Who holds the record for the most Premier League clean sheets? We are here to save you searching around for the answer.
Petr Čech: 202 Clean Sheets
When Chelsea handed over £7 million for a goalkeeper who had played just over 50 games in Ligue 1 for Rennes, a few eyebrows were raised. Especially as Manchester United had paid just £800,000 more four years previously to secure the services of FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship winner Fabien Barthez. But while the Frenchman would only keep 30 clean sheets for the Red Devils, Petr Čech went on to set the record for the most in Premier League history.
It had not been expected that Čech would make an immediate impact at Stamford Bridge with Carlo Cudicini firmly established as number one heading into the 2004-2005 season. But an elbow injury to the Italian saw Čech given a baptism of fire: he recorded the first of his 202 clean sheets against Manchester United in a 1-0 victory, which was also Jose Mourinho’s first game in charge of the Blues.
And having snaffled the starting spot, Čech never looked back, eventually recording a Premier League record 24 clean sheets during the 2004-2005 season, three more than any other goalkeeper before or since in a single campaign.
The records kept tumbling with Čech becoming the first Premier League goalkeeper to go over 1,000 minutes without conceding, the fastest to reach both 50 and 100 clean sheets as he would eventually finish with 162 for Chelsea, the most a goalkeeper has achieved for a single team in the Premier League.
A move to north London could not slow Čech down either. He recorded another 40 clean sheets for Arsenal as he became the only goalkeeper to surpass the 200 mark in the Premier League, winning four Premier League Golden Glove awards in the process (a record he jointly holds with Joe Hart). It meant across the 443 Premier League appearances, he kept a clean sheet in 45.6% of them, a record only topped by one other player in the top 10.
That wasn’t the end of Čech’s career in nets. He occasionally played for Chelsea’s development squad following his retirement, notably in the game where Danny Drinkwater slightly lost his head and caused a melee. Thankfully for Čech, he was used to the occasional fight breaking out during play as he had also been a netminder for the Chelmsford Chieftains in the third tier of British Ice Hockey, moving up from playing a key role for the Guildford Phoenix in the division below. There, he secured more regular season success in 12 matches, recording a 93.4% save percentage, somewhat more than the 75.4% from his Premier League career.
David James: 169 Clean Sheets
Perhaps it’s not too much of a surprise that David James sits second on this list considering he holds the record for the most appearances made by a goalkeeper in Premier League history at 572. But while Cech enjoyed an impressive hit rate for converting appearances into clean sheets, it is a little different for the former Liverpool, Aston Villa, West Ham United, Manchester City and Portsmouth glovesman, with those 162 clean sheets coming in 29.5% of his Premier League appearances. Unfortunately, this also means James holds the record for conceding the most goals in the competition, picking the ball out of the back of net on 665 occasions.
Where James proved adept was on home soil, with 102 of his clean sheets coming when playing in front of his own fans, making up 60% of his total clean sheets. And no goalkeeper has been better at stopping penalties in the Premier League, with James’ record of penalty 13 saves unmatched, although he has faced the second most in the competition’s history at 63, just three fewer than Shay Given (who was only able to stop 10).
Mark Schwarzer: 151 Clean Sheets
Another one for longevity fans here. Mark Schwarzer’s final Premier League appearance came at the age of 42 years and 159 days old, keeping a clean sheet for Leicester City as they played out a goalless draw with Hull City on 14 March 2015.
His 514 appearances in the Premier League is still the most by any non-British player, representing Middlesbrough, Fulham, Chelsea and Leicester City. He kept 151 clean sheets.
Since the 2003-2004 season, the point from which we have match-by-match save data, Schwarzer has made the fourth most in the Premier League at 1,141 and conceded 653 goals, which is second to James all time.
David de Gea: 147 Clean Sheets
During his 12-year spell with Manchester United, David de Gea amassed 147 Premier League clean sheets, putting him fourth on the all-time list and there he’ll remain for a while yet.
De Gea holds the record for the most shutouts at the Red Devils, surpassing Peter Schmeichel (112) a while ago, but his departure in 2023 prevented him challenging those further up the list.
But who knows, perhaps he’ll be back on English shores in future.
David Seaman: 140 Clean Sheets
Despite a penchant for being lobbed in key moments of the biggest matches on a continental and international stage, ‘safe hands’ was as reliable as they came in the Premier League for both Arsenal and, briefly, Manchester City, with his 137 clean sheets for the Gunners third only to Cech and De Gea for a single club in the Premier League.
Seaman played on the opening weekend of the Premier League in August 1992, although he would not enjoy the honour of a first-day clean sheet in the competition, his Arsenal side letting a two-goal lead slip as they fell to a surprising 4-2 defeat against Norwich City. Instead, that milestone was shared by Tim Flowers and Ian Walker after their respective sides, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur, played out a goalless draw.
Nigel Martyn: 137 Clean Sheets
Britain’s first £1m goalkeeper at the tail end of the 1980s, Nigel Martyn went on to have a long Premier League career for Crystal Palace, Everton and most notably at Leeds United, where his performances saw him named in the club’s official greatest all-time XI. He was the only selection not to have played for the club during the Don Revie era.
Most impressively, as well as recording 137 clean sheets, Martyn was never sent off in his 372 appearances in the Premier League (although he did pick up seven yellow cards along the way).
Rolling through the rest of the top 10, we find the first goalkeeper to record 20 or more clean sheets in different seasons. They made up part of Pepe Reina’s total of 136 in 297 Premier League appearances, giving him a superior hit rate to Cech, but only just at 45.8%. His record has since between matched by both Alisson and Ederson at Liverpool and Manchester City respectively.
And remarkably, there are three goalkeepers who have kept a total of 132 clean sheets in their Premier League careers, with two of them (Brad Friedel and Tim Howard) being American. Edwin Van Der Sar completes the trio.
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