The duty of first-team goalkeeper is one of the most important, as your performance can define the outcome of the football fixture at hand more than any other playing position. It was an overlooked part of the starting eleven for some time, but with it being proven how important it is to have a reliable set of hands between the sticks, we've seen more recognition for goalkeepers, starting with the Premier League Golden Glove Award, which is handed to the player with the most clean sheets in England's top tier.
In terms of personal accolades, it used to only be the case that odds would be made available for Premier League Top Scorer, but with more goalkeepers being signed for hefty fees and more of a focus on the crucial nature of goalkeepers, a sports betting market has been opened on the 2019/20 Premier League Golden Glove Winner.
Brazilian goalkeepers Ederson and Alisson set to battle it out once again
A gulf in quality saw Manchester City and Liverpool standing head and shoulders above the rest of the Premier League. Although a single point on the final day of the season confirmed Man City's title, a whopping twenty-five point gap stood between second place Liverpool and third place Chelsea, and it's been the same situation for the number of clean sheets, with the only difference being the exact ordering of each goalkeeper.
Coming away with just one extra clean sheet, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker completed the term with twenty-one to his name, closely followed by Manchester City's Ederson Moraes with twenty, before a massive gap saw Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga and Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford contributing fourteen each. The closeness of Alisson and Ederson's eventual tally left bookmakers in a conundrum, but they've put the Manchester City man as favourite at 11/10, closely followed by the Liverpool shot-stopper at 6/4.
Joint-third most amount of clean sheets went to the first choice goalkeeper at Chelsea and Everton, leaving odds at 10/1 for Kepa Arrizabalaga or 33/1 for Jordan Pickford to achieve the Premier League Golden Glove next season. Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris is highly rated, and despite only keeping Spurs goalless over twelve games last season, he's priced as third favourite at 9/1. A lot of punters will probably get behind David De Gea, as even his poor tally for seven clean sheets over the 2018/19 Premier League season shouldn't put people off his surprisingly large 14/1 odds.
Golden Glove Odds
(Odds taken from Sky Bet)
- Ederson Moraes (Manchester City) - 11/10
- Alisson Becker (Liverpool) - 6/4
- Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur) - 9/1
- Kepa Arrizabalaga (Chelsea) - 10/1
- David De Gea (Manchester United) - 14/1
- Bernd Leno (Arsenal) - 16/1
- Rui Patricio (Wolves) - 22/1
- Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester City) - 28/1
- Jordan Pickford (Everton) - 33/1
- Wayne Hennessey (Crystal Palace) - 50/1
- Alex McCarthy (Southampton) - 66/1
- Martin Dubravka (Newcastle United) - 66/1
- Ben Foster (Watford) - 80/1
- Lukasz Fabianski (West Ham United) - 80/1
- Mat Ryan (Brighton & Hove Albion) - 80/1
- Asmir Begovic (Bournemouth) - 100/1
- Joe Hart (Burnley) - 100/1
- Jed Steer (Aston Villa) - 200/1
- Tim Krul (Norwich City) - 250/1
