5 of the worst goalkeepers in Premier League history
Not every goalkeeper can be inspirational, or an all time great. That’s understandable, but there are some goalkeepers who even struggle to be good and just about become professional shot stoppers. Since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, we have seen some legendary goalies.
The likes of Peter Schmeichel, David Seaman, Petr Cech and Edwin van der Sar will go down in history for being legends of the game in England, but there are others who are so appalling that it might actually be a criminal offence.
Also read: 5 of the most overrated goalkeepers of the modern era
Here are the 5 worst goalkeepers in Premier League history!
#1 Manuel Almunia
If you’ve managed to play over 100 games in the Premier League in your career for a club as big as Arsenal, chances are you’re quite a good goalkeeper. Somehow, Manuel Almunia defied logic.
The Spaniard made his debut for the Gunners in 2004 in a 3-0 home victory against Birmingham City, and then went on a run of only two losses in nine games, until the return of first choice goalkeeper Jens Lehmann. However, Almunia somehow managed to take the goalkeeping jersey off of the legendary German, and was a part of the Arsenal team who managed to bottle many a title challenge.
Some goalkeepers inspire confidence in their defences and actually give the defensive players a boost knowing they have a reliable shot-stopper behind them, but the Arsenal defenders at the time knew they would have to put in the extra work to prevent anything reaching Almunia. The now retired 39-year-old successfully saw the transformation of Arsenal from consistent title challengers to top 4 contenders and was actually a huge part of that.
171 appearances in the red of Arsenal and 157 goals conceded may show that Almunia had a decent goals conceded to games ratio, but stats only tell half the story. Almunia becoming Arsene Wenger’s first choice goalkeeper spoke volumes about how far the Gunners had come from the days of Lehmann and David Seaman. They now relied on a man who spent the first four years of his career in North London on the bench.