This article is part of our Sweeping the Floor series.
TOP FLOOR PLAYERS
Thirty three players scored at least 8.00 floor points (fantasy points minus goals, assists, cards and clean sheets) on DraftKings in Gameweek 1, with that number increasing to 36 this past weekend. One interesting (at least I thought it was interesting) note is that of the nine highest-scoring floor players, only three -- Burnley's Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Tottenham's Kieran Trippier and Liverpool's James Milenr -- took at least one set piece. That isn't to say that set pieces weren't important, as the next 10 highest floor scorers did get at least one dead-ball opportunity.
Gudmunsson, whose 14.75 floor points were the highest in Gameweek 2, and Trippier, the second-highest floor scorer at 14.00, are names we expect to see near the top of a floor list, and hindsight makes us think that's it's totally reasonable that Sergio Aguero (14.00) and Gabriel Jesus (13.50) could reach high totals almost solely from shots and shots on goal against a heavily overmatched Huddersfield side. Throw in Benjamin Mendy's 13.50 thanks, in part, to his 12 crosses, and we're unsurprisingly left with lots of Man City.
That doesn't mean we were without surprises, as Burnley's Matthew Lowton tied Mendy and Jesus with a stat line that included eight crosses and a gameweek-high six tackles won. Lowton's high tackle total against Watford made many -- including my podcast co-host Jordan Cooper -- claim that the Opta scorers must have been extra aggressive on awarding tackles won. However, the opposite was
TOP FLOOR PLAYERS
Thirty three players scored at least 8.00 floor points (fantasy points minus goals, assists, cards and clean sheets) on DraftKings in Gameweek 1, with that number increasing to 36 this past weekend. One interesting (at least I thought it was interesting) note is that of the nine highest-scoring floor players, only three -- Burnley's Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Tottenham's Kieran Trippier and Liverpool's James Milenr -- took at least one set piece. That isn't to say that set pieces weren't important, as the next 10 highest floor scorers did get at least one dead-ball opportunity.
Gudmunsson, whose 14.75 floor points were the highest in Gameweek 2, and Trippier, the second-highest floor scorer at 14.00, are names we expect to see near the top of a floor list, and hindsight makes us think that's it's totally reasonable that Sergio Aguero (14.00) and Gabriel Jesus (13.50) could reach high totals almost solely from shots and shots on goal against a heavily overmatched Huddersfield side. Throw in Benjamin Mendy's 13.50 thanks, in part, to his 12 crosses, and we're unsurprisingly left with lots of Man City.
That doesn't mean we were without surprises, as Burnley's Matthew Lowton tied Mendy and Jesus with a stat line that included eight crosses and a gameweek-high six tackles won. Lowton's high tackle total against Watford made many -- including my podcast co-host Jordan Cooper -- claim that the Opta scorers must have been extra aggressive on awarding tackles won. However, the opposite was true, with players winning 62 fewer tackles, including 49 fewer by starters. Joining Lowton on the surprise list was Bournemouth's David Brooks, who reached 12.75 thanks to five shots, including two on goal, four fouls drawn, one cross and one tackle won. Just like last week, here's the list of players with at least 8.00 floor points:
FANTASY POINTS BY STATISTICAL CATEGORY
Among the week-to-week changes, there was an 8.25-point drop in crosses and a 21.50-point drop in interceptions. The tackles decline was made up a little bit by a 19-point increase in fouls drawn and six-point increase in shots, but the biggest difference between Gameweeks 1 and 2 had nothing to do with floor points, as there were eight-more goals scored, accounting for an 80-point swing.
Goals were a big difference overall, with five of the top nine floor scorers finding the back of the net, including Aguero's hat trick on nine shots. And as a result, goals were by far the highest source of fantasy points in Gameweek 2, with crosses and shots close behind.
Oh, and for everyone who thought there were many more tackles won this past weekend, they trailed fouls drawn by a margin of almost 50:
FANTASY POINTS BY TEAM
Fulham led Gameweek 1 in team floor points, but they almost flipped completely in Gameweek 2, not only finishing with the second-fewest floor points but their opponent, Tottenham, finished with the most. Interestingly, the two highest-scoring teams -- Tottenham and Manchester City -- combined to drawn only nine fouls, but maybe that's because they were too busy blowing by Fulham and Huddersfield defenders while firing off a combined 57 shots, including 25 on goal, while also sending in 51 crosses.
