Title-winning keepers ranked: Only Man Utd win the Premier League with a bad goalkeeper

Can Chelsea win the title with Robert Sanchez in the sticks? Our ranking of Premier League-winning goalkeepers suggests it is unlikely.

Chelsea are fancied by many to push Arsenal in the title race – but not if they don’t upgrade their goalie.

Looking back at the keepers who have won Premier League titles, it is clear you need a safe pair of hands to finish top in May. Unless you are Sir Alex Ferguson’s all-conquering Manchester United at the turn of the century.

Here is our entirely subjective ranking of the title-winning no.1s.

15) Mark Bosnich Bosnich, “a terrible professional”, according to Ferguson, is widely remembered as one of the worst signings of the great manager’s era.

Going from Peter Schmeichel to Bosnich represents one of the biggest downgrades of the Premier League era. But, highlighting their dominance at the time, United still won the title in 1999-2000 by 18 points with him in their goal.

14) Fabien Barthez Ferguson appeared to have found his replacement for Schmeichel in the France World Cup winner, with his first season in 2000-01 being brilliant fun capped off with a third consecutive title for United. Barthez was a huge hit – until he wasn’t.

His second season saw Barthez make more mistakes but Ferguson considered the risk to be worth the reward. In his third campaign, Fergie’s patience finally snapped and Barthez was bombed out after the defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League. Roy Carroll came in during the Premier League run in to get United over the line and Barthez was packed off back to Marseille.

13) Joe Hart The way he was cast aside by Pep Guardiola makes it too easy too forget how good Hart was for City in the early days under Abu Dhabi ownership.

The then undisputed England no.1 was a major factor in their first Premier League title under Roberto Mancini – the Agueeeeerrrrrooooo one – all the while being named in the PFA Team of the Year. Hart won another with Manuel Pellegrini in 2014-15, but his form was less impressive, prompting a seven-game spell on the bench.

12) David De Gea De Gea’s ranking here is a reflection on his influence on Ferguson’s last title-winning team, and not some of the brilliant seasons that followed.

In that 2012-13 side, De Gea spent much of the season still struggling to cement his place as no.1. If United had better alternatives than Anders Lindegaard, maybe he wouldn’t have, having spent much of the first half of the season on the bench. But De Gea seemed to grow – in physique and stature – as the second half of the season progressed and was eventually voted into the PFA Team of the Year.

11) Thibaut Courtois Two titles for Courtois but arguably his biggest achievement at Chelsea was usurping the no.2 on this list as the Blues’ no.1. Jose Mourinho recognised the need for Courtois to come in after three seasons on loan at Atletico Madrid – a big call since Petr Cech was in the PFA Team of the Year the season before.

The Belgian calmly filled Cech’s gloves, winning the title in his first season as Chelsea’s first choice, before claiming the Golden Glove along with his second title under Antonio Conte in 2016-17 prior to agitating for his Real Madrid move..

10) Jens Lehmann Mad Jens turned up in 2003 and Arsenal didn’t lose a Premier League game until his 50th appearance…

Lehmann was signed to replace David Seaman; a bigger contrast in styles you will struggle to find, but the German went on to play every minute of Arsenal’s Invincible season winning the Golden Glove as an integral part of Wenger’s history boys.

9) Tim Flowers Blackburn made Flowers the most expensive goalkeeper in Britain in November 1993 when they paid Southampton £2.4million for a stopper unfortunate to have peaked at the same time as David Seaman. Otherwise, Flowers would certainly have more than 11 caps to go with the Premier League title he won with Rovers in 1994-95, in which he played a key role as Kenny Dalglish’s no.1.

8) Alisson The Liverpool keeper missed a quarter of each of his two title-winning seasons through injury. Those absences only served to highlight how important he had become to the Reds.

When he won his first Premier League, Alisson was already widely recognised as the best in the world following his maiden campaign at Anfield. Despite the occasional run of ropey form – it happens to even the best – and flaky fitness, Alisson’s importance could not be understated. Some will only discover that when the time comes to replace him.

So why is he mid-table here? Because his influence on Liverpool’s title triumphs were not as emphatic as those ahead of him. Are we sure about that? Frankly, no…

7) Kasper Schmeichel The second Schmeichel to keep goal for a Premier League-winning team, Kasper didn’t record a clean sheet until the 10th game of the 2015-16 season after Claudio Ranieri resorted to bribing Leicester with pizzas if they tightened up.

It worked, because Schmeichel went on to keep 14 more, featuring some huge saves while playing every minute as the Foxes pulled off the biggest shock in Premier League history. If it is true that the Big Six can’t win the title without a good goalkeeper, Leicester City definitely can’t.

6) David Raya Raya’s real breakout season coincided with Arsenal’s with the Spain keeper playing a huge role to help get the Gunners finally over the line.

The ex-Brentford keeper struggled to win many over once he replaced Aaron Ramsdale but Raya justified Mikel Arteta’s decision to ‘expose himself’ and, after winning the title, is now regarded as the best goalkeeper in the Premier League.

5) David Seaman Arsenal’s best-ever goalkeeper (argue among yourselves) won two Premier League title medals in addition to a league championship two seasons before football was even invented in 1992. Seaman was a crucial presence in 1997-98, winning the first of two doubles with Arsene Wenger.

The second in 2001-02 saw Seaman miss more than half the campaign through injury but his absence gave Wenger an insight into how hard he would be to replace.

4) Ederson No keeper has won more Premier League medals than Ederson, Pep Guardiola’s first-choice through all of his six titles at the Etihad. The Brazilian was the perfect no.1 for City given his quality in possession, which Guardiola valued more than his shot-stopping ability.

That was fine while Ederson was almost equally good at both, but his cat-like qualities seemed to wane, prompting Pep to change tack entirely and buy a more traditional keeper for his final assault on the Premier League.

3) Edwin van der Sar By Ferguson’s admission, United were six years late to Van der Sar: “I just wish we’d got him when Peter Schmeichel decided to leave.”

Still, the ex-Ajax, Juventus and Fulham stopper was a flawless presence while keeping Fergie’s goal for six seasons, eventually retiring aged 40 having won four Premier League titles and playing a huge role in winning the Champions League for United in 2008.

2) Petr Cech Jamie Carragher rated Cech as the greatest Premier League keeper ever, and he may have a point. But we can’t bring ourselves to put the ex-Chelsea stopper above the big fella below…

That obviously doesn’t diminish what Cech achieved at Chelsea. He was Jose Mourinho’s no.1 through his first two titles at Stamford Bridge, with Cech conceding only 15 goals in 2004-05 – the fewest ever. Cech won four titles overall but was very much second choice for the fourth in 2014-15 when Mourinho returned but preferred Courtois.

1) Peter Schmeichel United’s best-ever keeper. Arguably the game’s greatest ever.

Between 1991 and 1999, Schmeichel filled United’s goal, if not by his physical bulk then by the sheer heft of his personality. The Great Dane was a force too intimidating for many strikers, with most wilting as they raced through with only Schmeichel to beat. With his long throw, he was the Premier League’s first playmaker in gloves, a major driving force through Ferguson’s first five Premier League titles, with a couple of doubles and a treble on top.