At the conclusion of the Premier League season numerous goalkeepers have stood out. Comparing goalkeepers’ clean sheet % with their xG against per 90, the clean sheet % is put into context so goalkeepers with a weaker defence can be analysed comparatively with goalkeepers that have a strong defensive system.

Alisson and Ederson have been fantastic this year, both topping the clean sheet tally at over 40%. However, when you take into consideration their xG against per 90, this could be relatively expected as they both have a solid defence ahead of them and the lowest xG against per 90 in the league. On the other hand, the real stand out keepers shown here are Pope and Dúbravka. Both keepers have relatively high xG against per 90 yet both post much higher clean sheet % figures than what this metric would suggest. Similarly, but not to the same extent, Vicente Guaita has put on a good performance this season relative to his xG against per 90.

Looking at the other side of the graph, Kepa and de Gea have both been disappointing this year. De Gea tallied the third smallest xG against per 90 this season yet recorded only the 7th highest clean sheet %. Furthermore, Kepa recorded a very similar xG against per 90 to Dean Henderson yet has nearly 20% less clean sheets – it is hardly surprising that Lampard has lost faith in the Spanish shot-stopper. Adrián’s stats here also do not look promising but it is difficult to analysis his season properly as he only started 9 games.

Henderson and Schmeichel have also performed well this season, both with clean sheet %s in the top five of all goalkeepers this season. This metric, as well as Henderson’s superior save %, is raising more questions of whether de Gea should retain his first-team place next season. To conclude, this analysis raises many questions, however, most prominently Dean Henderson and Nick Pope have excelled this season suggesting that Southgate may need to rethink his goalkeeping selection for the upcoming EURO 2021.