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The Premier League has been graced by many world-class players across positions over the years.
In football, attackers generally garner most of the spotlight due to their exploits up front. However, there has been an increased emphasis on quality defenders and goalkeepers recently. That's because while goals win matches, a good rearguard and a quality goalkeeper helps win titles and championships.
The Premier League has had several fine shotstoppers who have played key roles in title-winning teams by pulling off clutch saves and keeping clean sheets. On that note, here's a look at the ten goalkeepers with the most clean sheets in Premier League history.
Note: All stats are as per premierleague.com.
#10 Peter Schmeichel - 128
Peter Schmeichel is one of the most successful goalkeepers in the history of the Premier League.
The five-time Premier League winner made over 300 appearances in the competition with three different clubs, keeping over 100 clean sheets. Unsurprisingly, most of these shutouts came during his hugely successful seven-season stint with Manchester United in the 90s.
The continental treble and Euro' 92 winner is the first goalkeeper in Premier League history to score a goal. Despite Schmeichel's effort, Aston Villa lost that game.
Schmeichel kept his last Premier League clean sheet during his only season at Manchester City in 2002-03.
#9 Edwin van der Sar - 132
Edwin van der Sar is another legendary goalkeeper to have graced the Premier League.
The four-time Premier League winner played over 300 Premier League games with two different clubs. Van der Sar racked up over 100 clean sheets in the competition for Manchester United, with whom he won all his four league titles.
During his six-season stint at Old Trafford, the lanky Dutchman kept a Premier League-record 14 consecutive clean sheets. It's a record that still stands to this day.
Van der Sar kept his final Premier League clean sheet against Everton in United's triumphant 2010-11 campaign.
#8 Tim Howard - 132
Tim Howard is one of the best foreign goalkeepers to have played in the Premier League. He played almost 400 Premier League games for two different clubs during his 13-season stint in the competition.
The retired American international kept over 100 clean sheets in the competition during his decade-long stint at Everton. He kept at least ten clean sheets in eight seasons during this period, with his best of 17 coming in the 2008-09 campaign.
Although he never won the Premier League, Howard kept his final clean sheet in the competition against Norwich City on the final day of the 2015-16 season.
#7 Brad Friedel - 132
Brad Friedel is another legendary foreign goalkeeper who graced the Premier League. Like Van der Sar and Howard, Friedel also kept exactly 132 clean sheets in the competition.
During his successful nearly two-decade-long stint in the competition, Friedel played exactly 450 games for four different clubs. He is one of the few goalkeepers to have kept a clean sheet in the first three decades of the Premier League.
Friedel is one of a handful of goalscoring goalkeepers in Premier League history. Unfortunately, moments after his equalizing goal in a 2003-04 game against Charlton Athletic, Blackburn Rovers conceded an injury-time winner to lose a five-goal thriller.
The American's final Premier League clean sheet came for Tottenham Hotspur in the 2011-12 season.
#6 Pepe Reina - 136
Pepe Reina had a successful near decade-long stint in the Premier League. During his first stint with Liverpool in the late 2000s and early 2010s, Reina kept 134 clean sheets in nearly 300 league games.
Six years after his first Premier League stint ended, the 39-year-old returned for a season-long spell with Aston Villa in 2018-19. Playing 12 games that season, the veteran Spaniard added two more clean sheets to his tally in the competition.
During his eight-season stint with Liverpool, Reina kept at least 12 Premier League clean sheets in each campaign. Unfortunately, he never won the competition, despite managing 20 clean sheets in a Premier League season twice.
#5 Nigel Martyn - 137
Nigel Martyn is one of the most successful goalkeepers in Premier League history. The 55-year-old played 372 games in the competition for three different teams.
Martyn kept at least ten clean sheets in nine of his 11 seasons in the English top flight. He kept most of his clean sheets in the competition while with Leeds United, for whom he played in six seasons.
The Englishman kept his last Premier League clean sheet for Everton against Arsenal in the 2005-06 season.
#4 David Seaman - 141
David Seaman is an Arsenal and Premier League legend. The 58-year-old spent 11 of his 12 seasons in the competition with the Gunners.
Seaman kept over 140 clean sheets in nearly 350 games in the Premier League. The three-time Premier League winner was a consistent performer in the competition, keeping at least ten clean sheets in seven consecutive campaigns.
Seaman registered a career-best 20 clean sheets in his second Premier League campaign in 1993-94. He kept his last shutout in the competition for Manchester City in 2003-04.
#3 Mark Schwarzer - 151
Mark Schwarzer is one of the greatest goalkeepers to have played in the Premier League.
The former Australian international played over 500 games in the competition for four different clubs during a career spanning almost two decades. Schwarzer is one of only three custodians with at least 150 clean sheets in the competition.
Although he was in Leicester City's 2015-16 title-winning squad, he did not receive a winner's medal, as he made no appearances that season.
#2 David James - 169
David James is one of the most successful goalkeepers to have graced the Premier League.
During a career spanning nearly two decades, James made over 550 appearances in the competition for five different clubs. His most successful stint in the Premier League was with Liverpool, with whom he played for seven seasons in the 90s.
James kept his last Premier League cleansheet for Portsmouth against Wigan in the 2009-10 season.
#1 Petr Cech - 202
Petr Cech is arguably the best goalkeeper to have played in the Premier League. He is the only custodian in the competition's history to keep over 200 clean sheets.
Cech made his name as a world-class custodian during a hugely successful 11-season stint with Chelsea. He enjoyed a blistering debut campaign, keeping a record 24 clean sheets to power the Blues to consecutive Premier League titles.
The four-time Premier League winner kept at least ten clean sheets in all but one of his 11 campaigns in the competition with the Blues.
After leaving Chelsea in the summer of 2015, Cech enjoyed a late swansong with Arsenal. He recorded his landmark 200th Premier League clean sheet in the 2017-18 season. His last clean sheet in the competition came a few months later against Watford.
