Preamble
30 December 2025 252 comments
rainy rainy
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Hello from the future.

It’s a long-awaited holiday in my world, one that began with a long day’s journey to tomorrow night. Cross the International Date Line and the phrase ‘at the time of writing’ is no longer a shared understanding but a cue to do quick maths in base-12.

Games are kicking off in the middle of the night here, only tomorrow, and anyway, at the time of writing, I’m roughly a working day ahead of FPL Towers.

Antipodean problems, you say, and I can hear the laughter from my Dead Zone compatriots already. Funny though, how thinking backwards around the clock lumbers my brain while the temporal challenge I’m used to, relative to FPL Towers, is a simple clockwise sum.

Let’s hope that’s a metaphor for the year to come: looking forward to the future, regardless of how difficult it might be to look back.

Plenty of us on here week on week, lamenting a hit that missed or a Bench Boost that wasn’t. It fits, then, that today’s kick-off unlocks our second set of chips. New inflection points to ponder as we cross that line on the calendar into a fresh new year, whenever that is, wherever you are in the world. A handful of second chances to rise or fall relative to the rest. Hours later, we’re into January and the winter transfer window opens, a fresh new crop of players decanted into the transfers screen.

And with all that comes the beginning of the end, Gameweek 19 commencing the back half of the season, warp speed towards Survival Sunday and an endless summer before it’s time to do it all again.

It’s getting late here, and before I hare off on some fresh new year Fantasy waffle, Zophar’s already reminded us not to take this Fantasy business too seriously. So, I’ll take a serious tack towards the personal and wish you and yours, from my shared desk space here at my far-flung family’s kitchen table, a very happy new year.


Introducing The Eye Test 2
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  1. Amartey Partey
    • 6 Years
    10 hours, 14 mins ago

    West Ham XI: Areola, Walker-Peters, Todibo, Kilman, Scarles, Magassa, Potts, Fernandes, Paqueta, Wilson, Bowen.
    Brighton XI: Verbruggen, Dunk, Van Hecke, Veltman, Kadioglu, Ayari, Milner, De Cuyper, Minteh, Gomez, Welbeck.

    Chelsea XI: Sanchez, Gusto, Fofana, Chalobah, Acheampong, Caicedo, Fernandez, Palmer, Estevao, Garnacho, Delap.
    Bournemouth XI: Petrovic, Truffert, Senesi, Hill, Jimenez, Scott, Brooks, Tavernier, Semenyo, Kluivert, Evanilson.

    Nottingham Forest XI: John Victor, Williams, Murillo, Milenkovic, Zinchenko, Anderson, Dominguez, Hudson-Odoi, Gibbs-White, Hutchinson, Jesus
    Everton XI: Pickford, Patterson, Tarkowski, O'Brien, Mykolenko, Garner, Iroegbunam, Dibling, Rohl, McNeil, Barry

    Burnley starting line-up: Dubravka, Walker, Ekdal, Laurent, Esteve, Pires, Ugochukwu, Florentino, Edwards, Broja, Tchaouna
    Newcastle starting line-up: Pope, Miley, Schar, Thiaw, Hall, Guimaraes, Tonali, Joelinton, Barnes, Wissa, Gordon

    1. chocolove
      • 15 Years
      10 hours, 13 mins ago

      John Victor - Dubravka for the rest of season babyyy

    2. ZAMUNDA
      • 9 Years
      10 hours, 13 mins ago

      Cheers

    3. Philosopher's Stones
      • 5 Years
      10 hours, 13 mins ago

      Have a feeling I should've started Dubravka instead of Verbruggen.

      1. Four Letter Wirtz
        • 10 Years
        10 hours, 10 mins ago

        Nah, it's Verbruggen's turn for another 11-pointer!

        1. Philosopher's Stones
          • 5 Years
          9 hours, 56 mins ago

          Will take a Bowen blank in that case!

    4. OneTeamInBristol
      • 2 Years
      10 hours, 12 mins ago

      Got Minteh coming in for Rice luckily

    5. F4L
      • 11 Years
      10 hours, 8 mins ago

      chelsea bournemouth could be a really fun watch, tavernier playing deeper again bit more attacking, cucurella out. should be like 4-5+ goals in it

      1. RamaJama
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 13 Years
        10 hours, 6 mins ago

        And Palmer back to his best with a hattie

  2. Philosopher's Stones
    • 5 Years
    10 hours, 14 mins ago

    Need a 3-3 madness in the West Ham - Brighton game with hatties from Bowen and Minteh

    1. Weak Become Heros
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 7 Years
      10 hours, 14 mins ago

      Good luck.

