Shot-stopping sensations: 5 goalkeepers with the most clean sheets in Premier League history

The Premier League has, across its 30-year-plus history, bore witness to some of football’s finest-ever goalkeepers. The top division of English football has seen some truly exceptional shot-stoppers from all over the world who have gone on to help multiple teams to a plethora of honors, either domestic or continental.

Clean sheets are a high commodity to goalkeepers, a reflection of a solid defence and solo performance if their team were able to finish a game without conceding a goal. They are what every goalkeeper is aiming for in any league, not just the English top flight. With that being said, however, which five goalkeepers have kept the most clean sheets in Premier League history?

5. David Seaman

Debuting in 1982, David Seaman played for three clubs across the first eight years of his career, representing Peterborough United, Birmingham City and Queens Park Rangers after coming through the ranks at, but never making a senior appearance for, Leeds United. In 1990, Seaman joined Arsenal where he would remain for the following 13 years.

Seaman spent his first two seasons with the Gunners competing in the First Division, prior to the Premier League’s foundation in 1992. Seaman was Arsenal’s first Premier League shot-stopper, helping the club win the 1997-98 and 2001-02 league titles alongside four FA Cups and a League Cup in that same time.

England’s second-most capped goalkeeper behind Peter Shilton, Seaman was known for his swift reflexes, general reliability and leadership capabilities, though he was also known for being prone to an occasional mistake.

Overall, Seaman kept 145 clean sheets in 344 Premier League appearances with Arsenal and Manchester City, who he joined in the summer of 2003 after his release from the North London side. Seaman would only play for six months in Manchester, however, ultimately announcing his retirement due to injury in January 2004.

4. David de Gea

Now playing for Fiorentina in Italy after over a year away from the game, David de Gea spent his youth career with Atletico Madrid, breaking into the first team in 2009 and spending two years there before joining Manchester United in 2011, with whom he would spend the peak of his career.

The Spaniard, who became known for his quick reflexes and overall shot-stopping ability, was a cornerstone of Man United teams in the 2010s, helping the club win a Premier League title in Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season before his retirement.

In his time at the club, de Gea played in 415 Premier League games, though was allowed to leave the Red Devils as a free agent at the end of the 2022-23 season despite winning the Golden Glove for the first time since 2018. A former Spanish international, de Gea left Old Trafford having racked up 148 clean sheets, the fourth-most of any goalkeeper in Premier League history.

3. Mark Schwarzer

The first and, at the time of writing, only non-British player to have made over 500 Premier League appearances, Australian international Mark Schwarzer moved to England in 1996 to join Bradford City after stints with clubs in his native Australia and Germany. After six months in the First Division, which is now known as the Championship, he moved to Premier League side Middlesbrough.

After suffering relegation in his first season with the club, Schwarzer became a first-team regular and helped the team bounce back with an immediate promotion. The shot-stopper spent the following decade as Boro’s first-choice goalkeeper across their 10-year stint in the Premier League, winning a League Cup in 2004 and reaching a UEFA Cup final in 2006.

Let go as a free agent in 2008, Schwarzer joined Fulham where he would spend a further five seasons as a number one in the English top flight. From there, he joined Chelsea in 2013, becoming the oldest-ever Champions League debutant at 41 years of age.

Schwarzer played until he was 43 years old, wrapping up a 20-year career in England with one season at Leicester City. The shot-stopper racked up 514 appearances and his 153 clean sheets is the third-highest Premier League figure of all time.

2. David James

After two seasons in the then-Second Division with Watford, James joined English juggernauts Liverpool in 1992 to replace the aging Bruce Grobbelaar, though after conceding 20 goals in his first 11 games, the veteran was briefly drafted in as number one once again.

James’ time at Liverpool saw him earn the nickname “Calamity James,” so there were certainly areas of his performance that he could have improved. Still, he made almost 300 appearances for the club prior to his departure in 1999.

Across the following decade, James would make appearances for Aston Villa, West Ham United, Manchester City and Portsmouth, establishing himself as a solid Premier League goalkeeper, the only exception being the sole season he spent with West Ham in the Championship in 2003-04. As his career went on, James became better with the ball at his feet while developing leadership capabilities on top of his overall improvements as a shot-stopper.

James joined Bristol City in 2010, bringing an end to his Premier League career, in which he made 572 appearances and kept 172 clean sheets.

1. Petr Cech

One of Chelsea’s greatest-ever players, let alone goalkeepers, Petr Cech is statistically the best goalkeeper to ever grace the Premier League. Not only that, but the eye test supported the Czech international too, with Cech possessing lightning-quick reflexes, solid distribution and being a brilliant organizer of his defensive line.

Moving to London in 2004 after racking up over 100 appearances across his earlier career, Cech soon became Chelsea’s first-choice keeper after an injury to Carlo Cudicini. He helped Chelsea to numerous Premier League titles in his 11 years with the club, as well as seven domestic cup honors and a Champions League triumph.

Cech was sold by Chelsea to London rivals Arsenal in 2015, remarkably making a profit on such a long-serving player. With the Blues, Cech set a league record of time without conceding a goal and was the quickest goalkeeper, in terms of appearances, to reach 100 clean sheets.

With Arsenal, he won one further FA Cup in four years with the Gooners before retiring in 2019 as the first and so far only goalkeeper to have accumulated over 200 Premier League clean sheets, notching 207 in total within 443 matches.