Jordan Pickford is
back from injury after missing out on the last England camp before the World
Cup and expected by most to start the Three Lions' World Cup opener against
Iran.
The Everton goalkeeper has been Gareth
Southgate's trusted number one dating back to his heroics at the 2018
tournament in Russia.
But such is the strength in depth Southgate
has to choose from in every position these days, there are plenty of arguments
that Pickford's spot in the 26-man squad shouldn't be guaranteed.
Newcastle's Nick Pope and Arsenal's Aaron
Ramsdale are also expected to be named in Southgate's World Cup squad - with
Nottingham Forest's Dean Henderson an outside bet - but can either seriously
challenge Pickford?
Before Pope and Pickford feature against each
other when Newcastle host Everton at St James' Park on Wednesday, BBC Sport
analyses the form and stats before asking you to pick your favourite.
'Pickford's personality has got him where he is today'
The number one shirt is
Pickford's to lose. As demonstrated many times before, Southgate is a manager
who builds a team on trust.
The Everton goalkeeper has previously been criticised for
failing to keep his emotions in check and making mistakes but back in May,
former Manchester City defender Micah Richards said Pickford's personality was
a major weapon in his arsenal.
"I don't think he should lose that. That is what has got
him to where he is now," Richards told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"Some goalkeepers get pumped up before the games and people
say it is a bit too much. When you are playing well, no-one picks at these
things. As soon as you start not playing well, everyone starts to nit-pick at
things."
Statistically, in all competitions during 2022, Pickford is
lagging behind both his contemporaries in terms of clean sheets, with five
compared to eight for Ramsdale and 10 for Pope. He has conceded 11 more goals
than both, too.
But he has faced more shots on target, with 154 in all, an
average of 5.13 per game.
|
All competitions in 2022 |
Jordan
Pickford |
Nick
Pope |
Aaron
Ramsdale |
|
Games
played |
30 |
32 |
30 |
|
Clean
sheets |
5 |
10 |
8 |
|
Goals
conceded |
48 |
37 |
37 |
|
Shots
on target faced |
154
(5.13 per game) |
147
(4.59 per game) |
94
(3.13 per game) |
|
Saves
made |
107 |
111 |
58 |
|
Passes
made |
934 |
780 |
857 |
|
Successful
passes |
487 |
356 |
499 |
|
Pass
accuracy (%) |
52.14 |
45.64 |
58.23 |
The 28-year-old is adept with the ball at his feet, too, and is
utilised for that skill, having made 934 passes across 2022 compared with
Pope's 780 and Ramsdale's 857.
The Arsenal goalkeeper does however rival Pickford in this area,
with the best passing accuracy of the three at 58.23%, averaging 16.63
successful passes per 90 minutes compared with the Everton man's 16.23.
Pickford remains overwhelming favourite to be first choice, but
there are plenty of reasons why the others are in contention.
'Pope doesn't instil
confidence with the ball at his feet'
In contrast to Pickford,
distribution is one of the main issues for many when it comes to Pope's chances.
Referring again to the passing stats for 2022, the 30-year-old,
who left relegated Burnley for Newcastle in the summer, has played the least
successful passes (356), just 11.12 per game, and has considerably worse
overall accuracy (45.64%) than either Pickford or Ramsdale.
There is also the small matter of his mistake that allowed Kai
Havertz to score a late equaliser in England's last outing against Germany at
Wembley, and a generally shaky performance with the ball at his feet.
Part of the BBC Radio 5 Live commentary team that night was
former Celtic and England striker Chris Sutton, and he voiced his concerns
about Pope's kicking.
"Nick Pope took a heavy first touch and he was unaware of
Havertz, who put him under pressure. And a shot from [Ilkay] Gundogan went over
the bar, but [Pope] doesn't instil you with great confidence with the ball at
his feet," Sutton said, when the scores were level at 0-0.
It wasn't a very good final audition, but Pope has been a
consistent both in a struggling Burnley side in recent years and under Eddie
Howe at St James' Park this term.
Newcastle currently have the Premier League's meanest defence
after a goalless draw with Manchester United on Sunday. In 10 games, they have
conceded just nine goals with Pope an ever-present in the side.
Of the 111 saves (3.47 per game) he has made this year, the most of the three rivals, Pope has the best save percentage at 74.83% - with Pickford at 68.83% and Ramsdale 60.64%.
'Ramsdale's career is one of overcoming setbacks'
A theme for Arsenal this season has been
proving doubters wrong. The Gunners sit four points clear at the Premier League
summit and are showing increasing signs of a challenge for the title.
That same theme has been a constant in
Ramsdale's Gunners career, too.
His signing for £24m from Sheffield United in
2021 after successive Premier League relegations, the first coming with
Bournemouth, was not universally popular among Arsenal support.
But impressive performances as Arsenal pushed
for Champions League qualification last season changed many opinions of the
24-year-old.
Nick Cox, head of Manchester United's academy,
signed Ramsdale as a youth player while at Sheffield United in 2013 and says
that drive to prove himself has always been key to the Arsenal goalkeeper's
development.
"We didn't think we'd signed a future
England goalkeeper," Cox told BBC Sport in December last year. "We
didn't know too much about him, but we needed a keeper and he came on trial
before we offered him a two-year scholarship.
"In the first year, he found it tough. We
actually thought it might be too tough for him, so we got him to coach the
younger academy groups on Tuesday nights.
"The thinking was 'if this doesn't work
out for him as a scholar, we need to prepare a future for him' so we got him
coaching. He may not even know that was the reason, but he was a brilliant
coach.
"By the end of the first year, he started
to excel because he was coming back after training and working on his own with
the goalkeeper coach.
"Pathways to the top are rarely a
straight line and his career was one of overcoming setbacks."
Ramsdale has just three caps to his name and
assuming he joins Pope and Pickford in Qatar, will be an outsider to start. But
if his career is anything to go by and given Arsenal's current form, he can't
be written off.