    2. Mother Farke
      • 1 Year
      10 hours, 12 mins ago

      West Ham desperate for a win tonight = space.

    3. FPL Blow-In
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 13 Years
      10 hours, 7 mins ago

      Same !

  3. Kaneyonero
    • 9 Years
    10 hours, 12 mins ago

    Look like I need to get rid of Sels, Dub to save me this gw? Lol

    1. Snoop Udogie Dogg
      • 5 Years
      10 hours, 9 mins ago

      same

    2. chocolove
      • 15 Years
      10 hours, 6 mins ago

      Weeks to late

      1. Mr. O'Connell
        • 13 Years
        9 hours, 56 mins ago

        Nah I want another 0.5 drop minimum before I consider selling

        1. chocolove
          • 15 Years
          9 hours, 55 mins ago

          Haha

  4. OneTeamInBristol
    • 2 Years
    10 hours, 12 mins ago

    Who burnt my Rice?

    1. Snoop Udogie Dogg
      • 5 Years
      10 hours, 8 mins ago

      he was left out and went bad

    2. chocolove
      • 15 Years
      10 hours, 8 mins ago

      Dan Burn

    3. AC/DC AFC
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 10 Years
      10 hours, 3 mins ago

      Cooked

      Overboilled

      But not fried

      Just needs to cool down a bit

  5. mattyb09
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    10 hours, 12 mins ago

    Already looking like a bad week for those taking hits...

  6. F4L
    • 11 Years
    10 hours, 11 mins ago

    i dont own this time but is the keane issue the same one that kept him out of the Bournemouth match?

  7. JabbaWookiee
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 11 Years
    10 hours, 9 mins ago

    No Keane!!

    1. chocolove
      • 15 Years
      10 hours, 8 mins ago

      Roy? Robbie?

      1. JabbaWookiee
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 11 Years
        9 hours, 55 mins ago

        Gene

  8. RamaJama
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 13 Years
    10 hours, 8 mins ago

    So far it looks like an ok week for FH

    1. Utopsis
      • 5 Years
      9 hours, 55 mins ago

      As long as Gab starts

  9. Give The Todd Some Love
    • 14 Years
    10 hours, 7 mins ago

    That Everton lineup is horrific

    1. chocolove
      • 15 Years
      10 hours, 6 mins ago

      Forest clean sheet on the card

      1. Utopsis
        • 5 Years
        9 hours, 55 mins ago

        John Victor ftw

  10. Capocannonieri
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    10 hours, 7 mins ago

    Well, the data said the Woltemade would be a ok pick vs Burnley.

    He could still sub at 60 minutes and score a brace, but do we expect him to job share with a health Wissa?

    Or can they play together? Seems Wissa was good supporting Toney at Brentford. Plus, Wissa, Toney, and Mbuemo was very stout.

    1. chocolove
      • 15 Years
      10 hours, 6 mins ago

      Avoid all NUFC attack like a plague. If Elanga come back and it's a nightmare

    2. riot
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 15 Years
      10 hours, 3 mins ago

      they can play together for flexibility but neither will be guaranteed starts

    3. Nightcrawler
      • 6 Years
      10 hours, 2 mins ago

      brentford didnt have any good left wingers. newcastle have two

      both wissa and woltemade are terrible picks going forward. they;ll either not start or get taken off early which impacts their potential for hauls massively

      1. x.jim.x
        • 11 Years
        10 hours, 1 min ago

        Two good LWs? They should try playing them sometimes

        1. Nightcrawler
          • 6 Years
          9 hours, 58 mins ago

          both gordon and barnes are good enough premier league wingers. theyre miles better than anything brentford had when wissa and toney were there, so we will hardly ever see wotlemade and wissa starting together

          1. x.jim.x
            • 11 Years
            9 hours, 54 mins ago

            They’re both insanely inconsistent. Gordon’s got 5 NPGs in the last 50 league games or so, and Barnes is a properly streaky highlight reel player.

