Free Hit: An FPL (Fantasy Premier League) Podcast · Free Hit: An FPL Podcast

Ep. 32 - GW20 - Festive Fixture Recap

·48 min·3 clips

The hosts argue that FPL bonus points reward Trent over Salah in a way that does not match the eye test.

Chris and Jace start the first episode of 2025 by talking about New Year’s resolutions and, naturally, how little easier it gets to care about FPL. They dwell on the absurdity of the assistant manager chip and the way it keeps dragging the game into real-life conversations that sound strange when said out loud. The tone stays loose and a bit frustrated from there. They frame the show as a catch-up after several gameweeks away from the pod. Salah comes up first as the kind of captaincy choice that once felt like a real debate and now feels a lot less open. Jace points to Salah’s numbers and argues that fixtures may be getting overrated. Chris pushes back with the reality that some upcoming opponents are still a mess. Trent’s points are welcomed, but the question of whether he is really worth the price stays unresolved. Chelsea against Ipswich is the painful opposite side of that coin, with Jackson, Enzo, and Palmer all failing to deliver. The episode keeps circling back to how one bad team performance can wreck a seemingly sensible triple-up. They also talk about midfield reshaping and the likelihood that Odegaard does not survive the night in their teams. Transfer decisions stay live throughout, with no easy answer on what to do next. There is plenty of rank talk, but it never gets abstract. Every player discussion is tied to what a manager would actually do before the next deadline. The mood stays dry, slightly exasperated, and very familiar to anyone who has been burned by one-point returns. Even when they widen out to fixture logic and expected goal involvement, they keep snapping back to the practical fantasy decision. The episode ends up sounding like a debrief between two people who know the game too well to pretend it makes sense. That mix of annoyance, memory, and half-conviction is the point. It is not trying to solve FPL chaos so much as survive it long enough to reach the next gameweek.

As heard by us

A blunt new-year FPL recap that leans into the game's chaos.

Free Hit opens the new year in full FPL mode: GW20 captaincy doubt, chip talk, and the recurring question of whether the game deserves this much attention.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a GW20 reset after a messy New Year FPL stretch.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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