Sky Sports pundit and former Premier League goalkeeper Matt Murray has backed Burnley’s Nick Pope to challenge Jordan Pickford for the status as England’s first choice in that position.
The Clarets netminder kept his 15th clean sheet of the season in Saturday’s win at Norwich, which currently puts him on course for the top flight’s Golden Glove award.
While Pope only had two saves to make against the Canaries, Murray noted that he is ahead of some exalted company in the Golden Glove race and thinks that it could give him a strong chance of adding to his two England caps.
Speaking on Sky Sports as an analyst for that match, the ex-Wolves ‘keeper said: “If he can go on and get that record – look at Ederson, Alisson, they’re right at the top of the Premier League – he’s there and you can see what his team-mates think of him. He’s really, really motivated and his team will help him get that record. He didn’t have much else to do but keep putting that pressure on Jordan Pickford.”
It is no surprise that Murray has backed Pope to push Pickford for his place in the England team – the Burnley number one simply needs to prevent Brighton from scoring on Sunday to win the Premier League Golden Glove for 2019/20. He will be guaranteed at least a share of the prize if Ederson (14 clean sheets) concedes a goal in either of Manchester City’s last two matches, with no other ‘keeper able to pass him out at this stage – even Alisson, first choice at champions Liverpool, can only tie with Pope on 15 at best (as per premierleague.com).
Nor has Pope had the luxury of being able to idly watch on in a dominant team, either – his tally of 118 saves is the fourth-highest in this season’s Premier League, which works out at an average of 3.2 per game. Eight of those came during an outstanding performance in Burnley’s recent 1-1 draw away to Liverpool, whose 100% home record in the league this term was ended by the Clarets.
Will Nick Pope be England's first-choice goalkeeper at the Euros next year?
Yes
No
Pope has conceded 48 goals in 37 league appearances in 2019/20, an average of 1.29 per game, while his 15 clean sheets gives him a shutout rate of 40.5%. Pickford has conceded five more goals in one match fewer (53 in 36; 1.47 per game) and managed only eight clean sheets (22.2% of games), as well as making three errors leading to goals – Martin Dubravka is the only goalkeeper with a more frequent goal-causing error rate.
If Gareth Southgate was picking an England team on current form for a match in the next month, he would surely have Pope ahead of Pickford in his line-up. The Burnley goalkeeper could hardly be doing much more to make his case to the Three Lions manager.
Burnley fans, should Pope be England’s number one? Comment below with your views!
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