It’s rare that you don’t fancy a striker’s chances of scoring a penalty, but there are those few goalkeepers who have a knack of guessing the right way.
Whether they end up making the save with their hands, feet or face, it doesn’t matter – all that matters is keeping that ball out of the net.
Here are the Premier League’s top penalty savers since 2006/07, when data was invented… probably.
We start with just the three for a few goalies.
Vorm’s best days came at Swansea before he joined Tottenham as back up and then later a third choice to Hugo Lloris.
Two of his stops came in 2011/12 before his final save from Romelu Lukaku in 2013.
After a season in Turkey, McGregor joined Hull where he would stay for five seasons, yo-yoing between the Premier League and the Championship.
The former Scotland international earned the Tigers points with saves from Charlie Austin and Graham Dorrans, though he also denied Frank Lampard from the spot – his side still lost 2-0 to Chelsea, however.
Huddersfield somewhat miraculously avoided relegation in their debut Premier League season, and strangely enough that had nothing to do with Lossl’s penalty saves.
He made two in 2017/18 and another in 2018/19, but each time the Terriers would go on lose.
What? What do you mean you’ve never heard of Brian Jensen?
In Burnley’s 1-0 victory over Manchester United in 2009 – probably their most famous Premier League triumph ever – Jensen saved Michael Carrick’s spot kick.
Look him up, kids.
Welshman Hennessey has jumped across his goal to stop a few penalties in his time.
He recorded two penalty stops in 2011/12 before adding to his tally in 2018/19 by keeping out Charlie Austin.
England stopper Heaton has made penalty saves in three equally boring games.
In each of the three games he stopped penalty takers netting, the final score was 1-0. Burnley only won one of those games.
Hahnemann is more well known as the Reading goalkeeper who conceded seven goals at Portsmouth back in 2007. He was a good goalie, but it’s hard to top an event like that.
He did, however, stop things getting any worse with a save from Robbie Keane in a 6-4 defeat at Tottenham, while Matthew Taylor and Hugo Rodallega were also foiled.
Three penalty saves in a single season is pretty good going.
Etheridge was excellent in Cardiff’s ultimately ill fated 2018/19 campaign, stopping James Maddison, Kenedy and Callum Wilson from the spot.
It may only be the three spot kicks Patricio has saved for Wolves so far in the Premier League, but he’s stopped some pretty illustrious names from scoring.
Paul Pogba, Raheem Sterling and Jamie Vardy have all been mugged off so far by the Portugal international.
Carson’s had a weird career. He could never quite nail down a starting position at a Premier League club and spent his best years in the Championship before joining Manchester City on loan.
He still managed a few penalty saves at Charlton and one for Aston Villa, mind.
Begovic’s best playing days came at Stoke, where he would stop penalties from Steed Malbranque and Frank Lampard.
He completed his trio of stops by denying Christian Benteke, earning Bournemouth a point in the process.
Szczesny had to leave Arsenal to become the truly exceptional talent he is today, but he still showed glimpses of his potential while in north London.
Among his penalty victims in the Premier League were Kevin Davies, Dirk Kuyt and Edin Dzeko.
Here’s a 2000s goalkeeping hero for all you Match of the Day eggheads out there. Schwarzer was a brilliant goalie for Middlesbrough and Fulham, closing out his career with back-up roles at Chelsea and Leicester.
He made four penalty stops in total and was never on the losing side.
Nwankwo Kanu, Wayne Rooney, Shane Long and Son Heung-min have all been foiled by Reina over the years.
He could have pushed the efforts from Rooney and Son a little wider to stop them scoring on the rebound, but they all technically count.
If Pickford only ever faced penalties and wasn’t allowed to overthink things to the point where mistakes become worryingly regular, everyone would love him. But no, that’s too much to ask for.
But when he’s asked to just guess and dive one way, the England stopper does pretty well.
His first stop saw him deny Manuel Lanzini, though Luka Milivojevic and Paul Pogba have also been thwarted.
For his heroics at the 2014 World Cup alone, you’d think Krul would rank way higher here. But you’d be wrong.
Dutchman Krul’s standout moment came during the 2019/20 season, when he saved two spot kicks in the same game against Manchester United. Norwich still ended up losing 3-1.
Cech holds the record for the most Premier League clean sheets for a goalkeeper with 202, though penalty saving was never really his forte.
His stop from Paul Dickov secured Chelsea a 1-0 win at Blackburn in 2005 on their way to the title.
He faced 31 spot kicks in total in England’s top flight.
A staple of the Premier League for over a decade, Sorensen impressed during his spells at Sunderland and Aston Villa.
His first penalty stop came in 2001 when he kept out David Unsworth’s effort against Everton.
