David Raya remains one of the best goalkeepers in Europe and after helping Arsenal see off Fulham this weekend, he’s now matched Edwin van der Sar.
Raya has been an inspired signing for Arsenal and his £27m fee now looks like a massive bargain.
With the title on the line and the Champions League final potentially on the horizon, Raya will be hoping to keep more teams at bay and help Arsenal to success.
Indeed, after yet another clean sheet behind the rocks of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, Raya has matched a record set by Van der Sar.
Arsenal fans…if David Raya isn’t Arsenal’s best Premier League goalkeeper ever, then who is?
David Raya matches Edwin van der Sar’s clean-sheet record
For any top goalkeeper, keeping a clean-sheet is the be-all and end-all. It doesn’t matter if the team scores five or six goals, if they concede, a goalkeeper is usually left fuming.
Raya, though, has little problem in keeping the ball out of the net and yesterday was his 43rd clean-sheet in his first 100 Arsenal appearances.
That matches what Van der Sar did with Man United, showing just how good Raya has become.
Goalkeepers with the most Premier League clean-sheets
Raya has a long way to go to catch up with some of the Premier League’s best goalkeepers but based on his first 100 games, he’s well on course.
Petr Cech sits top of the overall pile with 202 shutouts in 443 appearances.
However, if we look at Raya and multiply 43 by four, he will be on 172 by the time he reaches 400 appearances, based on maintaining current metrics.
| Player | Games | Clean-sheets |
| Petr Cech | 443 | 202 |
| David James | 572 | 169 |
| Mark Schwarzer | 514 | 152 |
| David de Gea | 415 | 147 |
| David Seaman | 344 | 141 |
Yes, a lot can change but it shows how good Raya is and the level he’s now operating at.
At age 30, Raya has ample time to keep playing at the top level, with most goalkeepers playing well into their late 30s in the modern game.
Come the end of his career, it would be little surprise to see him in the all-time top ten list.
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