Who is the best Premier League goalkeeper ever?
Published:
We’ve chosen the top four – now it’s up to you to decide
The time has come. Here at Coral we’re narrowing down thebest players by position in Premier League history and we need your helpdeciding.
We’ll be choosing the best keepers, defenders, midfieldersand strikers and you’ll have the final say in who we crown as the best.
We start with goalkeepers, who are widely known to have abit of a screw loose in the footballing world. Who else would choose a careerthat involved repeatedly launching yourself across a muddy goal and diving atpeople’s feet?
We’ve picked our four contenders for the best of all timeand when it came to making our selections we wanted to pick not only those withthe most talent, but also those who showcased it for a sustained period of timein successful teams.
Honourable mentions go out to stalwarts such as MarkSchwarzer, Shay Given and Brad Friedel, but a lack of silverwareruled them out of contention. In a similar vein, Ederson and Alisson haveimpressed since arriving on these shores but are perhaps still a few years awayfrom being part of the conversation.
With three Premier League titles between them, David DeGea and Joe Hart could consider themselves unfortunate to miss out.But they weren’t quite at the level of our final four and now it’s time for youto help us decide who’s the best of the lot…
PETER SCHMEICHEL
Manchester United, Aston Villa, Manchester City
5 Premier League titles
An obvious place to start, really. Schmeichel was more thana goalkeeper. He was a man mountain, a fearless leader and he wasn’t afraid todish out verbal abuse, whether it was to the opposition or his own team-mates.
Best known for his eight-year stint at Manchester United,Schmeichel remains the only goalkeeper in history to have won the PremierLeague Player of the Year award. He’s also been crowned the world’s bestgoalkeeper on two occasions and was instrumental in Denmark’s remarkableEuropean Championship success in 1992.
Despite spending a year at rivals Manchester City,Schmeichel remains an icon at Old Trafford having captained them to ChampionsLeague and treble glory in his final match for the club. He’s the only keeperin our final four with a Premier League goal to his name and he also boasts themost league titles on our list.
Schmeichel played more than 300 games in the English topflight and despite his size he was known for his quick reflexes, with hisfamous ‘star jump’ technique believed to be developed from his experienceplaying handball.
DAVID SEAMAN
Arsenal, Manchester City
2 Premier League titles
Perhaps best known for his iconic ponytail and moustachecombination, Seaman spent 13 years in goal for Arsenal and his performancesearned him 75 caps as first-choice stopper for England.
Seaman was a pivotal figure in Arsene Wenger’srevitalisation of the club following his arrival in 1996, helping them to theleague and FA Cup double in both the 1997/98 and 2001/02 campaigns.
Great goalkeepers are often defined by great moments andSeaman pulled off one of the greatest saves in history when he came fromnowhere to deny Sheffield United’s Paul Peschisolido in the 2003 FA Cupsemi-final. Schmeichel described it as the best save he’d ever seen but it wasalmost routine for Seaman, who was also adept at saving penalties.
With 140 clean sheets in just under 350 Premier Leaguegames, Seaman is undoubtedly among the best keepers England has ever seen,while his haul of silverware, including four FA Cup wins, means he’s not farbehind Schmeichel and Petr Cech as the most decorated in our list.
EDWIN VAN DERSAR
Fulham,Manchester United
4 Premier League titles
Following Schmeichel’s departure from United, Sir AlexFerguson tried desperately to replace him, with the likes of Fabian Barthez,Roy Carroll and Tim Howard deputising well but ultimately failing to fill thehuge void.
But United finally got their man when they snapped up VanDer Sar from Fulham in 2005. Despite being almost 35 when he moved to OldTrafford, the Dutchman still managed six seasons as first-choice keeper atUnited, winning four league titles and one Champions League in the process.
Van Der Sar was the backbone of United’s best side sincetheir treble winners and he appeared in the PFA Team of the Year three times.Like Schmeichel before him, he used his formidable size and reach to pull offremarkable saves and pluck crosses out of the air.
United have been blessed with top keepers in recent years,with De Gea among the best in the world currently, and Ferguson made it clearthat Van Der Sar was his best since Schmeichel. Unlike his Danish predecessor,whose best years came earlier in his career, Van Der Sar aged like a fine wine,playing into his forties and securing a league title and a Champions Leaguerunners-up medal in his final season.
PETR CECH
Chelsea, Arsenal
4 Premier League titles
How could we not include Cech? The most clean sheets inPremier League history with 202, he was pivotal in Chelsea’s dominance underJose Mourinho and he continued to excel, enjoying 15 seasons in England’s topflight before retiring at the end of last season.
Cech’s won an incredible four Premier League titles, as wellas four FA Cups and a Champions League. A nasty head injury threatened to endhis career in 2006 but he recovered and he became synonymous with hisprotective scrum cap.
The Czech was known for his agility and reflexes, as well ashis penalty-saving abilities, having saved crucial spot-kicks in the 2010 FACup final and the 2012 Champions League final.
Cech won the Premier League Golden Glove four times and hewas twice named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year. He’s now back atChelsea as their technical and performance advisor, while also enjoying apost-football career as an ice hockey player with Guildford Phoenix – is thereanything he can’t do?
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
