The FA Cup quarter-final weekend has seen four Premier League sides fill the final four spaces for this season's edition, with Watford, Man City, Wolves and Brighton all due a Wembley run out early next month.
Recent seasons have seen a new fad deployed by Premier League managers in domestic cup competitions. We can't be sure who coined the term, but it seems more and more top-flight sides are designating 'Cup Goalkeepers' from their pool of shot-stoppers.
David De Gea understudy Sergio Romero did all he could to hold a dominant Wolves at bay at Molineaux on Saturday evening, before his Manchester United side eventually crashed and burned, whilst at the opposite end of the pitch, John Ruddy kept a clean sheet in the absence of Rui Patricio for Nuno Espirito Santo's (incidentally a back-up goalie himself) side.
Earlier, Watford back-up Heurelho Gomes bade Vicarage Road an emotional goodbye as he stepped in for Ben Foster in their win over Crystal Palace, leaving manager Javi Gracia with an unenviable decision to make for the semi-final clash with Wolves. Will he revert to his number one or will the retiring veteran Gomes keep his place at Wembley?
Either way, we felt it was our job to give a rundown of who had the best - and worst - gloved up options residing on their bench for most of the year.
20. Fulham
No huge surprise, given the Cottagers have conceded eleven more Premier League goals than anybody else. Have done serious farting around. Summer signing Fabri was in for first two games of the season, before reverting back to last season's regular stopper in the Championship Marcus Bettenelli. He bombed too, and Sevilla loanee Sergio Rico has been sharpening his picking-the-ball-from-the-net-skills since. Bettinelli sustained a nasty knee injury mid-season, so you can imagine how shite Fabri must be to not have moved Rico yet.
19. Cardiff City
Probably a bit harsh given the fact we've seen next-to-nothing from Etheridge back-ups Alex Smithies and Brian Murphy all year, but they don't exactly scream Premier League quality do they? Smithies kept goal for cup defeats to lower league opposition twice this year - Norwich in the EFL and Gillingham in the FA - and Waterford man Murphy, at 35, is more-or-less someone to kick balls at in training at this stage.
18. Huddersfield Town
Look, I know what you're thinking, but no.
Day after Paddy's Day it may be, but we're better than basically just mirroring the Premier League table. That said - Huddersfield are dung. Ben Hamer did actually start the season in goal for the Terriers, playing in the opening two league games against Chelsea and City - ouch! Nine goals for anyone wondering. Having been withdrawn injured in the third game against Everton, his only other involvement in the Premier League came Arsenal when Lossl was sick. That resulted in a loss, as did his FA Cup appearance against Bristol City. Youngster Joel Coleman has yet to see action for the club this season, having spent the first half of the year at Shrewsbury on loan.
17. Brighton
Brighton are fortunate to have an excellent first team stopper in the shape of Mat Ryan, but boy must Hughton and the lads shite themselves when the Aussie went off to the Asian Cup in January. Button came in, and in fairness did keep a clean sheet against Everton, before conceding five over his next three. Jason Steele's best performance this year was on that Sunderland documentary on Netflix.
16. Watford
What a day ! great win !great team performance ! amazing atmosphere! Wembley here we go .....
watfordfcofficial thank you for everything so far. 💛 💛💛 #MyGodisfaithful.… https://t.co/neK1FWpqfn— HEURELHO GOMES (@hdgomes) March 17, 2019
Nice and all as it was to see aul Gomes again, the big jolly giant, Troy Deeney's post-game interview where he described the Brazilian's record as "chequered" before he landed at Vicarage Road tell you all you need to know really. Swede Dahlberg hasn't sampled first-team football since he moved from IFK Goteberg in the summer.
