Jordan Pickford (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Jordan Pickford (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
View Image
In an era where everyone is a football expert, some clueless clowns will tell you that England number one Jordan Pickford only plays well for his country and not for Everton.
Of course those who actually follow the Blues know the truth is very different. Last week, Seamus Coleman, the long-serving captain who Frank Lampard declared was 'the best man he ever met' and who was at Everton for some 17-and-a-half years, admitted that the club would be in the Championship now if it wasn’t for Pickford’s heroics.
Indeed, serial winner Lampard, who collected a treasure trove of trophies during his own playing career at Stamford Bridge, proclaimed Pickford’s save to deny Cesar Azpilicueta in the 1-0 win over Chelsea at Goodison Park on May 1, 2022, as the best from any keeper throughout the entire Premier League era.
Get YOUR Everton FC Newsletter
Get the best Everton FC news and analysis straight to your Inbox courtesy of the Echo!
To get it, it's a quick and easy one-two:
Head THIS WAY
Enter your email and hit Subscribe.
It was certainly spectacular enough to win Premier League Save of the Season for 2021/22 and the former Sunderland man won the prize again last season after he pushed Sandro Tonali’s stoppage time volley onto the crossbar in the 3-2 victory over old foes Newcastle United at St James’ Park.
Fresh from breaking England’s all-time World Cup appearance record over the summer, the 32-year-old has taken his impressive form into the new campaign.
Tipping Eddie Nketiah’s shot for Crystal Palace onto the post in Everton’s 2-0 success on the opening day earned Pickford a fifth Premier League Save of the Month gong ahead of the trip to Tottenham Hotspur.
This corner of the capital has not been a happy hunting ground for either the player individually or the Blues collectively though and in nine previous away games at Spurs with Everton, fans had never witness him keeping a clean sheet as his only shut out came in the second of two behind closed doors fixtures there in 2020.
After shipping four on his first visit (at Wembley) on January 13, 2018, there was a 5-0 shellacking under Lampard on March 7, 2022, and another 4-0 on August 24, 2024, when he gifted Son Heung-min Spurs’ second goal after a loose first touch on the wet surface when receiving a back pass from James Tarkowki.
Even on Everton’s previous visit this year in the final game of last season on May 24, Pickford looked jittery, making a hash of what should have been an easy take from Djed Spence early in the second half having been left annoyed by conceding yet another goal from a set-piece before he’d had a save of note to make.
While he had to stay alert at all times on Saturday evening, especially when Roberto De Zerbi’s side were launching repeated waves of attacks early in the first half, such was the hosts’ inability to break through, when Mateus Fernandes finally had their first shot on target in the second half – an easy take for Pickford that went straight into his arms – it was met by ironic cheers from their fans.
Indeed, Pickford’s biggest test of the night came after he’d given the ball away himself with a poor kick out on his weaker right foot, but he redeemed himself with an athletic stop down low to his left to turn substitute Lucas Bergvall’s shot around the post for a corner.
It’s to be hoped that Pickford – who has now played 149 consecutive Premier League games for Everton – is fit to continue though as there have been a few warning signs in recent times that he could be carrying some kind of knock.
Some at Hill Dickinson Stadium observed that he appeared to be moving gingerly at times against Manchester United, but fortunately he was still able to sprint over to the corner flag in the opposition half to join his team-mates in the celebrations of Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ last-gasp equaliser.
At Spurs, Braiden Graham was photographed arriving with Malik Olayiwola and his fellow teenager’s kit was pictured hanging on the peg next to the Northern Ireland player’s one in the away dressing room.
But while Graham was named among the substitutes, midfielder Olayiwola was not with a third goalkeeper Tom King joining Mark Travers on the bench. Also, Pickford’s Republic of Ireland international understudy could be spotted from the press box undergoing a prolonged in-game warm-up along the touchline.
Paucity of numbers in other positions with a squad of just one striker, one right-back and one left-back leaves Everton just a potential injury away from a crisis elsewhere but such is Pickford’s quality any absence from a star who hasn’t been missing since a chest injury over five-and-a-half years ago could also prove disastrous.
The shut-out at Spurs was of course a landmark moment for him as he became only the 19th goalkeeper in 35 seasons of the Premier League to reach a century of clean sheets in the competition.
Brazil international Alisson Becker at neighbours Liverpool (five ahead of him) is the only other active player on the list. Other than his first four with Sunderland, the rest on Pickford’s list have all come with Everton.
The only other keeper to achieve the feat with the Blues was Tim Howard who kept 116 of his 132 Premier League clean sheets during his decade-long stint at Goodison Park. Nigel Martyn had already gone ton up before he kept the last 31 of his 137 Premier League clean sheets while with Everton.
Neville Southall, the greatest of them all, had 62 Premier League clean sheets with the Blues but having had a career that bridged the switch from the old First Division, he is credited with a record 197 league clean sheets in total for the club. There is another target for Pickford to chase – here’s to the next one hundred.