Football writer Adrian Clarke takes a closer look at the players vying to win the Coca-Cola Golden Golden Glove award, which is given to the Premier League player/s with the most clean sheets.
The Coca-Cola Premier League Golden Glove is a prize awarded to the goalkeeper who keeps the highest number of clean sheets in a season.
The inaugural award went to Chelsea’s Petr Cech at the end of the 2004/05 campaign, and his 24 shutouts in that title-winning season remains a top-flight record.
Cech and Joe Hart have won four Golden Gloves each, with fellow legends Ederson and Pepe Reina claiming the prize three times apiece.
Arsenal’s David Raya is setting the pace this time around with 13 clean sheets banked already; the same tally he managed in the entirety of 2024/25 when he shared the award with Nottingham Forest ‘keeper Matz Sels.
Chasing a third successive Golden Glove – a feat managed by just three players since the awards’ inception - Raya has a chance to etch his name into goalkeeping folklore in the coming weeks.
Raya, along with Manchester City’s Gianluigi Donnarumma, have pulled away from the chasing pack in recent weeks, collecting clean sheets on a regular basis.
Six of the Italian’s 10 shutouts for City have come in the last 12 matches, while his Arsenal counterpart has six in his last 13.
It’s a similar story with those in the group behind, Dean Henderson, Jordan Pickford and Robin Roefs conceding in 18 of their last 21 combined appearances.
So right now, it feels like a two-horse race.
Most clean sheets last five PL matches
| Player | Clean sheets |
| David Raya | 3 |
|---|---|
| Gianluigi Donnarumma | 2 |
| Senne Lammens | 2 |
| Matz Sels | 2 |
| Emiliano Martinez | 2 |
How are the Golden Glove Contenders performing?
With 10 of Arsenal’s remaining 12 matches against sides currently outside of the top seven, Raya has a wonderful opportunity to rack up more clean sheets.
One target the Spanish stopper may initially have in mind is usurping the 16 shutouts he produced in 2023/24.
Arsenal’s No 1 has been the least busy Premier League goalkeeper by far this season, making just 37 saves. City’s Donnarumma has had to make 54 saves by way of comparison.
Most clean sheets last five PL matches and total for 25/26
| Player | Clean sheets | Total |
| David Raya | 3 | 13 |
|---|---|---|
| Gianluigi Donnarumma | 2 | 10 |
| Emiliano Martinez | 2 | 6 |
| Robert Sanchez | 1 | 9 |
| Jordan Pickford | 1 | 9 |
| Dean Henderson | 1 | 9 |
| Robin Roefs | 1 | 8 |
Scroll across on mobile to see the full table
Interestingly though, according to Opta’s statistics Raya has conceded 3.1 more goals than the Expected Goals on Target (xGOT) metric suggests he should have done.
All the other goalkeepers who have amassed eight clean sheets or more to feature in the top six, have prevented more goals than expected.
Seven of the top 10 listed at the top of this piece also boast a better save success percentage than Raya’s 67.3 per cent, with Donnarumma rated second on 73 per cent.
So, although Raya has made some tremendous saves this season, his clean sheet record does owe plenty to the defensive solidity of the outfield players in front of him.