The 2024/25 season has produced some incredible matches and also some thrilling battles, including the one for the Premier League Golden Glove. In the competition to be crowned the Premier League's best goalkeeper, four potential winners are separated by just three clean sheets.
Nottingham Forest’s Matz Sels leads the way heading into the final three matches of campaign, with 13 clean sheets - one more than last year’s winner, Arsenal's David Raya, has kept this season.
Sels also stands three ahead of Everton and England No 1 Jordan Pickford plus Crystal Palace’s Dean Henderson, both of whom would need to shut out their opponents in their remaining three fixtures and hope that both Sels and Raya concede in one of theirs, to equal the Forest 'keeper's total.
Race for the 2024/25 Golden Glove
Goalkeeper Club Clean sheets
Matz Sels NFO 13
David Raya ARS 12
Dean Henderson CRY 10
Jordan Pickford EVE 10
Sels in pole position
Although Sels' challenge for the award has slowed since a 1-0 win against Manchester United in April - he has kept only one clean sheet in five matches since then - two of Forest's remaining fixtures are against teams in the bottom five for goals scored this season, Leicester City and West Ham United.
Indeed, Saturday's home match is against an already-relegated Leicester side who, prior to last weekend's 2-0 win over Southampton, had scored only five goals in their 15 Premier League matches this calendar year. The Foxes are the league’s second-lowest scorers with just 29 goals, only Southampton (25) have found the net fewer times.
If Sels keeps a clean sheet against Leicester and his closest rival Raya then concedes at Liverpool on Sunday, the Forest No 1 would be two ahead with only two matches left so while Raya could still match Sels’ tally, the Arsenal 'keeper would be unable to beat it.
Raya's tough task at Anfield
Raya visits a Liverpool team who have scored in every home Premier League match this season bar one - a 1-0 loss to Forest - and he has recorded only two clean sheets in his last seven Premier League appearances.
Arne Slot's newly-crowned champions also happen to boast the league’s most prolific attack with 81 goals, and although Arsenal possess the league’s meanest defence, with just 31 goals conceded, keeping out a rampant Reds side that hit five past Tottenham Hotspur in their last home match is a big ask.
In fact, the last time Liverpool failed to score against Arsenal in a Premier League match was back in 2015/16, when the Gunners' current manager Mikel Arteta was still playing. You have to delve even further back in the record books, to 2 September 2012, to find the last occasion Arsenal kept a top-flight clean sheet at Anfield.
Following a draining midweek match where Arsenal lost to Paris Saint-Germain to miss out on a place in the UEFA Champions League final, Raya and his side face an almighty test.
Should Sels shut out Leicester, and Raya concede at Anfield, the Forest 'keeper would take a giant step toward becoming only the second Belgian to win the Golden Glove after Thibaut Courtois in 2016/17. He would also become the first Forest player to win ANY of the Premier League’s three Golden awards.
Roll of honour
History shows it usually takes at least 16 clean sheets to win the Golden Glove, and it has never previously been won with fewer than 14 clean sheets.
If Sels keeps a clean sheet in all three of his remaining matches - Leicester, West Ham and Chelsea - he would match Raya’s winning total of 16 last season, itself a lower number than usual.
The finish line is now in sight and the next 270 minutes could yet see Sels etch his name into Premier League history to join an esteemed list of former Golden Glove winners.
Previous Golden Glove winners
|Season|Player|Club|Clean sheets|
|---|---|---|
|2004/05|Petr Cech|CHE|24|
|2005/06|Pepe Reina|LIV|20|
|2006/07|Pepe Reina|LIV|19|
|2007/08|Pepe Reina|LIV|18|
|2008/09|Edwin van der Sar|MUN|21|
|2009/10|Petr Cech|CHE|17|
|2010/11|Joe Hart|MCI|18|
|2011/12|Joe Hart|MCI|17|
|2012/13|Joe Hart|MCI|18|
|2013/14|Petr Cech|CHE|16|
|Wojciech Szczesny|ARS|16|
|2014/15|Joe Hart|MCI|14|
|2015/16|Petr Cech|ARS|16|
|2016/17|Thibaut Courtois|CHE|16|
|2017/18|David De Gea|MUN|18|
|2018/19|Alisson|LIV|21|
|2019/20|Ederson|MCI|16|
|2020/21|Ederson|MCI|19|
|2021/22|Alisson|LIV|20|
|Ederson|MCI|20|
|2022/23|David De Gea|MUN|17|
|2023/24|David Raya|ARS|16|