Ben Foster has ranked his ten greatest goalkeepers in the history of the Premier League, and his order may be controversial to some football followers.
The 40-year-old had 15 years of experience as a top-flight shot-stopper in English football, with Manchester United, Watford, Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion.
Since leaving professional football behind with retirement earlier this year, Foster has been focusing on The Fozcast, where he revealed his list of the greatest goalkeepers of the Premier League era, and he admitted ‘I’m pretty sure there will be a few people who are not quite so happy’ with his selections.
Petr Cech holds the Premier League record for clean sheets, with 207, so it is perhaps no surprise that the former Chelsea and Arsenal goalkeeper was selected as the number one goalkeeper on Foster’s list.
But some eyebrows might be raised with the England international’s decision to put the new guard of shot-stoppers ahead of historic Premier League royalty like Peter Schmeichel and David Seaman.
Ben Foster used his podcast to rank his top ten goalkeepers in Premier League history
Petr Cech, the record holder for clean sheets, was selected as Foster’s number one pick
New guard keepers Alisson Becker and Ederson went ahead of some Premier League royalty
Liverpool’s Alisson Becker was selected as Foster’s second greatest Premier League goalkeeper of all time, ahead of Manchester City’s Ederson, despite the latter having 108 clean sheets to Alisson’s 84 so far.
With both Brazilian goalkeepers in the peak of their careers, they will hope to continue their promising starts in English football, which have already placed them above Denmark’s Peter Schmeichel. The Man United legend is fourth on Foster’s list.
Another Red Devil rounds off Foster’s top five, with Edwin van der Sar making the higher reaches for his colossal 136 clean sheets in 313 Premier League games, putting him equal seventh in the all-time list of clean sheets.
Arsenal’s David Seaman earned 145 clean sheets in his Premier League career, the fourth-most in the competition’s history, and falls sixth on Foster’s list, ahead of David De Gea in seventh and Joe Hart in eighth.
On arguing for the inclusion of the Spaniard, Foster said: ‘What David De Gea did for Man United was, when van der Sar left, and they tried various different options, David De Gea came in and basically filled van der Sar’s shoes, and it was so difficult to do. You want somebody that can do a job guarantee every week. David De Gea did that.’
Ninth-placed Shay Given played for four Premier League clubs, earning 116 clean sheets as a superb goalie for the likes of Newcastle and Man City, while ex-Liverpool shot-stopper Pepe Reina rounds off Foster’s top ten.
It leaves a few of the Premier League’s best acquirers of clean sheets off the ranking.
David James, who is second on the list of PL clean sheets with 172, does not get a look into Foster’s list, while Australia’s Mark Schwarzer also misses out despite earning over 150 clean sheets in his long career in the English top-flight.
Nigel Martyn, Tim Howard and Brad Friedel are other goalkeepers absent from Foster’s top 10 list, despite picking up over 130 clean sheets each during their Premier League careers.
David James missed out on the list despite having the second highest number of clean sheets
Foster felt that the later years of Hugo Lloris’s Premier League career had cost him a place
Foster also spoke about other potential options who missed out, noting: ‘Hugo Lloris will not make it into the top ten list because I think there’s much better selections ahead of him.
‘I think his last three or four years in the Premier League have probably soured a lot of people’s opinions of him. When he first came to the Premier League, he was absolutely ripping it up.’
Becker, who has been at Liverpool since 2018, and Ederson, who joined Man City the previous year, have more opportunities to try and secure clean sheets to get into the top 10 list.
Ederson is just 22 clean sheets away from 10th-placed Brad Friedel, with Man City next in Premier League action away to Everton on December 27.
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