15. Everton
Given the fact that Jordan Pickford has been ropy enough - I'm thinking of Anfield and St. James's Park particularly - having an experienced Dutch international on your bench might tempt you to give him a few runs. But now 36 (how did that happen) Maarten Stekelenburg has yet to feature in the league this year and only made the EFL Cup games. Behind him is teenager, Joao Virginia and whilst not yet being called to a first-team squad, the former Benfica and Arsenal youth product has kept a clean sheet in 8 of his 10 Premier League 2 games this year. One to look out for maybe.
14. Newcastle United
In the interesting position of having two 'Cup keepers', none of their reservists have seen Premier League action such have been the impressive performances of Martin Dubravkasince joining last season. Karl Darlow and Freddie Woodman have more or less split back up duties, and cup duties this year, neither managing a clean sheet in any of their outings. Woodman is touted as a big prospect, picking up the Golden Glove award when England U20s won the World Cup in 2017. Darlow was once a prospect, but at 28 has never really blossomed. Rob Elliot is still knocking about but has made the bench only once this season.
13. Leicester City
Like Dubravka at Newcastle, Kasper Schmeichel has been ever-present for the Foxes in the league. Cup specialist Danny Ward has been solid enough, keeping three clean sheets and was the hero of two penalty shootout successes in the EFL Cup before Leicester went down to Man City in another shootout at the quarter-final stage. Eldin Jakupovic, who we all thought was decent a few years ago, has not been seen. Please get in contact Eldin.
12. West Ham
It seems that nobody faces more shots in world football than Lukasz Fabianski, given the horse-shittery of the defence he has in front of him, and by-and-large the Pole has been consistent for Manuel Pelligrini's very inconsistent side. On the bench is Adrian who is a great shot stopper in his own right. But should he get injured then you're really wondering where to look. U23 keeper Nathan Trott is next in line and still very much at a teething stage.
11. Wolves
Had it not been for the excellent performances of Ruddy that have seen Wolves reach the semis of the FA Cup, there's a fair chance they'd find themselves lower in this list. With Rui Patricio probably the most nailed on number one in the league at the minute, Ruddy has been an able deputy in cup matches and even kept a clean sheet in his sole league appearance this season too when he came in for the Portuguese stopper against Cardiff a fortnight ago. But again, in terms of a number three, you can't be too inspired by former Cambridge United man Will Norris.
10. Arsenal
Incredibly touching to see Jose Mourinho using Petr Cech's retirement announcement as an opportunity to pay tribute to himself. pic.twitter.com/RPAGFENZtw
— Si Lloyd (@SmnLlyd5) January 16, 2019
And now the controversy.
Petr Cech is a Premier League legend, but his decision to retire at the end of this season has come at the right time. Signs have been evident for a while that the big Czech isn't hitting the levels of yesteryear with Bernd Leno firmly Unai Emery's first-pick. Respect for Cech alone had us put Arsenal in the top ten, because with Ospina and Martinez out on season-long loans to Napoli and Reading respectively, you are looking at academy players thereafter.
9. Bournemouth
Bournemouth leak goals, there's no doubting that, but the competition for the number one jersey has been an interesting sub-plot to another relatively successful Premier League campaign for the Cherries. Two highly experienced goalkeepers in the shape of Asmir Begovic and Artur Boruc, the Pole has wrestled control of the number one spot since in the New Year, with the title-winning Bosnian made to be content with a place on the bench. The third choice is exciting Irish prospect Mark Travers who survived Mick McCarthy's 15-man cull of the Irish squad last week for the upcoming games with Gibraltar and Georgia.
8. Chelsea
With a combined age of 206, Chelsea back up goalkeepers Willy Caballero and Rob Green are helped to and from their place on the bench each matchday, given a soft pillow to sit on and a nice shawl to throw over them. Caballero in fairness has made a fine living as an able back-up since arriving on these shores and can count himself unlucky not to have a Premier League winners medal yet, making the switch to Chelsea the year after they won the league, from Man City who would go on and win the league the year he moved. World Cup mistake still haunts him. And as for Rob Green? Absolute banter.
7. Crystal Palace
And here we have the beginning of the 'more-keepers-than-would-ever-really-be-needed' section.
