They say you have to be mad to be a goalkeeper – and ‚they‘ are right.

You get to use your hands, you elect yourself into a union that isn’t even officially a union, you have to stand around and keep yourself locked in for most of a game.

But they’re still crucial to the game. They’re the ones who do the real dirty work for their sides, after all.

Here are our picks for the ten best goalkeepers in the Premier League – ranked after 25 gameweeks.

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Hugo Lloris had put his error-strewn recent past behind him to peak again at the top level…until the past few weeks

Two crucial mistakes in the defeat to Wolves and one to gift Man City a goal mean he’s just hanging on to his place in this rankings. One more poor performance and he’ll be out of the rankings.

It’s been roughly a year since the last high profile ‚oh my word what is he doing‘ Jordan Pickford blunder, enjoying a stellar 2021 for club and country.

He’s arguably the only player at Everton who isn’t completely embarrassing themselves this season.

Like every goalkeeper who’s left Arsenal this century, Lukasz Fabianski has gone from strength to strength since departing the Gunners.

Now into his 15th Premier League season, the Pole has managed to keep the impressive Alphonse Areola out of the side and keep his place between the sticks for West Ham.

While Arsenal’s attack has struggled to score goals recently – only scoring two league goals in 2022 – Aaron Ramsdale has kept up his end of the bargain at the other end of the pitch.

The goalkeeper has arguably been the club’s most consistent performer this season.

Who would have thought the biggest ‚Sliding Doors‘ moment in the career of Emiliano Martinez would have been Neal Maupay barging into Bernd Leno on a humid June afternoon?

Now a full Argentina international and one of the world’s top stoppers, Martinez recently signed a new long-term contract at Aston Villa.

Despite Villa’s defeat at the weekend, Martinez put in a solid performance.

David de Gea couldn’t have been optimistic about his Man Utd prospects at the end of the 2020/21 season – backup keeper Dean Henderson was getting plenty of first team opportunities, and when brought back in for the Europa League final, missed the decisive spot kick after conceding 11 straight Villarreal penalties.

But true to form, De Gea has largely been United’s best player this term, saving them from disaster time and time again.

Jose Sa had a pretty tough job coming in to replace the excellent Rui Patricio, but he’s been crucial in Wolves‘ efforts to become one of the Premier League’s toughest teams to break down.

Bruno Lage’s side have conceded just 21 Premier League goals this season – only Manchester City and Chelsea have tighter defensive records.

One can only imagine the euphoria Pep Guardiola must have felt when he watched Ederson for the first time in his life, knowing that this was the goalkeeper he’s spent his whole career searching for.

The Brazilian may not be the greatest shot stopper but that’s not as important for a club like Man City, with Ederson effectively acting as an 11th outfielder most of the time.

Down one this week purely because Edouard Mendy put in an all-time great performance in the Carabao Cup final.

There’s no doubting just how good Alisson is though. He has the perfect mix of positioning, leadership, distribution and experience needed to be a world class stopper and he’s showing no sign of slowing down.

You’d expect the great Petr Cech to have a good eye for a goalkeeper, and boy did he find Chelsea a gem in Edouard Mendy.

Recently the recipient of The Best FIFA Goalkeeper award for 2021, Mendy has quickly established himself as one of the world’s best players in any position, let alone his own.

He’s up to number one this week because of that Carabao Cup final performance.

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