Premier League End of Season Leaders: Saves

With the Premier League season now finished, we are taking a look back at the leaders in the major statistical categories. Today, we are focusing on goalkeepers and the top 10 in the league for number of saves.

Now that the Premier League season is over, we are looking back at the leaders in the major statistical categories from the season. We first looked at goals, today, we focus on the goalkeepers and the top 10 for number of saves.

Being a goalkeeper isn't exactly the easiest job, especially for those in the top divisions. The expectations on them are high, and unfortunately the praise doesn't come too often unless they are making incredible saves game in game out, which isn't entirely realistic.

Those at the top of the league, like Ederson and Alisson, don't actually feature on many of these sorts of lists. Not because they aren't elite shot stoppers, which they definitely are, but because they have an elite defensive line in front of them so they don't end up having to do as much work during their games because the defenders can handle the attack.

This list features keepers from teams who finished lower down in the league, as these goalies have had more work to do.

Without further ado, let's take a look at the top goalkeepers in the Premier League this season for saves.

 

Illan Meslier (Leeds United) - 139

At 22 years of age, Illan Meslier is the youngest player on this list, as well as the youngest starting keeper in the league.

He is also one of the best talents. He has an ability years ahead of his age, often making saves that you'd only expect from the world's best.

Leeds' season didn't follow the same as last years, and they found themselves fighting for survival right up until the final day.

Meslier's best efforts did go rather unnoticed, though. Despite topping this list for saves, because of Leeds' struggles, he faced 215 shots on target during the season. This gave him one of the lowest save percentages in the league of 65.6%. 

He also conceded the most goals this season with 79, and the second most goals per 90 minutes with 2.10.

 

Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester City) - 125

Leicester were expected to have a much better season than the one they had. After winning the FA Cup to end the season prior and kicking off the year with a win in the Community Shield over Manchester City, many tipped them to challenge for top four.

Instead, they were uncapable of getting anything going the whole year and finished in eighth.

This is despite Kasper Schmeichel's best efforts. He comes second on this list, is 10th for overall save percentage with 71%, having faced 176 shots on target.

 

David De Gea (Manchester United) - 124

David De Gea is one of Manchester United's very few shinning lights from the season. He has consistently been one of their best players every season since he joined the Red Devil's.

Very similar to Schmeichel in the entry above, his best efforts were ruined by a shaky defence. He faced 177 shots on target, saving 124 to give him a 69.5% save percentage, putting him 12th in the league for that stat.

Notably, he finished second in the league for penalty save percentage. He faced six penalties, with three going. The other three he saved, meaning he finished joint top for most saved penalties. 

 

Jose Sa (Wolves) - 120

Jose Sa could be said to be one of the most impressive goalkeepers this season. After Nuno and number of players left Wolves, including keeper Rui Patricio, they were expected to struggle this term.

Instead, they carried on the ways that they have become accustom to from the last few seasons, and Jose Sa stepped in and did arguably a better job than Patricio ever did.

He saved 120 shots from 150 on target, which gave him a league best 79.3% save percentage. He also kept 11 clean sheets, which is joint sixth most in the league.

 

Nick Pope (Burnley) - 116

Burnley unfortunately fell short in their attempt to survive in the Prem and will now compete in the Championship next season.

Their goalkeeper, Nick Pope, had been one of their better players this season, as he had been for multiple seasons.

He finished with a 73.6% save percentage, which is fifth best in the league. He achieved that by making 116 saves from 159 shots on target.

However, Pope is likely to leave Burnley this summer, with multiple teams such as Newcastle and Southampton interested.

 

Jordan Pickford (Everton) - 114

Everton and England number one Jordan Pickford found himself with a lot of work to do this year. Everton's campaign was nothing short of highly disappointing as they found themselves hovering around the relegation zone for much of the year.

While he is a top-level keeper, his stats this year don't exactly reflect this fact. 114 saves gives him sixth place on this list, however his save percentage 65.9% puts him in 17th place on that list.

He also had the fifth worst goals against per 90 minutes with 1.66.

 

Lukasz Fabianski (West Ham) - 105

West Ham made a strong push for European Football this season. In the first part they were challenging in the top four and looked like they could finish there. However, they ended up dropping and finished with a place in next years Europa Conference League.

At 37 years old, Lukasz Fabianski is the second oldest keeper in the league. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't have what it takes to compete.

Now by no means is he one of the best. But he is a capable goalie in his own right. He finished with a 69.2% save percentage, saving 105 shots on target from 156 attempts. 

 

Tim Krul (Norwich City) - 101

Norwich were the first team relegated this season, dropping back down into the Championship where they will no doubt finish in a promotion spot next year to be back in the top flight the very next season.

Tim Krul has been Norwich's number one since he joined them 2018. This season has been his worst statistically of his Premier League career.

He finished the season with the second most goals conceded with 62, the third worst save percentage with 65.2%, and the fourth worst clean sheet percentage with 17.2% and only five clean sheets.

 

Robert Sanchez (Brighton) - 100

Robert Sanchez has proven himself to be a very capable keeper in the league. He broke through into the Brighton starting lineup early last year and hasn't looked back.

This campaign, he finished with the seventh best save percentage in the league with 72.1%. He also had the eighth best goals against per 90 minutes with 1.14, conceding 42 goals, the 10th least amount this season.

 

Hugo Lloris (Tottenham) - 95

Here is a goalkeeper from one of the top teams in the league. Tottenham managed to get past their North London rivals, Arsenal, late in the season to finish in the top four. A big contributor to that fact was their captain, Hugo Lloris.

Her has consistently been one of the league's best shot stoppers for years now. While this season wasn't his absolute best, it was still a very good year for him.

He finished ninth for save percentage with 71.4%, fourth for goals against per 90 minutes with 1.05, and third for clean sheet percentage with 42.1%.

At 35 years old, Spurs are looking at possible successors to Hugo. It has been reported that Spurs are moving on from Pierluigi Gollini and are bringing in Southampton's Fraser Forster.