It seems like the Croydon club splash out on a new goal guardian every transfer window, and yet still Julian Speroni collects wages at the end of every week. The Italian will be 40 in May and still feature for the Eagles in a pulsating 4-3 defeat at Anfield earlier in the season, where unfortunately he made a mess of things and handed Liverpool a win. Welsh number one Wayne Hennessey looks now settled into a number two spot at his club, with Spanish stopper Vincente Guaita impressing for Roy Hodgson's side of late. But like Bournemouth, it's the competition that has driven them up this particular league. They also have young Brazillian goalie Lucas Perri on loan from Sao Paolo, but the lad hasn't played a game.
6. Burnley
They may well sit one place off the relegation zone in the actual Premier League, but Christ the night, they have some pick of netminders at Turf Moor, which is a good job considering the amount of time they collectively spend on the treatment table. Injuries to Tom Heaton and Nick Pope saw the Clarets move for Joe Hart in the summer, bringing their total number of active England international goalkeepers to three. Throw in former United back-up Anders Lindegaard and ex-Birmingham City stopper Adam Leginiz and you can see how goalkeeping coach Billy Mercer hardly sees his wife and family anymore.
5. Southampton
Another team battling for survival, but in Angus Gunn, the Saints look to have a really talented young keeper to deputise for Alex McCarthy. We say deputise, he's usurped the ex-Reading man by the looks of things, having kept nets for the Saints in the last four Premier League games. The competition between himself and McCarthy will be fascinating to see over the remainder of the season. McCarthy, eldest at 29, is certainly no slouch either.
4. Liverpool
Liverpool fans everywhere believe they have finally found the missing piece to the puzzle in the form of number one Allison Becker, but having Simon Mignolet to call on is never a bad thing - unless of course you actually support Liverpool. We think he gets too rough a time from his own fans - the same fans that begged Klopp to play Loris Karius last year. That worked out, right?
Karius is trying to ease his woes in Turkey this year on loan at Besiktas and another young Irishman finds himself playing third choice keeper at a Premier League club. Step forward 20-year-old Cork man Caoimhín Kelleher, of whom much is expected.
3. Spurs
Paulo Gazzaniga must have been thinking along the lines of, "ahh yeah sure I'll throw myself around some lower league clubs in Europe and see how it goes" after being let go by Valencia as a youngster. Ending up at Gillingham, Southampton saw enough in him to sign him as a back-up to Fraser Forster at St Mary's. Benefitting from a fantastic relationship with Mauricio Pochettino, Gazzaniga followed his manager to Spurs in 2017 and has never looked out of his place any time he's had to deputise for Hugo Lloris. The fact that they have fifteen times Dutch international Michel Vorm also in their reserve ranks sees them near the top.
2. Manchester City
The Manchester clubs are really head and shoulders above everyone else when it comes to talented goalkeepers seeing seldom game time. Claudio Bravo may well have not been to everyone's taste amongst the faithful at the Etihad in his short time as number one, but he's a two time Copa America winning keeper with only the 119 caps for his country and not bad for a number three. More exciting, however, are the prospects for young Kosovan Arijanet Muric. Born in Switzerland, he was snapped up by City as a 16-year-old. Loaned to feeder club NAC Breda last year, he'd made only one appearance - his first in senior football - for the Dutch side before being recalled by City after an injury to Bravo. And he hasn't really looked back since, keeping four clean sheets in five EFL Cup matches for the free-scoring Mancs, before being dumped by Guardiola for last month's final against Chelsea.
1. Manchester United
About the only table they are fit to top at the moment, there is absolutely no arguing with the talent United possess in Sergio Romero. The man has played in a World Cup final, for Christ sake. More than that, he impresses in the vast majority of games he features in with a fantastic shot-stopping capability. The Argentine has obviously benefitted from a close relationship with arguably the world's best in David De Gea and would be a starter for most other top sides in Europe.
And then there's Lee Grant...
