As we enter the standard midpoint of the Premier League marketing campaign in January, it’s value looking at how goalkeepers have been performing.
This summer time noticed the acquisitions of Edouard Mendy (Chelsea), Aaron Ramsdale (Sheffield United), Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa), and Alphonse Areola (Fulham).
There was additionally Leeds United placing their religion within the teen Illan Meslier and Newcastle United restoring religion in Karl Darlow for the primary time for the reason that 2016-17 marketing campaign within the Championship, so many goalkeepers have quite a bit to show.
Whereas sure talents similar to passing and cross-claiming are necessary, essentially the most important facet of a goalkeeper is the flexibility to cease a shot.
Utilizing knowledge offered by Statsbomb and FbRef, we will take a look at save proportion and Put up-Shot xG. To refresh if you’re not conversant in the save proportion metric, take the variety of photographs saved by a goalkeeper and divide it by the variety of photographs confronted.
For instance, if a goalkeeper has confronted 42 photographs in a season and saved 31, this goalkeeper has a save proportion of 0.738. Put up-Shot xG, outlined by our article revealed in June, is ‘What Put up-Shot Anticipated Objectives does is take the shot high quality (ie what can be an xG high-tariff probability) and mix it with what really occurred – the future of the shot’. With the definitions lined, let’s dive into the performances.
With an eight-match performed minimal as of January fifth, we will instantly see the elite, the nice, the struggling, and the plain ugly (sorry Mat Ryan).
Our elite shot-stoppers are Nick Pope (Burnley), Martinez (Aston Villa), Areola (Fulham), and Hugo Lloris. These goalkeepers stand out above and past in each save proportion and PSxG/90. Referencing the desk beneath, we will see their actual numbers:
Elite goalkeepers in 2020-21
With the above 4 creating the highest tier of shot-stopping as of this level within the season, we will transfer to our second tier, that includes Lukasz Fabianski (West Ham), Alisson Becker (Liverpool), Sam Johnstone (West Brom), Darlow (Newcastle United), Bernd Leno (Arsenal), Meslier (Leeds United), Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester Metropolis), and Alex McCarthy (Southampton).
For the sake of him being nearer to the second tier than the third, we’ll embody Manchester Metropolis’s Ederson. These goalkeepers are in a class of not main the league, however not being liable for membership struggles to the purpose the place the membership ought to contemplate searching for replacements.
Talking of gamers who may be costing the membership factors by way of shot-stopping, now we have our backside tier goalkeepers.
The seven goalkeepers who make this checklist are: Mendy (Chelsea), Vicente Guaita (Crystal Palace), David De Gea (Manchester United), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Ramsdale (Sheffield United), Rui Patricio (Wolves), and Ryan (Brighton). Their knowledge could be discovered within the desk beneath:
Keepers who’re costing factors
With Mendy being the ‘new face’ on the checklist, having arrived from France in the summertime, maybe he simply wants extra time to regulate to the tradition of England?
Vicente Guaita has been hailed as a saviour for Crystal Palace since he grew to become the primary, is age catching as much as him? David De Gea‘s long-time beginning job with Manchester United is wanting unsure as Dean Henderson awaits his flip to shine at Previous Trafford.
In the meantime, Henderson’s substitute Ramsdale is but to make an impression for the struggling Blades.
Ryan is seeing his minutes drop beneath Graham Potter at Brighton, and Patricio could also be exhibiting indicators that Diogo Jota’s departure at Wolves shouldn’t be the one motive they’re struggling.
Whereas Pickford struggles and his spot as England’s starter comes beneath extra strain, his largest competitor in Pope is shining at Burnley. Martinez is exhibiting Arsenal why he deserved an opportunity and is now serving to Villa push for European qualification.
Fabianski stays a goalkeeper who has not slowed down with age, whereas Meslier is proving he’s not too younger to be Bielsa’s first-choice goalkeeper at Leeds.
As we go into the second half of the Premier League season, will new faces arrive? Who will lose their beginning function? Who will earn the subsequent huge transfer?
In case you loved this text and wish to learn extra prefer it, you may observe Aidan Reagh on Twitter @ARDataAnalysis for articles, visuals, and different soccer analytics discussions. If you want to see how all the goalkeepers throughout Europe’s high 5 leagues are performing, you may view the interactive knowledge visualization right here.