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Battle for the 2014/15 Premier League Golden Glove

Going into the final round of games for the 2014/2015 Premier League season there are five goalkeepers in with a chance of walking away with the prestigious Golden Glove award.

Joe Hart, Lukasz Fabianski, Simon Mignolet, Fraser Forster and Thibaut Courtois are all still in with a shout of winning the award.

Hart, Fabianski, Mignolet and Forster are all currently on 13 clean sheets with Courtois on 12; the recent changes to the award rules mean that in the event of a tie, instead of the award going to the Keeper with the best clean sheets to games ratio it will instead be shared.

Whoever the winner, this season is set to be the lowest ever clean sheets recorded to win the award with the last season being the previous lowest at 16 – probably as good an indicator as any about just how competitive the Premier League is getting from top to bottom.

No player outside of the ‘big 5’ (Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool) has ever won the award since it was created in 2004-2005, so if Fabianski or Forster were to win the award it would be another first!

Joe Hart’s Manchester City are set to face Southampton at Home in their final game, with Southampton most recently smashing 6 past a well beaten Aston Villa including that record breaking hat trick in under 3 minutes by Mane, Hart will certainly have his work cut out! Should Hart win the award he will be the record holder for the most golden glove awards which is currently shared by Hart, Cech and Reina who all have 3 each.

Lukasz Fabianski’s Swansea City travel to Selhurst Park to face Crystal Palace in their final game of the season, a clean sheet for Fabianski would finish an exceptional season for the Pole having left Arsenal at the end of last season on a free transfer in search of first team football.

Simon Mignolet’s Liverpool team head to Stoke for their final match, after being dropped earlier in the season and calls for him to be replaced in the January transfer window it is actually quite incredible that he is in with a good chance of winning this award. In fact having replaced Brad Jones after 16 minutes in Liverpools 1-0 win over Burnley, many believe he should already be on 14 clean sheets, unfortunately for the Belgian though only full 90 minute appearances count towards the award.

Fraser Forster’s Southampton are set to play Manchester City, but unfortunately for Forster he won’t have the opportunity to add to his tally having been out injured with a serious knee problem since March. Forster could still go on to be a joint winner of the award, but having missed the last 8 games of the season, many believe he would have run away with the award had he remained fit.

Thibaut Courtois’ Chelsea team welcome Sunderland to Stamford Bridge for their final game, Courtois knows that having been soundly beaten by West Bromwich Albion he now only has a chance at sharing the award should none of the other Keepers above keep a clean sheet. One extra issue Courtois may have is that it is thought that given Chelsea have already won the title, Mourinho may give Petr Cech the opportunity to say goodbye to Stamford Bridge in what is sure to be his last appearance should he get on.

We’d be shocked if neither Hart, Fabianski or Mignolet managed to keep a clean sheet this weekend so we can’t see Forster and Courtois winning the award but honestly it could go any way!

Who do you think will walk away with the award? Who would you like to see win it?

Let us know in the comments below!

Image Courtesy of Oulala.com / Optasports.com
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Daz @ KeeperPortal

Owner and creator of Keeper Portal, an FA qualified goalkeeping coach as well as being pretty impressive at keeping balls out of a net.

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