if they managed to beat Arsenal: W. T. F.)Fulham vs. West Brom(Insert cringe gif here)This one could actually be a hilarious car crashTransfers I’m interested in making:In: Mane? KDB? Rashford? Werner? Chilwell/James?Out: Barnes, Charlie Taylor (impending price drop), Mat Ryan (hate goalkeeper transfers but I’m raging)Captaincy: Kane or bust? Son? Differential options: Sterling, KDB

Back after a longer hiatus than the international break would suggest, Derek reviews the events of game-weeks 4 and 5 (we keep it short re: the more dated week four), as we catch up on the all the craziness that is this Premier League season since our last episode. In today’s episode: Segment 1 Moves Derek has made and why. (Hint: more disasters, and yet the week strangely still went well.)Owning Kane/Son was a lucky mistake for gameweek 2…HOWEVER…Spurs have since proven they’ve made BIG changes, and if you sold on the injury news you were unbelievably unlucky.The Newcastle match, the tactical changes, and the emergence of Ndombele have made them incredible picks, and not merely beneficiaries of Southampton’s kamikaze defensive “tactics”.Robbo vs. TrentLamptey and Mat Ryan4.5 defenders in generalLeicester Segment 2 Chelsea vs. Palace / SouthamptonThe Palace fixture, along with West Brom (if they weren’t shambolic defensively that day), were perfect for the likes of Chilwell and Reece JamesThe Southampton fixture, on the other hand, was fantastic for the front three, as I expected.I wanted to keep Werner for this one, but protecting value was more important. I would’ve needed to sell and buy him back to avoid being 200k in the hole, even though I waited to bring him in until the West Brom match.In a season where it’s tough to trust your theories, it’s great to see one of them come off, even if you didn’t stick with it!Spurs vs. Manchester United / West HamKane vs. SonNdombeleBalance from the fullbacks and how Reguilón makes Son a better FPL assetEverton vs. BrightonCalvert-LewinJámes RodriguezLiverpool vs. Villa and the Merseyside DerbyThe Liverpool defense, which I loved right before this fixture lol, is probably not worth running from just yetSalah/Mané (I know, sigh)The Liverpool midfieldAston Villa’s attacking options look legit Segment 3 Looking ahead:Transfers: Kilman for Dier already with my 1 free transferPotential future transfers: Bale, Mané, Aguero, Werner, Rashford?Captaincy:Kane/SonSterlingMané/Salah (sigh)

Flying solo here today while Kevin tends to fatherly duties, but maybe we’re lucky we haven’t been able to pod the last couple weeks? What a car crash! Despite the mess, we both like how we’re set up going into gameweek 4, so today we review how we got here, and what we’re going to do next. Derek reviews his fun (and disastrous but somehow also okay) experiment with “aggressive hits”. Was it worth it to do this to save his wild card, protect team value (which is still hurting), and bring in players from the Manchester clubs? Despite some laughable results, I think I made some good decisions. Who knew! Next, he reviews some of the key matches from game week 3: What do we make of the performance from Manchester City?For that matter, what does it tell us about Leicester?Thoughts on West Ham and WolvesChelsea wtf?And finally, Liverpool are dope Then we look ahead to game week 4, captaincy choices, and what transfers Derek’s likely to make next. Will he play his wild card soon? Enjoy! Quick housekeeping note: we’re looking to finally get started with some YouTube livestreams Friday or Saturday! See you then!

We’re tied for last in our mini league after deciding to start a podcast, and that’s so FPL. And it’s awesome. And Derek’s microphone finally arrived! It’s been another banner week 1 in our Fantasy Premier League careers, and we review the carnage before we march on to Gameweek 2. In today’s episode we review what went wrong, what we could’ve done better, and what moves we’re making to recover from a rough week for two players who backed Sadio Mané with the armband in gameweek 1. A big question for any FPL manager after the first gameweek–or any gameweek for that matter–revolves around hindsight and evaluating decisions based on methodology rather than outcome. We discuss the very important distinction between what look like awful picks in retrospect, and ways to catch ourselves making picks that are poor from the outset. I highlight my Spurs picks as particularly regrettable given my thought process pre season, whereas Kevin discusses Michail Antonio and our Mané captaincy. We discuss our transfer strategy thus far, and what we’re likely to do in the ensuing gameweeks. Segment 2 – Match Reviews We dive right into Everton vs. Spurs after the breakLiverpool vs. LeedsChelsea vs. BrightonSouthampton vs. Crystal PalaceSheffield United vs. WolvesA quick jaunt through Leicester vs. West Brom, Fulham vs. Arsenal, and Newcastle vs. West Ham

Annnd we’re back with another stream-of-consciousness geyser re: this Fantasy Premier League preseason. Today we discuss our experiences with various team structures, blowing up the whole thing and trying a new structure, and watching transfer news make us second guess decisions on a daily basis. Finally, we unveil the makings of our first ever Rebel Watchlist! (It’s more trademarked, copyrighted, and patented than an iPhone). Here’s the rundown: Kevin’s latest draft and his thoughts on ChelseaDerek’s latest draft, which dovetails into latest discussion of team structure:Premium defense: Trent, Robbo, etc.Premium midfield: Two or more premium midsPremium forwards: At least two premium priced strikersDerek discusses how he’s really focused on maintaining a second premium striker slot, and why.He also attempts a draft full of cheap defenders to see just how heavy he can go with 8 attackers.Housekeeping note: we’re looking to do some YouTube (and blog) stuff here soon:Regular YouTube Livestreams on deadline days, or more likely Friday afternoons/nights before!Likely some regular videos as well, with the obvious benefits of posting our drafts to follow along with the audioBlog posts, complete with screenshots, to again offer an easier way to follow along with what we’re doingBrief captaincy discussionMore to come on the blog or on YouTube prior to deadlineSome of the more interesting callouts from our Rebel WatchlistKeita and Minamino: See prior episodes for discussions on potential changes to Liverpool’s setupMore cheap forward options than we thought, but are they enough to ditch some of the premium strikers?Obviously the blog will be the best place to keep an eye on our new watchlist, so we’ll have that up tomorrowAN ABSOLUTE RAPID FIRE RIP through the rest of our watchlistGoalkeepersDefendersMidfieldersForwards We’ll catch you this week on the blog and on YouTube before the deadline. FPL is almost here!

It’s a comprehensive scorched earth march across the Fantasy Premier League landscape today, as Derek runs this next leg solo while Kevin tends to his fatherly duties. Something about priorities? Whatever In episode two we cover player prices and team structure in more depth, making sense of one my many early draft tinkers, and a jaunt through some of the key clubs where most of us are expecting FPL points to flow from. We’re still playing catchup here, and we wanted to maintain as much of the preseason structure to the podcast as we could, so Derek attempts to semi-pretend he doesn’t yet have the fixtures as he covers a voice-exhausting level of topics: More thoughts on Aubameyang and his pricingA nod toward @WGTA_FPL‘s excellent work on “Talisman Theory” as it relates to AubameyangArsenal’s potential under ArtetaHow losing Dani Ceballos could hurt him (which of course has changed since recording)Thoughts on one of many initial draftsTrent and RobboA nod to @PlanetFPLPod set me straight post recording)Forwards are being overlookedManchester UnitedRashford vs. BrunoMuch like most of FPL, their players are too cheapManchester CitySterling and DeBruyne are cheapPremium Midfielder PanicSalahTactical Shift at Liverpool?The perils of baking in an early wildcardSouthampton, Che Adams, and more love for Planet FPLTaking lots of early gambles for team value