Everton's Rock: Pickford brings up 100 Premier League clean sheets

Saturday’s stalemate at Tottenham was hardly a classic — it’s not a game that will live long in the memories.

There was a distinct lack of quality to the attacking play from both teams, albeit Everton ended up creating the better opportunities in the end.

But one thing to come from the 0-0 draw was a milestone for Jordan Pickford, who brought up his 100th clean sheet in the Premier League.

Pickford is the 19th goalkeeper in the competition’s history to achieve the feat. Among active Premier League players, only Liverpool’s Alisson has kept more shutouts in the top flight (105).

Only four English goalkeepers have kept more Premier League clean sheets — David James (166), David Seaman (135), Nigel Martyn (131), who was so good for Everton in the latter days of his career, and Joe Hart (127).

Of course, clean sheets are not just down to a goalkeeper; the defence they play behind plays a crucial role.

However, it’s another box that Pickford can tick off, joining the 100 club.

It is a tangible milestone that reaffirms Pickford’s quality, experience and, his importance to Everton.

This clean sheet came off the back of him winning Save of the Month for his superb stop against Crystal Palace in the opening game of the season.

Pickford has won that award on five occasions. That is two more times than any other goalkeeper has won it since the award was introduced in the 2022-23 campaign.

The 32-year-old’s shot-stopping ability can’t ever be questioned, either. At times, he has his moments of rashness and recklessness, of course. One of those came on Saturday, when he skewed a risky pass straight to a Spurs midfielder.

Lucas Bergvall took on a shot that was destined for the bottom corner, but Pickford atoned for his error with a sharp save down to his left.

Mistakes happen. And when a goalkeeper makes an error, it almost always proves costly. Pickford should have done better, for example, to keep out Benjamin Sesko’s header against Manchester United last week. He’ll know that.

But for the few wobbles, there’s a plethora of highlight moments and standout saves, and no player was as important to Everton’s survival as Pickford in those dark days of 2022, 2023 and, even to an extent, 2024 (albeit, that was due to points deductions more than the Toffees being relegation candidates on paper).

He will have moments that frustrate, but more often than not he’ll make up for it, and then some.

We don’t need to run over old ground in that regard, but it’s always useful to have something that backs up just how good Pickford has been.

It should also be something that the press, plus England boss Thomas Tuchel, should have at the forefront of their mind when the next international window rolls around.

Don’t be surprised if Tuchel, desperately in search of an easy win after the mess he made at the World Cup, looks to drop Pickford, who for some reason fans and pundits love to hate on.

James Trafford could be England’s new golden boy between the sticks, despite all Pickford has done for the Three Lions, and it’s easy to imagine the media fawning over the Leeds United man.

That’s all hypothetical at this point, but regardless, Evertonians know just how good Pickford is, has been and will continue to be.

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