Schmeichel probably doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. Leicester’s goalie during their title winning campaign, the Dane rarely messes up and is always a tough object for opposition strikers to get past.
His most recent save came against Brighton, denying Neal Maupay who likes a penalty miss.
Liverpool fans probably never want to see Adrian play for their club again, given the clangers he seems to drop whenever he’s needed in place of Alisson.
However, he can boast being one of the few to have saved a Harry Kane penalty, even if the striker did eventually stick it in on the rebound.
Tottenham stopper Lloris has never been renowned for his penalty saving prowess. He’s a lot more intimidating when charging out of his area than stood in the middle of the goal.
That being said, he’s made some crucial stops in more recent times, keeping out esteemed spot kick takers like Ilkay Gundogan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Jamie Vardy.
You’ve gotta love Shay Given.
One of the best goalkeepers in the world at his peak with Newcastle, Given had incredible reflexes, could anticipate brilliantly and commanded his area well.
His tally of five saves is decent enough, with one of those coming against Chelsea legend Frank Lampard.
Considering he didn’t play in the Premier League until he was already past his best, a tally of five saves is decent for Celtic hero Boruc.
His first came at Southampton before a further four at Bournemouth, including one to deny Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2017. Remember that game? The one where Ibrahimovic and Tyrone Mings basically punched each other in the face for 90 minutes? Weird stuff.
When he wasn’t charging around up front for Stuart Pearce’s Manchester City, James was an imposing goalie with sharp reflexes.
He even kept out a Nicky Shorey spot kick in Portsmouth’s memorable 7-4 win over Reading in 2007. That game had just about everything.
Acrobatic to a fault, Al-Habsi had great highlight reels from his time at Wigan and Bolton.
Among his victims from the spot were Robin van Persie, Mikel Arteta, Carlos Tevez and Javier Hernandez, though he was never on the winning side when he saved a penalty.
It took Almunia a while to find the right club, though when he did play for Arsenal he had a tremendous penalty record.
Saving six of the 14 spot kicks he faced, the Spaniard’s finest hour came in a 2-1 win over Tottenham in 2007 when he parried Robbie Keane’s shot.
For a player who was around for what felt like a billion years, you’d think Friedel would have got through more than just six penalty saves.
Only six, Brad? For a man of your stature?
In all fairness, the former Blackburn and Tottenham goalie was more adept to making himself big rather than athletically sprawling across his goal for penalties, and six still ranks him among the best stoppers in Premier League history.
If you grew up watching Match of the Day in the 2000s, you’ll know all about Jussi Jaaskelainen.
Whether it be for Bolton, West Ham or Wigan, the former Finland international was always capable of the spectacular and was a fearsome opponent for any penalty taker.
His best days may be behind him, but Hart is still a dependable goalie keeping the reserve jersey warm at Tottenham.
He had to wait for about five hours for his latest penalty save, with Paul Pogba taking his time before striking towards goalie’s right. As they say, Hart was equal to it.
Former USA international Howard was reliable all the way throughout his Everton career, racking up over 400 appearances during his time on Merseyside.
He stopped seven Premier League penalties, the last of which came during the Toffees’ 2-0 win at Aston Villa in October 2013.
The Premier League’s top current penalty saver, Fabianski has grown in stature and reputation since leaving Arsenal in 2014.
The Poland international is one of the best goalies in England and is a tough proposition to beat from the spot, saving a total of nine penalties.
More recently, Fabianski ‘stopped’ Ademola Lookman’s effort in the 2019/20 season, though it was probably the easiest one he’s ever had to face.
His time at Liverpool may have tarnished his reputation somewhat, but for a long time Mignolet was seen as a pretty good shot stopper.
The Belgian impressed previously at Sunderland, often winning his side points with his acrobatic saves.
It was at Anfield where he pulled out most of his penalty heroics. Mignolet performed memorable saves against Stoke’s Jonathan Walters and Chelsea’s Diego Costa.
A late bloomer, Foster’s best years came at West Brom and Watford, the latter of whom he still plays for in the Championship.
More recently he’s save efforts from Raheem Sterling – though the Manchester City star tapped in the rebound – and Everton’s Gylfi Sigurdsson.
The 2010 World Cup gaffe aside, Green was a solid Premier League stopper, making the majority of his top flight appearances for West Ham with a few games for Norwich and Queens Park Rangers thrown in.
Among his penalty victims were Steven Gerrard, Jermain Defoe and Cristiano Ronaldo. Not bad.
Who had former Tottenham and Watford stopper Gomes, known for his hilarious gaffes at White Hart Lane, joint top here?
If you did, fair play.
The Brazilian stopped a whopping nine spot kicks in his 195 top flight appearances, facing 34 in total. That’s a pretty hot average.
Let’