            1. Nightcrawler
              • 6 Years
              9 hours, 47 mins ago

              still good players especially compared to brentford players. if youre asking for consistently good numbers season in season out then youre heading into great pl wingers category. id say they are definitely top 10 in their position in the league which is good

              1. x.jim.x
                • 11 Years
                9 hours, 44 mins ago

                You need to be a “great” winger to score more than 5 goals in 1.5 seasons, playing for a CL team?

    4. x.jim.x
      • 11 Years
      10 hours, 1 min ago

      Inject that 1-0 Burnley into my veins

  11. chocolove
    • 15 Years
    10 hours, 7 mins ago

    Come on Gordon Palmer!

  12. Capocannonieri
    • Fantasy Football Scout Member
    • 7 Years
    10 hours, 4 mins ago

    Well Damn for many FH teams...

    Pedro and Neto on the bench.

    Probably Palmer and Estevao for 60, then Neto and Pedro for 30.

    1. Punned It
        10 hours, 2 mins ago

        Plenty of time for five Palmer goals.

        1. Utopsis
          • 5 Years
          9 hours, 56 mins ago

          This. Trying to throw shade on Palmer starting lol

      • AC/DC AFC
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 10 Years
        10 hours, 2 mins ago

        Need to play the FH before Christmas

        If it's a double helping next season too?

      • chocolove
        • 15 Years
        10 hours, 1 min ago

        Delap?

      • Give The Todd Some Love
        • 14 Years
        9 hours, 55 mins ago

        No one picked JP did they?

    2. Sandy Ravage
      • 9 Years
      10 hours, 2 mins ago

      Dub come save me.

    3. One More Hit
      • 7 Years
      10 hours, 1 min ago

      I need Reece James to play, otherwise I think I've got whichever Leeds 3.8m defender substituting on for my FH.

      Thought FH19 was a good idea to avoid rotation problems others would experience! Have burned the first set of chips, got 4 points out of BB17 as well

      1. riot
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 15 Years
        9 hours, 58 mins ago

        nonplaying cheapies are never worth it on a fh seen it happen a ton of times before they're drafted in

        1. One More Hit
          • 7 Years
          9 hours, 51 mins ago

          I had Keane as my second sub, must have missed all the news that he was likely to miss out.

    4. Tonyawesome69
      • 7 Years
      10 hours ago

      Lacey set to start and replace injured Mount

      https://x.com/i/status/2006072031490740472

      1. x.jim.x
        • 11 Years
        9 hours, 59 mins ago

        Remember the name

        1. Utopsis
          • 5 Years
          9 hours, 57 mins ago

          WC active

        2. Tonyawesome69
          • 7 Years
          9 hours, 55 mins ago

          I knew you would be happy with that one

          1. x.jim.x
            • 11 Years
            9 hours, 54 mins ago

            He’s quality

      2. chocolove
        • 15 Years
        9 hours, 57 mins ago

        Wtf. RIP Cunha owner

        1. Give The Todd Some Love
          • 14 Years
          9 hours, 56 mins ago

          ?

          1. chocolove
            • 15 Years
            9 hours, 56 mins ago

            More toothless attack

            1. x.jim.x
              • 11 Years
              9 hours, 52 mins ago

              Lacey’s only 5 goal contributions behind Mount despite playing 46 fewer league games for us

              1. chocolove
                • 15 Years
                9 hours, 47 mins ago

                Doubt it. Nervy youngster

                1. x.jim.x
                  • 11 Years
                  9 hours, 31 mins ago

                  Doubt what? These are actual facts.

      3. Bavarian
        • 7 Years
        9 hours, 56 mins ago

        TC material

      4. F4L
        • 11 Years
        9 hours, 48 mins ago

        is he RW/RM? are united just going back to usual set up today. cunha sesko lacey front 3

    5. Mr. O'Connell
      • 13 Years
      9 hours, 59 mins ago

      Sels and Keane. Let's go 0-0 Forest Everton!!!

      1. chocolove
        • 15 Years
        9 hours, 56 mins ago

        Lol. You're Sels diehard fan

      2. patrickhatrick
        • 13 Years
        9 hours, 56 mins ago

        hate it when that happens

    6. lilmessipran
      • 13 Years
      9 hours, 57 mins ago

      Used 2 FTs last week to bring in Keane and Rice and both miss out this GW ofcourse.. need Richards to feature this week or I will end up with 10 playing

      1. S.Kuqi
        • 13 Years
        9 hours, 49 mins ago

        Prime fpl

    7. Sir Michael Taker
      • 11 Years
      9 hours, 56 mins ago

      State of that Everton team. Deary me

    8. Feanor
      • 16 Years
      9 hours, 56 mins ago

      Neto punt on FH already gone sideways, typical

      1. Feanor
        • 16 Years
        9 hours, 55 mins ago

        Garnacho is crap, no idea why they bother starting him

      2. patrickhatrick
        • 13 Years
        9 hours, 53 mins ago

        he’ll be on at 60, brace scored and 3bps… have faith!

