Could David Raya beat a 21-year-old Premier League record this season? | OneFootball

David Raya kept yet another clean sheet at the weekend as Arsenal ran out 1-0 winners against Crystal Palace at the Emirates.

He is currently in pole position for the Golden Glove, with six shut outs to his name so far, one more than Newcastle United’s Nick Pope in second.

If Arsenal are to win their first Premier League title in over two decades, the Spain international will need to continue this fine early season form. From an individual perspective, he may just be eyeing a historic achievement of his own, the most clean sheets ever in a single PremierLeague campaign.

Petr Cech is the current holder of that record with 24 clean sheets in the 2004-05 season. Below, we take a look at the possibility of Raya breaking this 21-year-old record.

If you are interested in outright betting odds, including this season’s Golden Glove, visit Bet442 for the latest odds.

A case for the defence

A big contributing factor to Raya keeping six clean sheets in nine matches this season is the defence he has in front of him. The combined strength, pace and positional awareness of Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Riccardo Calafiori have made them by far and away the most formidable backline in the league.

The injury sustained by Saliba against Palace will be a concern, but the Gunners certainly have enough strength and depth in that position to compensate for it. They have looked watertight at the back so far this season, only conceding three goals in total, against Liverpool, Newcastle United and Manchester City.

Petr Cech also had an impressive defence in front of him during the 2004-05 campaign, when the Blues won their first top-flight league title in 50 years. The Chelsea backline that season generally consisted of Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, John Terry and William Gallas. The Chelsea backline was also protected by world-class defensive midfielder Claude Makelele, who famously set a benchmark for this particular role.

This offered a platform for attacking talent like Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Arjen Robben to blow teams away.

Overall Golden Glove record will have to wait

At present, Cech and Joe Hart have the most Premier League Golden Gloves with four. If Raya wins this award for a third consecutive season he will be hot on their heels, just one behind them. Raya actually shared the accolade last time around with Forest’s Matz Sels, but he’s undoubtedly the bookies’ favourite to be the outright winner this season.