De Gea, Lloris, Cech: Who has the most clean sheets in Premier League history?
With Manchester City and Liverpool currently involved in a back-and-forth tussle at the top of the Premier League table, it’s no surprise to see the first-choice goalkeepers for each side at the head of the competition’s clean sheet charts.
Liverpool’s Alisson leads the way with 20 clean sheets to his credit this term, while City’s Ederson sits just one behind in second place on 19.
Both Brazilan shot-stoppers are among the finest ‘keepers the Premier League has ever seen. However, in terms of clean sheets kept, the pair have quite some way to go to match the top performers of all time.
Recently, FourFourTwo ranked the top 20 goalkeepers with the most clean sheets in Premier League history.
The 64 clean sheets kept by Alisson during his four highly-successful years at Anfield aren’t enough to make the cut. However, Ederson’s numbers are sufficient to see him make the cut.
We’ve taken a look at the list in full below.
The 20 goalkeepers with the most clean sheets in Premier League history
20. Kasper Schmeichel (81 – Clubs: Manchester City, Leicester)
19. Paul Robinson (86 – Leeds, Tottenham, Blackburn, Burnley)
18. Ederson (89 – Manchester City)
17. Ben Foster (91 – Watford, Manchester United, Birmingham, West Brom)
16. Thomas Sorensen (107 – Sunderland, Aston Villa, Stoke)
15. Jussi Jaaskelainen (108 – Bolton, West Ham)
14. Shay Given (113 – Blackburn, Newcastle, Manchester City, Aston Villa, Stoke)
13. Hugo Lloris (117 – Tottenham)
12. Joe Hart (127 – Manchester City, Birmingham, West Ham, Burnley)
11. Peter Schmeichel (128 – Manchester United, Aston Villa, Manchester City)
10. David de Gea (129 – Manchester United)
7= Edwin van der Sar (132 – Fulham, Manchester United)
7= Tim Howard (132 – Manchester United, Everton)
7= Brad Friedel (132 – Liverpool, Blackburn, Aston Villa, Tottenham)
6. Pepe Reina (136 – Liverpool, Aston Villa)
5. Nigel Martyn (137 – Crystal Palace, Leeds, Everton)
4. David Seaman (141 – Arsenal, Manchester City)
3. Mark Schwarzer (151 – Middlesbrough, Fulham, Chelsea, Leicester)
2. David James (169 – Liverpool, Aston Villa, West Ham, Manchester City, Portsmouth)
1. Petr Cech (202 – Chelsea, Arsenal)
Chelsea icon Cech has to rank as one of the best buys in Premier League history. Costing the Stamford Bridge outfit a very reasonable £7 million in 2004, the giant shot-stopper went on to scoop up a host of domestic records during his time in west London.
Cech became the fastest goalkeeper to keep 50 and later 100 clean sheets, the first to shut his opponents out for more than 1,000 minutes and became, ultimately, the goalkeeper to have kept the most clean sheets for a single club (162).
That he then went on to post a further 40 clean sheets for Arsenal is a testament to his class. He remains the only goalkeeper in the history of the competition to have amassed more than 200 clean sheets.
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While he falls short of Cech in terms of clean sheets, second-placed James does own the record for the most Premier League appearances made by a ‘keeper (572). Regrettably, he’s also the shot-stopper who has conceded the most goals in the competition.
Many goalkeepers on this list have represented multiple Premier League clubs over their careers, but former Australian international Schwarzer is the only man to have kept 50 clean sheets for two different clubs – 92 with Middlesbrough, followed by 56 at Fulham.
In terms of goalkeepers who are still active in the English top-flight, Manchester United’s De Gea leads the way with 129 shut-outs in his Old Trafford career.
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Others who look set to find themselves higher up these rankings in years to come include Tottenham’s Lloris (13th), Ederson (18th) and Leicester’s Schmeichel (20th).
If Alisson continues his sparkling form for Liverpool, expect him to crack the top 20 (and beyond) in the future as well.
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