        1. Feanor
          • 16 Years
          9 hours, 32 mins ago

          If he stays on the bench I get Thiago

    9. Ajax Hamsterdam
      • 11 Years
      9 hours, 55 mins ago

      Was planning on selling Thiago but think I will keep one more week for sure.

      1. Utopsis
        • 5 Years
        9 hours, 54 mins ago

        Why?

    10. Dean1980
      • 2 Years
      9 hours, 54 mins ago

      Wow my De Cuyper punt starts !

      1. chocolove
        • 15 Years
        9 hours, 54 mins ago

        Why not?

    11. Mother Farke
      • 1 Year
      9 hours, 54 mins ago

      Nathan Patterson wouldn't get a game for Elgin. CHO monster haul.

      1. chocolove
        • 15 Years
        9 hours, 53 mins ago

        0-0 best bet

    12. S.Kuqi
      • 13 Years
      9 hours, 52 mins ago

      Mid week gw, already major line up drama and only two pages.

      1. AC/DC AFC
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 10 Years
        9 hours, 51 mins ago

        Two articles tbf

    13. Snoop Udogie Dogg
      • 5 Years
      9 hours, 51 mins ago

      Rice pictured with Arsenal team, I'm gonna be annoyed if he starts now I benched him

      1. AC/DC AFC
        • Fantasy Football Scout Member
        • 10 Years
        9 hours, 50 mins ago

        He was always turning up with the squad

        That was reported too.

        Expect him out and Gabriel to start along with Timber

      2. F4L
        • 11 Years
        9 hours, 49 mins ago

        oh ok maybe its just a knock then

        1. Utopsis
          • 5 Years
          9 hours, 39 mins ago

          Good becuase I need him in gw20

      3. Gizzachance
        • 11 Years
        9 hours, 46 mins ago

        I took him out !

    14. The Bandit
      • 15 Years
      9 hours, 51 mins ago

      Rice arrives with the rest of the squad. But wearing different gear.

    15. fedolefan
      • 11 Years
      9 hours, 49 mins ago

      Can someone tell me if it is okay to pull up my panties? Been down for 50 mins now.

      1. Snoop Udogie Dogg
        • 5 Years
        9 hours, 49 mins ago

        yes it's updated now, pants up and 4 new chips

        1. chocolove
          • 15 Years
          9 hours, 48 mins ago

          Wowzah

        2. fedolefan
          • 11 Years
          9 hours, 47 mins ago

          Thank you!

      2. chocolove
        • 15 Years
        9 hours, 48 mins ago

        Party inside FPL tower. Hoold my beer

    16. Jordan.
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 15 Years
      9 hours, 49 mins ago

      UPDATED

      1. Bobby Digital
        • 8 Years
        9 hours, 48 mins ago

        Nice!

    17. FPL Scoop
      • Fantasy Football Scout Member
      • 8 Years
      9 hours, 48 mins ago

      Just got Keane in this week (for Burn) to fix a shambolic backline.

      Thaaat’s annoying!

    18. Qaiss
      • 10 Years
      9 hours, 46 mins ago

      I free-hit this week and I’ve been given all the chips again but it says free-hit unavailable

      Is this the same for anyone else?

      1. Qaiss
        • 10 Years
        9 hours, 46 mins ago

        Can’t free-hit in back to back weeks ?

        1. g40steve
          • 7 Years
          9 hours, 43 mins ago

          This

      2. Il Capitano
        • 5 Years
        9 hours, 46 mins ago

        Can't Free Hit in back to back GWs

    19. Tonyawesome69
      • 7 Years
      9 hours, 44 mins ago

      Moyes on Keane and Alcaraz:

      "I'm not going to tell you what the injuries are, but obviously they're both missing the game, so we’re disappointed because it adds to quite a big number at the moment [of players we have out]."

      https://x.com/i/status/2006075794540617738