Last night, Jordan Pickford helped England to yet another victory in their World Cup Qualifier matches in group K.
The result saw England make it seven wins from seven as they came away 2-0 victors at Wembley against Serbia.
Another clean sheet extended the Everton stopper’s record of most clean sheets in a row for the Three Lions to 10, two clear of Gordon Banks’ previous eight.
This also brought the 31-year-old level with Joe Hart for the second most clean sheets when representing his nation.
Serbia were held to a relatively quiet night, limited to just three shots on target and only 37% of the ball. However, when called upon, Pickford was there once again to help his side maintain their perfect record in the qualifiers.
It reinforces his silencing of critics, who have been calling for other English names to replace the Everton number one, as he has now not had to pick the ball from his net for over 900 game minutes and 400 days.
He now holds a 51.9% clean sheet record when representing the Three Lions, but he has a long way to go if he wishes to equal Chris Woods’ 60.5% record for goalkeepers who have played more than 25 games, thanks to having played almost double the number of games.
In fact, since defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 final, England have only conceded on one occasion with Pickford in goal. They have also only lost one game in that time, a 3-1 defeat to Senegal, only the second game since the final in which he was forced to watch from the sideline.
Therefore, it could be argued that England’s current first choice keeper has been the most consistent performer for his side since his first major tournament in Russia 2018.
His expertise has been most prevalent during penalty shootouts. The Three Lions have been subject to a shootout in three of the last four major competitions. Facing 14 penalties in that time, Pickford has saved four, which is twice as many as all other English goalkeepers between 1990 and 2012.
The most notable of these saves was perhaps against Jorginho in the Euro 2020 final to give his side a chance to stay in the affair, when the Italian was arguably the best penalty taker in the world at the time.
This gives boss Thomas Tuchel a welcome headache heading to the World Cup in June, with many calling for Dean Henderson, who has been fantastic for Crystal Palace in the last 12 months, to be England number one.
However, it’s immensely hard to argue with the stats and performances of Pickford, who is yet to let his country down.
